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Description

Youji. Youji. The little Treat pondered the word. The name. It was him. His. Everything he had, everything he ever was, centuries ago. He’d been powerful then, he remembered. Cinnamon-fire had danced in his hands and he’d served the Children of the Sun loyally. Without question. Without remorse. He’d been as cruel as his masters demanded. He remembered now, the rainbow juices that had stained his hands once.
Hands. He looked at them now--tiny paws, no longer strong, no longer as dextrous as he’d once been--this entire form was wrong. This entire shape was broken. He hated it. Hated what the Nightmares had done to him! To his people and his kingdom! And yet… The Nightmares didn’t know. He had watched his friend for centuries, alone in that castle. He had watched and soothed. They had comforted each other and his friend--Yocury, was the Stygian’s name, he remembered now when the Stygian, just a Figment yet, much as Youji himself was before coming to this place, had just met him--Yocury had protected him.
He knew, now, that whatever had caused the war, he couldn’t abide by it. He needed answers. He needed--
There was a voice. Soft and sweet as spun sugar. He couldn’t understand her words, but as he watched, his Shape changed. Pain, as agonizing as what had brought him to his senses to begin with, wracked through him. He stood, calmly, and let the agony change him. The memories surged back and he screamed, his throat raw and chest heaving as he dropped to the ground. His body Changed. Grew. His limbs Expanded, his skin burned and itched. When the pain stop he collapsed to his side and opened his eyes, panting.
He had hands again.
That should probably be a relief, but for some reason all he felt was dread. With a groan, he pushed himself upright again and looked up at the speaker. The Princess. She smiled down at him. Perfect and delicate and practiced. His tail thumped against the ground.
“--The one who Chose You--” she was saying, her voice Perfection, her dress of gold and cream and sparkles flowing around her. The Princess, the Queen. Youji bowed his head in respect, and stole a glance at himself. He had clothes now. Comfortable and familiar. White shorts, pink sneakers, a pink vest. Ruffles everywhere. It must’ve been exhausting to dream this many ruffles. He has gloves--red--with long pink ribbons like the one on his tail. He was certain his hair was red like his mane. His bow carried his Mark. The Lollipop swirl. He smiled at it, then looked up at his Queen once more. She was still smiling, still Perfection.
He wanted to gag.

The world fell out from under him but his wings--larger now--carried him easily, and he and the Queen descended through endless grey clouds until the world exploded with color. Exploded with everything that his beloved city lacked! His eyes widened and he gasped. There was a song inside him, in the core of his being, and he followed it, very aware of his Queen watching him. The song carried him, lured him, to the Sun. Radiant and wonderful and he choked on a sob of pure glee. His form felt solid. Real. He could reach out and touch the Queen and she’d be real and soft under his hand. Part of him wanted to, and he laughed at the concept.
All around him were clouds of every color. He was Home.
But he wondered why that made his stomach twist. He looked to the Queen, still watching him, still so perfect and serene. He turned. The churning was uncomfortable, he wanted Away.
“Wait.” His Queen called to him, and he froze, his entire being jolting back at the order. His ears fell flat. He was loyal once. Why did he hesitate now?
“Yes, my queen?” he asked, but his tongue felt foreign in his mouth. The words didn’t fit right. This situation didn’t feel right. She was Perfection. Too perfect.
“Wait,” she repeated, her voice louder now. Still Perfect. “The restoration is not yet complete.”
That gave him pause, and he looked back at her. She tapped her staff--he hadn’t noticed it was there before, was he certain that it was?--and the clouds below them parted, racing away from each other and shining light and color onto the kingdom below.
His eyes went wide.

He could only describe the scene below as ‘carnage’. The streets erupted with rainbow light and buildings collapsed, all to rebuild themselves back. Perfect and New. There were Stygians in the cross-fire, and in a panic, Youji searched for the figure that chased him away just the day before--he deserved it, he knew, he betrayed his friend!--but Yocury is nowhere to be found. Had he been destroyed in his weakened state?? No, no, Youji couldn’t let himself believe that happened. It wasn’t just stygians though, he realized. He watched in horror as Treats took shelter in the old buildings only for them to collapse a heartbeat later. If the Stygians didn’t reach them first--he saw at least one Stygian snatch a fleeing Treat and carry it away from the ruination-and-rebirth of this glorious Kingdom. Another, as he watched, grabbed a Treat he remembers fighting alongside in the battle to protect the sun shard. Their vicious teeth rent through the Treat’s soft belly. Then the body went limp and a familiar rainbow ooze stained the ground below. The Stygian moved on, charging after another resident. Youji watched and trembled as memories overlaid themselves over the reality below him. He sucked in a sharp breath and shieed away.
He could imagine the screams.
“I know,” said the Queen, and her voice was thick with sorrow and rage. “I really did try, but I could not save everyone. I could only choose those who spoke to me.”

