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Pitaya slowly flew towards the Hollyberry Kingdom. They know the route like the back of their claw. They did not look down, hoping that the kingdom had recovered, the forest had recovered, and everything was back to normal. They knew it was delusional, but they couldn’t help but think these things as they landed in the middle of an empty market. Slowly, they walked towards the castle, looking around at the remains of the Berry Kingdom. All the fruits and treats the citizens were passionate about, just as much as their Queen was. It's all gone now, not even a single blue bird. They continued to walk towards the castle, longing to find something, some clue of the cookie that they once loved, of the family that they built with her. Unsurprisingly, the castle was empty, but they still managed to trek down the Halls, not wanting to admit that it was all gone forever. They were all immortals, after all, this was supposed to be forever. Some parts of the castle were falling apart, windows broken, sugar cracked portraits torn. The monsters were vicious. It hurt to see the faces of their family desecrated, so they refused to look anymore as they got deeper and deeper into the castle. The damage was lessened deeper within the castle walls, Pitaya guessed because only a few cookies were allowed in these places. The portraits were clear again, so they approached one of them. In front of them was a portrait of her after she had just established the kingdom. She looked so young, but as beautiful as ever. This was who they fell in love with. They carefully traced the portrait with their claw, trying to be as delicate as possible to preserve one of the only things they had left of her. They spotted something pink in their peripheral vision, so they turned around to look, but it was gone as quickly as they had turned. It couldn’t be her anyway, even though they desperately hoped it was. They progressed through the Halls, spotting another portrait. The first one depicted them together after they lost her for the first time, but they tried to smile. They were going to win next time. The memory was clear in their head to this day, even though the artist forgot to draw the blush on both of their cheeks. They snapped out of it when they heard a laugh. It was her laugh. They whipped around, wondering if she was really still here or if that was just their imagination. They saw nothing. They continued walking throughout the Halls, observing the portraits, admiring her beauty, until they see the family portrait of them, her, and Royal Berry.They looked at their son, thinking about how cute he was and how much he looked like them when he was a baby until he learned how to disguise himself. Hollyberry almost looked like she was glowing, and Pitaya was just in the back smiling. They remembered vividly how happy they were. Dragons will not go extinct at least, they thought. When their son was born, his beautiful eyes were just like theirs… they were a family that was unbothered, forever Frozen in that beautiful moment. They tried to wipe their tears, noticing a mirror in the hallway, seeing how much they have changed. They are a dragon. They shouldn't have changed this much in such a small amount of time—about a century—but they had. They weren't that carefree dragon who just napped and ate whatever they wanted. They were the dragon who taught their child about dragon tongue, their wife smiling down at them. No, they were a lonely dragon, their face no longer having their smirk, and there was nothing more than tears. Then, when they opened their eyes, they saw her beautiful shape in the mirror right next to them, still smiling like nothing ever happened. They turned around and she was gone again. They wanted to see that smile again. Maybe if they continued looking at portraits and reminiscing, they would see her again, and maybe they will see the others too. Maybe it was delusional, but they needed to see her just one more time. So, they continued moving through the Halls to see their son's childhood portraits. His teenage years, all of the parties she had thrown, a portrait of them trying to look menacing while Royal Berry played with their hair, Royal Berry and Jungle Berry on their wedding day, how beautiful he and his wife looked. He had managed to find someone. “Don't you wish we had a wedding like that?” They thought they heard her voice, this time a full sentence, seeing her smile in their peripheral vision but she was gone again. There was one final milestone left after a few minutes of walking. They found the portrait of the birth of their granddaughters, another reason that the dragons will not go extinct. The blue haired one had the most dragon blood in her. Pitaya could sense the moment it was born, she was going to become a beautiful dragon, and the pink one looked just like her Hollyberry. She was going to become a beautiful leader. They started crying again, and this time they heard the laugh again but this time she didn't disappear when they turned. They could finally take a good look at her. She still looked just as beautiful as the day that she had left. She looked the same, in fact. She turned and started running. Pitaya could not lose her again. The idea of losing her snapped them back to reality. They ran after her until they were at the end of a corridor and she stopped. They slowly approached her, tears in their eyes streaming down their face.
“You cannnnot imaginnne how much I haveee missssed you.” They finally touched her face again and she started laughing. To see her smile, to hear her laugh, to see her move again, to have just one more memory with her… They felt something in their abdomen and when her voice started changing. They realized it wasn't her at all. It was that cookie, the cookie who took her away from them! When they finally registered what was in their abdomen and felt it come out of the other side, the strong laughs turned into manic cackling as she finally formed into her actual form. They tried to speak with a growl of pain. Dark Enchantress answered their unspoken question when she said, “illusion magic. Simple as that.” She pulled out the sword from their abdomen, and they fell to the ground in pain. The wound burned, but if it was just a simple sword it should not be able to hurt this much and do this much damage. They looked up, and they got a good look at the sword. It was engraved with dragon's tongue runes.
“ didn't even have to ask, after you so graciously taught me. I researched more and managed to reverse engineer it to create a sword that is strong enough to kill a dragon quickly, by draining your life energy. Isn't it funny that the cookie who is responsible for killing the love of your life is the one who helped you fall in love with her?” The mad cackling continued. They couldn't look at her anymore, so they lifted their head to see another portrait which had been painted just a few days before the war. Their son and his wife sat together, holding each other, happy. Holly held one of the princesses like a prize and Pitaya held the other awkwardly, knowing how delicate they are. The princesses were only toddlers. As Pitaya started to lose consciousness they realized they're never going to see their family together again, even if they knew that fact for such a long time, they still believed there was some hope. Now the only thing left was regrets. They wished they insisted to come with her, maybe they could have saved her. Maybe if they stayed in the Kingdom for longer, if they did anything differently, would there be more portraits of their family. But it was too late, so they bled on the ground full of nothing but regrets. They just wanted to have one more memory.