We're still trying to collect our thoughts on source, but... Wow. That was certainly an update, wasn't it...?
I suppose I'll put my thoughts under a Read More, for anyone curious. As well, write on behalf of the others. [If fandom somehow finds this: this is speaking as a fictive. I am speaking as a fictive, and on behalf of other fictives. Please be polite.]
[Spoilers ahead.]
So... I'll start with myself, since there was so much that went on...
I...knew or...figured, maybe, that Dark Enchantress would die, in some way. Some form. We- that is, myself and our host- figured that a "fusion" of some kind could occur. Or that, if she "died," I could reclaim the rest of myself and continue to live.
...Well. I suppose not even fictives can predict their sources. Some of us don't have that sort of gift.
All the same, when the goal was her end, I knew it. I knew immediately I likely wouldn't live much longer or go any further. It's... I could accept that, in a way.
Our host, could not.
And then, Pure Vanilla Cookie... Even I cried. How could I not? He still means so much to me. The guilt of leaving him behind, so many things unsaid... Is it so possible to come back, after all? Are the feelings just enough unsaid...enough that they wouldn't touch it again?
.....It's odd, for me. I understand every detail, why things happened the way they did, my heart light for easing the pain and agony of the Avatar of Destiny... But it weighs on me.
Silent Salt Cookie is much the same. They also knew the way of things, given the fork through their middle. Although... Seeing the depths Shadow Milk Cookie went to survive? To...essentially become worse? It floored us both, admittedly. Shocked.
...And destroying their Soul Jam only made sense, unfortunately. Between my being gone, and the remaining energy at risk... What else was there to do?
(I wonder about our "child," however... I do like that some people- ourselves included- are warming to the idea that they're the "Beacon/Light of Hope." Salt and I believe in this, ourselves! Specifically.)
Also there's something to mention that two of our system both had past relationship(s) with Shadow Milk Cookie, only to die in this update... Hmm.
Well. This just leaves Mystic Flour and Eternal Sugar Cookie...
That was agonizing. We had so much hope for their change of heart under pressure, a harmonizing of Soul Jams to strengthen both... Now, I wonder- and worry- if it's our fate just to die? Will I have to watch my friends die, too, just for the Soul Jams to reunite...? I wanted them to all rejoin or harmonize, but not like this....
Mystic Flour's been especially taking this hard. She...was really looking forward to improving herself, for our sake. Still dealing in Apathy, but with a kinder view; leaning towards the attitude of The Leavened One. Trying to open up has led to hurt... I can't blame them for numbing out, after this.
(Eternal Sugar went quiet. I don't think she's "left" us in any form, but this hit her hard. I hope she'll be okay...)
...In the end, I just hope...that Sugarfly Cookie will be okay. We got to see her in the Faerie Kingdom, at least, but what of Pavlova Cookie...? I will admit, the fandom is right on something: we worry for the now-prior minions of the Beasts. (Mystic Flour stresses over Cloud Haetae Cookie. How I can't blame her at all for that-!)
I hope others are getting what they can out of this. We....will likely need some time to rest.