He remembered the room. The princess. Her tears. His tears. He remembered falling. Remembered remembering.
The Queen offered him her hand, as gloved as his own, and with no other choice, he took it. He couldn’t speak--it wasn’t that he lacked the ability, like he has for so many centuries. There were simply no words to be said.
His tongue still felt foreign.

The city was empty when they reached the ground. Treats and Stygians fled around them. Through them. As if they weren’t even there. Youji wasn’t certain they were. This all felt like… ironically, a Dream.
His Queen was talking but he hardly heard her, and watched the last stragglers of the Stygians leave. Watched Treats huddle in terror or look on in awe.
Mindlessly, his mouth made words that he didn’t hear. He didn’t realize it until she sighed. The heavy, exaggerated kind that he knew lead to orders to take down traitors.
He paid attention then.
“I mean obviously, not immediately, I get what you mean.” she seemed annoyed. His gut twisted with fear of her wrath. This Princess was the one he’d answered to once. Was that why he’d been chosen by her? “It will take time. First, this city, then this dream, everything around it, and even that accursed tree.”
Tree?
The Nightmare Tree?

The source of the Nightmares. Of the Stygians. Youji flicked his tail and looked up at the sun, shining so brilliantly overhead. To destroy that Tree would be like the Stygians destroying their Sun.
Was that acceptable? It couldn’t be.
“The only reason they won was because some of our own kind betrayed us!” his Queen was snapping. He frowned. He knew.
How ironic now. And how foolish he was…
“You speak of those who befriended the Nightmares.” he tried to keep his tone light, but speaking after centuries of barely having cognition was… difficult. He felt his Queen’s glare. “I know.” he added quickly. “I was one of the ones assigned to… deal with such traitors.”
That seemed to soothe her. He didn’t look to be sure.
She ranted wildly now, her back turned to him. About traitors and how the city was not built on hopes and dreams and prayers. Idly, he reached up and plucked a gumdrop from one of the newly reformed trees. He turned it over in his hand once, pocketed it, and looked back at the Queen.

“It was disgusting.” the words struck something inside him, and he focused on the Queen. “What do you even call something that can't really belong to either?” Friends, he amended in his head. “Oh, I don’t necessarily mean the romantic kind, I mean that stupid emotion humans get sometimes, that thing called friendship or whatever.” Love. She was talking about love. Youji couldn’t help but bristle, and his thoughts again turned to his friend. The one he’d betrayed while defending the sun shard. “They basically thought that we could feelings our way through it with close enough bonds.” The Queen continued, seemingly oblivious to his discomfort. Of course she was. Youji watched her, lashed his tail. His magic flickered at his fingertips. “They tried messing with the heads of those in our city, and then formed a stupid rebellion. It failed, of course, the first one, I killed them all."

He knew. He knew he knew he knew, his remembered being there. He remembered his magic scorching through the ‘traitors’. He hadn’t understood then, so blind with love for the children of the sun.
Now, after seeing how the Stygians lived, after living in that isolated Nightmare for centuries…
He curled his hand into a fist, snuffing his fire. That, she noticed.
Her eyes burned into him.
“You think I was crazy then. That I was wrong? I was desperate. I was trying to spare our city from a greater truth, the truth that the Nightmare only corrupts. What's a couple hundred lives compared to the lives of millions? And the sad part... the saddest thing about all of it is..”

“Why spare them the truth if you were so certain of it?” he asked before he could stop himself, snapping his fist back down to his side. He stood tall and proud, in defiance of his Queen. She stopped. Startled. Stared at him as if he’d slapped her. His tail coiled and swayed behind him, and she narrowed her eyes.

