Work Text:
Alchemist Cookie had been having a lovely dream about beating Wizard Cookie in another one of their arguments when someone started shaking her shoulder in her sleep.
“Al…”
She didn’t register the sound, burying her head further into her pillow. It was late. She wanted to sleep. Whatever it was could wait.
“Little sis..”
The cookie huffed, rousing awake. What did her idiot brother want now... I swear if he was drunk again!-
No. He wasn’t.
Vampire had been at Mint Choco’s house to listen to his newest song. He had come home early. He hadn’t been at the bar.
Then what did he want?
Maybe he'll leave her alone if she pretended to be asleep.
Nope. His shaking only grew more- panicked.
“A-Alchemist.” He stuttered. Vampire never stuttered. He rarely used her name, preferring to just call her “Al"
Getting worried, Alchemist Cookie groggily turned around, facing her brother- who was wide awake. “…what do you want?” she grumbled, glancing at the clock on her nightstand. “It… 2 A.M. What could possibly be so important you had to disturb my sleep?”
Her brother looked guilty, clearly hesitant now. But also afraid. Why was he afraid?
“….we ran out.” He said after a moment of silence, not daring to look at her.
Alchemist rolled her eyes. “Of what? Wine?” she huffed, clearly annoyed, snuggling into her bed. Yeah, no she was going to sleep.
Vampire laughed nervously. “aha.. no… Uhm..”
“Then what.” She closed her eyes.
“….my elixirs.”
“Oh nooooo… we'll get some tomorro- wait what?!” she shot up, wide awake now, startling her older brother at the sudden energy. He giggled nervously.
“Yeaah.. funny story-"
“Vampire!” Alchemist scolded. “Did you forget last time?! Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”
“I only just found out…” Vampire mumbled.
The vampire had been having a lovely dream about just.. being a bat. Literally. That's it. He was a bat. And he lay in a wine glass.
Sure, the vampirism curse had its… not-so-fun sides… a lot of not-so-fun sides. But hey! At least he could fit in a glass. Who wouldn’t wanna fit in a glass?
Vampire Cookie tried to be optimistic if you couldn’t tell.
But then the dream changed. He felt.. funny. Really funny. And weird. Both.
Suddenly he didn’t fit into the wineglass.
Vampire looked at his hands- were those his hands? He never had such long nails before and-
That goddamned fucking smell again.
Why did he smell jam?
Why the fuck were his hands stained with jam?!
He looked down. Not just his hands- his clothes too.
Did… did he hurt someone? No no no! He hadn’t hurt anyone in so long….
The scene shifted and changed.
They were in the forest.
There was Herb, holding an unconscious Alchemist, who had been attacked by a cake hound pack.
Then he looked down.
Sparkling Cookie. And he looked terrified of Vampire.
Sparkling Cookie’s shirt was covered in red. Red red red red red. Red he had caused-
He was holding something.
Someone.
He was holding Mint Choco Cookie.
Who looked like he had gotten attacked by a monster.
His sleeve was rolled up.
He was also covered in jam.
And two bites stood in his neck.
Vampire woke up with a gasp, sitting up in his bed, eyes wide. Oh vanilla, sweet vanilla, what in the name of earthbread-
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Vampire tried to calm his pounding heart, forcing himself to take deep, slow breaths. That.. that was-
Calm down. That wasn’t real. Everyone is fine. He didn’t hurt Mint Choco. Sure, he had bitten his arm but Mint had asked him to do so because Vampire couldn’t leave the forest without attacking anyone otherwise. Mint Choco had had some nasty bruises on his arm from it, but nothing more.
Yeah. They're fine. Alchemist is fine.
He inhaled. Exhaled. Then opened his eyes.
Okay.. okay.. yeah, he was fine.. but where did that nightmare come from?
He found out quickly enough when his stomach gurgled. Right.. he hadn’t fed yet, had he?
It had been a bit longer than usual, but not enough that he should be in the danger zone. A bit tired, perhaps. Hungry. As long as he didn’t smell any jam he should be good.
Vampire had been keeping a very close track of when he fed and when not ever since… that, as well as that Alchemist Cookie always made sure that he had elixir ready to go. But as the weeks passed, they finally started loosening up again.
Vampire grumbled, floating out of bed. He just wanted to sleep.. still, he made his way over to his closet, where he also had a mini-fridge. He kneeled, prepared to just down a bottle of elixir and collapse, but was met with a surprise.
His fridge was empty.
He blinked before his eyes went wide. No that couldn’t be right… he still had a bottle last time he checked!
The vampire in him didn’t like it. He could tell. His purple eyes went red, but Vampire quickly shook his head. No... Alchemist maybe still had some extra in the basement. It wouldn’t hurt to check…
Turns out, she didn’t have an extra elixir in the basement. Vampire panicked, breathing sped up. Nononono- he- he couldn’t do this.. not.. not again.
He had almost attacked Alchemist, last time. He had attacked a cake hound pack (granted they tried to eat his sister first..) he bit Mint Choco Cookie. He attacked Herb before Mint Choco had managed to play a calming melody.
He couldn’t do that.
Not again.
Just the memories of it made him feel miserable again.
Okay.. stay calm. It hadn’t been that long. It's late. He didn’t have to wake Alchemist Cookie yet, he could wait until morning-
His eyes turned red again, and he growled like some sort of animal- his fangs became sharper. He slapped his hand against his mouth, horrified at the sound he just made.
He was waking up Alchemist.
"..." Alchemist grabbed his cheek, making him face her to look him in the eyes. He was paler, but it was barely noticeable. She could see the slight redness in his eyes, but he looked okayish... "How long has it been?"
"...a bit longer than two weeks." Vampire answered after thinking a bit. Alchemist exhaled. Okay... not that long. He should be fine.
"Do you think you can wait an hour or two?" Alchemist asked. Vampire's eyes widened. For just a second, Alchemist saw them going red before he blinked.
He grinned. "I can wait."
"Okay." Alchemist Cookie got out of her bed, gently grabbing his arm. "How about you go watch a movie while I brew it in the attic?'
Vampire nodded. Alchemist could see he was holding back, so she let him go, and ran downstairs, not waiting to see if he moved.
Half an hour later, Alchemist was walking back upstairs. The potion just had to brew for an hour, but she figured Vampire could wait. "Brother... I'm back!"
She walked into the living room, where the TV was on and...
Vampire had pulled a blanket all over himself, sitting up. She could see a half-eaten cake on the table. "...Vampire.." she walked over, pulling the blanket away. Vampire let her. He looked sad.
"..Uhm.. sorry.."
"What for?" She folded the blanket properly, pulling it over his legs. Vampire curled up, his hair covering his face.
"Ah.. waking you and such.."
"No, no, I told you, I don't care-"
"You should." He grabbed a fistfull of his hair, shaking. Alchemist frowned.
"Brother, I-.. look, I would have stayed up doing alchemy or something anyway-"
"You were asleep. I woke you up. Because I need that stupid elixir. Again."
"You can't help it and you know that.." Alchemist tried. "It's not your fault.. looking out for each other is what siblings are for, Vamp."
"You shouldn't be looking after me." She swore it sounded like he was holding back tears. "You should be sleeping, having fun- all you should worry about is how to cure your boredom. Not about when I'm going crazy vampiric demon and how to make sure I have food- I am your older brother, you are so young I should be looking after you not the other way around-"
"Do you hear yourself?" The younger sighed. "I don’t care, older or younger. I am your sister and I will always look after you."
"You're always worrying about me."
"I-"
"Don't deny it, Al. You are."
"..."
"You installed blinds on all windows to make sure I don’t get burned. You turned your lab downstairs into a weird witchy kitchen so that you can make me elixirs. You removed all mirrors in the corridor so that I don’t have to be reminded I don't have a reflection. You bought tons and tons of sunscreen so I can go outside. You're always looking after me."
"I...." she was speechless. "...yeah, I... I did. But that doesn't mean I always worry! It's not like you're on my mind 24/7, I have fun too... you worry about me too Vamp."
"I don't worry about not taking any garlic into the house other than in the lab in case you go crazy." Alchemist flinched. Vampire looked up, his eyes dead. "Yeah. I saw. And I understand."