And ignored his question. “The saddest thing is that I was right. They stabbed me in the back, they tried to take what is mine!” she motioned at the sun. “And then everyone suffered!” He didn’t bother asking. “I put it back together, of course! Only the royal bloodline can bring about the sun’s creation or destruction!”

He wondered, briefly, who had destroyed it then.
Perhaps that prince he’d been fond of?
She seemed to take his silence as acceptance, as she calmed back into her Perfection, and smiled. “Well, now that I've told you everything, we must continue. The city, this dream of ours, is not complete yet, and we must find others to join our cause, the true others who are worthy.”

He wasn’t having any of it.
“No.” he said simply. “I can’t go with you.” he had better places to be. He had, after all, become a traitor himself.

Her face twisted into a scowl. He knew her true nature now. His time in the Nightmare, in Yocury’s nightmare, had taught him all about people like her. Yocury’s Master, the reason he wore that chain, was a perfect match.
Youji knew now what he had been too innocent and loyal to understand then.
The Queen snarled. Her pristine Perfection twisted to reveal her true nature. "I made you, you owe me. You will stay with me, or I'll take the gift I gave you back.”
He knew he had one shot. Without another word, he spun on his heel and fled. His sneakers pounded against cookie streets and he could hear her screeching behind him. Already he was thinking though, harnessing his own power. Sealing it deep within himself where she couldn’t reach it.
She tried. He could feel her magic raking through his soul. He only had one shot. Even as his body failed and crumbled, shrank back down to his other form, to that of a Treat, he ran. She screamed after him; “Come back here, come BACK HERE. You owe me this, you owe me your entire existence. I own you. I'll destroy you!”

He focused. He knew where he wanted to go instead. His tiny lungs heaved with the effort, but he called on the last of his magic and leaped.
Her magic passed through harmlessly where he had been not a second before, and then he tumbled into the cold. Frozen grass pressed up against his back, and he sucked in each breath like it would be his last. Above him loomed a castle encased in ice. It’s halls were dark, everything dark. Yocury wasn’t home yet. That was fine. He’d return soon. And until then, Youji would wait. He had something very very important to say to his friend after all.

He needed to say “I’m sorry.”

Description

Youji. Youji. The little Treat pondered the word. The name. It was him. His. Everything he had, everything he ever was, centuries ago. He’d been powerful then, he remembered. Cinnamon-fire had danced in his hands and he’d served the Children of the Sun loyally. Without question. Without remorse. He’d been as cruel as his masters demanded. He remembered now, the rainbow juices that had stained his hands once.
Hands. He looked at them now--tiny paws, no longer strong, no longer as dextrous as he’d once been--this entire form was wrong. This entire shape was broken. He hated it. Hated what the Nightmares had done to him! To his people and his kingdom! And yet… The Nightmares didn’t know. He had watched his friend for centuries, alone in that castle. He had watched and soothed. They had comforted each other and his friend--Yocury, was the Stygian’s name, he remembered now when the Stygian, just a Figment yet, much as Youji himself was before coming to this place, had just met him--Yocury had protected him.
He knew, now, that whatever had caused the war, he couldn’t abide by it. He needed answers. He needed--
There was a voice. Soft and sweet as spun sugar. He couldn’t understand her words, but as he watched, his Shape changed. Pain, as agonizing as what had brought him to his senses to begin with, wracked through him. He stood, calmly, and let the agony change him. The memories surged back and he screamed, his throat raw and chest heaving as he dropped to the ground. His body Changed. Grew. His limbs Expanded, his skin burned and itched. When the pain stop he collapsed to his side and opened his eyes, panting.
He had hands again.
That should probably be a relief, but for some reason all he felt was dread. With a groan, he pushed himself upright again and looked up at the speaker. The Princess. She smiled down at him. Perfect and delicate and practiced. His tail thumped against the ground.
“--The one who Chose You--” she was saying, her voice Perfection, her dress of gold and cream and sparkles flowing around her. The Princess, the Queen. Youji bowed his head in respect, and stole a glance at himself. He had clothes now. Comfortable and familiar. White shorts, pink sneakers, a pink vest. Ruffles everywhere. It must’ve been exhausting to dream this many ruffles. He has gloves--red--with long pink ribbons like the one on his tail. He was certain his hair was red like his mane. His bow carried his Mark. The Lollipop swirl. He smiled at it, then looked up at his Queen once more. She was still smiling, still Perfection.
He wanted to gag.

The world fell out from under him but his wings--larger now--carried him easily, and he and the Queen descended through endless grey clouds until the world exploded with color. Exploded with everything that his beloved city lacked! His eyes widened and he gasped. There was a song inside him, in the core of his being, and he followed it, very aware of his Queen watching him. The song carried him, lured him, to the Sun. Radiant and wonderful and he choked on a sob of pure glee. His form felt solid. Real. He could reach out and touch the Queen and she’d be real and soft under his hand. Part of him wanted to, and he laughed at the concept.
All around him were clouds of every color. He was Home.
But he wondered why that made his stomach twist. He looked to the Queen, still watching him, still so perfect and serene. He turned. The churning was uncomfortable, he wanted Away.
“Wait.” His Queen called to him, and he froze, his entire being jolting back at the order. His ears fell flat. He was loyal once. Why did he hesitate now?
“Yes, my queen?” he asked, but his tongue felt foreign in his mouth. The words didn’t fit right. This situation didn’t feel right. She was Perfection. Too perfect.
“Wait,” she repeated, her voice louder now. Still Perfect. “The restoration is not yet complete.”
That gave him pause, and he looked back at her. She tapped her staff--he hadn’t noticed it was there before, was he certain that it was?--and the clouds below them parted, racing away from each other and shining light and color onto the kingdom below.
His eyes went wide.

He could only describe the scene below as ‘carnage’. The streets erupted with rainbow light and buildings collapsed, all to rebuild themselves back. Perfect and New. There were Stygians in the cross-fire, and in a panic, Youji searched for the figure that chased him away just the day before--he deserved it, he knew, he betrayed his friend!--but Yocury is nowhere to be found. Had he been destroyed in his weakened state?? No, no, Youji couldn’t let himself believe that happened. It wasn’t just stygians though, he realized. He watched in horror as Treats took shelter in the old buildings only for them to collapse a heartbeat later. If the Stygians didn’t reach them first--he saw at least one Stygian snatch a fleeing Treat and carry it away from the ruination-and-rebirth of this glorious Kingdom. Another, as he watched, grabbed a Treat he remembers fighting alongside in the battle to protect the sun shard. Their vicious teeth rent through the Treat’s soft belly. Then the body went limp and a familiar rainbow ooze stained the ground below. The Stygian moved on, charging after another resident. Youji watched and trembled as memories overlaid themselves over the reality below him. He sucked in a sharp breath and shieed away.
He could imagine the screams.
“I know,” said the Queen, and her voice was thick with sorrow and rage. “I really did try, but I could not save everyone. I could only choose those who spoke to me.”

He remembered the room. The princess. Her tears. His tears. He remembered falling. Remembered remembering.
The Queen offered him her hand, as gloved as his own, and with no other choice, he took it. He couldn’t speak--it wasn’t that he lacked the ability, like he has for so many centuries. There were simply no words to be said.
His tongue still felt foreign.

The city was empty when they reached the ground. Treats and Stygians fled around them. Through them. As if they weren’t even there. Youji wasn’t certain they were. This all felt like… ironically, a Dream.
His Queen was talking but he hardly heard her, and watched the last stragglers of the Stygians leave. Watched Treats huddle in terror or look on in awe.
Mindlessly, his mouth made words that he didn’t hear. He didn’t realize it until she sighed. The heavy, exaggerated kind that he knew lead to orders to take down traitors.
He paid attention then.
“I mean obviously, not immediately, I get what you mean.” she seemed annoyed. His gut twisted with fear of her wrath. This Princess was the one he’d answered to once. Was that why he’d been chosen by her? “It will take time. First, this city, then this dream, everything around it, and even that accursed tree.”
Tree?
The Nightmare Tree?