"..." she looked at her lap. Vampire lifted his face so that you could see his eyes a bit.
"...you used to worry about me getting bullied in school," Alchemist spoke. "You always worried about what I will eat, how you will have money, or how you will take care of me." Vampire looked up in surprise.
"Don't think I don’t notice, Vamp." She adjusted her glasses. "I may not have realized it then, but I know now." She smiled slightly. "You woke me up at exactly seven every day so that you would have time to do my hair and I had time to eat. You woke up even earlier than that so that you could prepare my breakfast and lunch, and then together we walked to school. You always talked about the silliest things- or puns. You loved puns."
Vampire looked shocked. "...you remember all that?"
"Of course I do. How could I forget how you take care of me?" Alchemist brushed her hair out of her face. "You always take care of me. And no, it's not because you're my older brother. It's what siblings do. We're always here for each other, right?" She held out her pink.
"..." Vampire hooked his finger around hers, smiling slightly. He looked proud. "Yeah.."
"..."
His smile fell.
"...I'm tired." He sounded miserable, wiping at his eyes with his hands.
"Vampire.."
"I'm tired.." His voice broke. "Why do you always have to take care of me?"
"You know I don’t mind.."
"I know- but.. you shouldn't." He sobbed and hid his face in his knees again. "Not- not about this. This should be my problem. It.. it shouldn't be a problem... I'm tired, Al.."
"I know.. I know.." Alchemist hugged him close.
"I don't want to worry about drinking jam, I don't want to worry about sunscreen or the sun that seems to be even hotter than the oven.." he couldn't stop. "I don't want to worry about hurting someone- I don’t want to hurt you."
"You won't." To say, Alchemist was quite shocked. Never had she seen her brother like this before... but he had thought about it. Clearly, he thought about it a lot. "You never did. And you never will."
"How can you know that?" He was crying. She knew he was. "I could have hurt Mint Choco. I could have drank your jam then- I could do it now."
"But you didn't. You're not like that." She squeezed him tight. "You know how to control yourself. And whenever you can't, we help. I help. That's what family is for."
"..." She could feel the other cookie lean into the embrace without looking up. She nuzzled her head against his.
"...I'm hungry."
"Then eat, dumbass." She pointed at his half-eaten cake. Vampire looked up, finally. His eyes had gone red, she saw. But he had controlled it. Again.
"See? You controlled it." At Vampire's questioning look, Alchemist pointed at his eyes. "They're red, Vamp."
"....huh." he looked surprised, wiping his tears away. "...guess I did."
"...you gonna eat or not?"
"I rather you have it."
"Wha- why?"
"I'm not that kind of hungry."
"....oh."
Vampire chuckled slightly, slightly bending his legs to reveal more of his face. "I was hoping it would help soothe my hunger. I much rather that you have it."
"..we can share?"
Vampire smiled. "Okay. I ate the first half."
"....dang it." Vampire chuckled.
Alchemist grumbled but still grabbed it anyway. Her brother was smiling again. That was all she cared about.
"..."
"Vampire Cookie!" Alchemist got back up from the basement, holding three red bottles in her hands. "Your elixir is ready!"
Vampire, who had been dozing off on the couch, looked up, blinking slowly. Still, he looked relieved when he saw the bottle. "You're a life savior, Al. Literally."
"Thank me by not dying." She pushed the bottle into his hands, putting the other two on the table, and checked the clock above. It was almost 4 A.M. Late enough.
Looking to her side, she saw Vampire had already finished the first, looking longingly at the other two. "Take them."
"....isn't that too much?"
"You said you were hungry. I'll make another batch tomorrow."
"..." he took the second one, drinking it slower than the first. As he did, he leaned onto his sister's side. "...hey, Al?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you."
Alchemist smiled, hugging her brother around her shoulder. Vampire pulled the abandoned blanket over the both of them, leaning into the embrace.
That's how they stayed for the entire night, falling asleep while watching whatever was found on the TV, with the vampire holding a single red bottle in his hands, his sister curled up against his side as the older returned the favor.
When the sun came up in the morning, the duo who had fallen asleep in the living room did not have to worry.
For the curtains had been closed, blocking any sunlight.