The source of the Nightmares. Of the Stygians. Youji flicked his tail and looked up at the sun, shining so brilliantly overhead. To destroy that Tree would be like the Stygians destroying their Sun.
Was that acceptable? It couldn’t be.
“The only reason they won was because some of our own kind betrayed us!” his Queen was snapping. He frowned. He knew.
How ironic now. And how foolish he was…
“You speak of those who befriended the Nightmares.” he tried to keep his tone light, but speaking after centuries of barely having cognition was… difficult. He felt his Queen’s glare. “I know.” he added quickly. “I was one of the ones assigned to… deal with such traitors.”
That seemed to soothe her. He didn’t look to be sure.
She ranted wildly now, her back turned to him. About traitors and how the city was not built on hopes and dreams and prayers. Idly, he reached up and plucked a gumdrop from one of the newly reformed trees. He turned it over in his hand once, pocketed it, and looked back at the Queen.

“It was disgusting.” the words struck something inside him, and he focused on the Queen. “What do you even call something that can't really belong to either?” Friends, he amended in his head. “Oh, I don’t necessarily mean the romantic kind, I mean that stupid emotion humans get sometimes, that thing called friendship or whatever.” Love. She was talking about love. Youji couldn’t help but bristle, and his thoughts again turned to his friend. The one he’d betrayed while defending the sun shard. “They basically thought that we could feelings our way through it with close enough bonds.” The Queen continued, seemingly oblivious to his discomfort. Of course she was. Youji watched her, lashed his tail. His magic flickered at his fingertips. “They tried messing with the heads of those in our city, and then formed a stupid rebellion. It failed, of course, the first one, I killed them all."

He knew. He knew he knew he knew, his remembered being there. He remembered his magic scorching through the ‘traitors’. He hadn’t understood then, so blind with love for the children of the sun.
Now, after seeing how the Stygians lived, after living in that isolated Nightmare for centuries…
He curled his hand into a fist, snuffing his fire. That, she noticed.
Her eyes burned into him.
“You think I was crazy then. That I was wrong? I was desperate. I was trying to spare our city from a greater truth, the truth that the Nightmare only corrupts. What's a couple hundred lives compared to the lives of millions? And the sad part... the saddest thing about all of it is..”

“Why spare them the truth if you were so certain of it?” he asked before he could stop himself, snapping his fist back down to his side. He stood tall and proud, in defiance of his Queen. She stopped. Startled. Stared at him as if he’d slapped her. His tail coiled and swayed behind him, and she narrowed her eyes.

And ignored his question. “The saddest thing is that I was right. They stabbed me in the back, they tried to take what is mine!” she motioned at the sun. “And then everyone suffered!” He didn’t bother asking. “I put it back together, of course! Only the royal bloodline can bring about the sun’s creation or destruction!”

He wondered, briefly, who had destroyed it then.
Perhaps that prince he’d been fond of?
She seemed to take his silence as acceptance, as she calmed back into her Perfection, and smiled. “Well, now that I've told you everything, we must continue. The city, this dream of ours, is not complete yet, and we must find others to join our cause, the true others who are worthy.”

He wasn’t having any of it.
“No.” he said simply. “I can’t go with you.” he had better places to be. He had, after all, become a traitor himself.

Her face twisted into a scowl. He knew her true nature now. His time in the Nightmare, in Yocury’s nightmare, had taught him all about people like her. Yocury’s Master, the reason he wore that chain, was a perfect match.
Youji knew now what he had been too innocent and loyal to understand then.
The Queen snarled. Her pristine Perfection twisted to reveal her true nature. "I made you, you owe me. You will stay with me, or I'll take the gift I gave you back.”
He knew he had one shot. Without another word, he spun on his heel and fled. His sneakers pounded against cookie streets and he could hear her screeching behind him. Already he was thinking though, harnessing his own power. Sealing it deep within himself where she couldn’t reach it.
She tried. He could feel her magic raking through his soul. He only had one shot. Even as his body failed and crumbled, shrank back down to his other form, to that of a Treat, he ran. She screamed after him; “Come back here, come BACK HERE. You owe me this, you owe me your entire existence. I own you. I'll destroy you!”

He focused. He knew where he wanted to go instead. His tiny lungs heaved with the effort, but he called on the last of his magic and leaped.
Her magic passed through harmlessly where he had been not a second before, and then he tumbled into the cold. Frozen grass pressed up against his back, and he sucked in each breath like it would be his last. Above him loomed a castle encased in ice. It’s halls were dark, everything dark. Yocury wasn’t home yet. That was fine. He’d return soon. And until then, Youji would wait. He had something very very important to say to his friend after all.

He needed to say “I’m sorry.”