Neither Beast nor Virtue AU
I finally got around to finishing Episode 15 and, like many people, I am not satisfied with the Beasts ending! Especially as someone who isn’t a fan of SMC.
The Beasts still have so much potential! Whilst their fates haven’t been 100% confirmed yet (though I wouldn’t put it past DevSis to never have them appear agai), I started cooking up my own AU to play around with, which I’m calling " Neither Beast nor Virtue AU”.
I will prewarn that this may be quite OoC, but that’s what AUs are for! Rambles below:
The general idea of this AU is that Burning Spice Cookie, Mystic Flour Cookie and Eternal Sugar Cookie all survive. Shadow Milk Cookie has drained their soul jams of their power and left them for dead, and Silent Salt Cookie crumbled due to the Silver Fork and a self-inflicted injury, and with his soul jam uniting with White Lily Cookie’s to create the “Beacon of Hope”.
I’ve had this idea even before this episode that it would be incredibly hard/almost impossible to “reform” the Beasts due to the “good” values being stripped from their soul jams and placed into the Ancients reborn soul jams following the Beast Binding Ritual. Because of this, it is only the “bad” values that fuel them now – almost literally. In the AU, with their corrupted soul jams now inert, this would then open up the possibility of their reforming/healing.
Whilst the word “Corrupted” is used to describe the Beasts downfall, I think it’s more that circumstances in their lives caused them to embrace the “darker” side of their Virtues. These values were always part of their given Virtue’s, they just weren’t at the forefront.
I know that the bodies Dark Enchantress Cookie made for the Beasts were meant to only be stable because of the soul jam’s power, I like to think that a combo of they themselves being powerful and perhaps methods they took to try and regain their former power (as referenced in CookieChat), it is enough to keep them together, just significantly weakened and with no soul jam power. Also, the cookies that found them specifically said “Unconscious”, so screw you SMC I’m running with it.
Somehow, despite SMC bring convinced the Beasts were no more than “Empty Husks”, Burning Spice, Eternal Sugar and Mystic Flour survived, albeit unconscious at the time.
The bodies of the Beasts are left for a time following the assumption that they have perished. It’s not hard to come to that conclusion, considering the state they are in. They have wounded to care for, the bodies of their friends and family to recover. The corpses of their attackers can wait.
Burning Spice stirs first in his hunched position, and he’s hit with a wave of pain and exhaustion he’s not sure he’s ever felt before. He pushes though it and surveys his surroundings, taking in the familiar remnants of destruction around him, but frowns when it does not stoke the fire in his heart like it usually would. In fact, it feels like the flame has gone out completely.
He looks down at his chest, only to find the usually glowing orange stone to be completely blackened, now just feeling like a very heavy lump. A shaking hand brushes the gemstone. Cold to the touch.
More long-forgotten emotions bubble to the surface. Unease, worry, fear. He surveys his surroundings again, trying to suppress these feelings, and spots the still forms of his fellow Beasts. Anger rises within him when he sees Silent Salt’s body, the reveal of his betrayal still fresh in his mind.
But he finds himself more furious upon seeing Shadow Milk, as a hazy memory dislodges in his brain. Shadow Milk did this. He drained the remainder of their Soul Jam’s power, and left them to rot. That body was just another one of his cheap tricks. So loud about Silent Salt’s betrayal, but didn’t hesitate to stab them in the back too. Typical.
He needs to get out of the open. Using his anger to fuel him, he slowly stands, his body uncharacteristically screaming out at him. He stumbles towards Eternal Sugar and Mystic Flour, checking for a pulse. Both still alive. Barely. He hoists them up, one on each arm, and begins a slow trek back towards the forests, wanting to get away before the Ancients returned to finish the job.
A voice in his head nags at him. Why is he helping these weaklings, these inferior Beasts he’s forced to share a title with? If he left them there, surely they would perish, and the only one who would stand in his way is Shadow Milk Cookie. Perhaps he would even take the power all for himself, once he snapped the neck of that wonna-be jester.
What point would that serve, though? His power is gone and is in the hands of a powered-up lunatic and, as much as he loathes to admit it he is injured and weakened himself. If any of them want their powers back, they need to rest, recover and then work together. It was simply strategy.
Eventually, Burning Spice reunites with Nutmeg Tiger Cookie, with Cloud Haetae Cookie and Pavlova Cookie not far behind. The remaining Beasts are stirred, dazed and confused themselves. After some discussion, the three go their separate ways, journeying back to their respective domains to rest, recover and plan how they are going to get their powers back.
It is not an easy reprieve for two, however, as dissent and betrayal begins to brew in Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar’s domains.
With Eternal Sugar’s powers now gone, she is unable to maintain and enforce the perfect image of her Garden to her normal standards. The denizens quickly found that their wishes and desires were not as forthcoming and immediate as before.
Pavlova Cookie saw this as an opportunity to finally be free from Eternal Sugar’s tyranny. Whilst Pavlova Cookie loathed what he saw when outside the garden, if he could convince the other residents that Eternal Sugar’s lack of power was compromising their paradise, one that she promised to them, he could use them to force her out. He learnt a thing or two about manipulation whilst under Eternal Sugar’s watchful eyes.
And that is exactly what they did. Her once adoring subjects suddenly saw her as a weed needing to be exterminated. Unable to properly defend herself, she fled from the Garden, HER Garden, and out into Beast Yeast. Alone.
The attacking power of Eternal Sugar Cookie’s cherubs was no more than a violent pillow fight in comparison to Burning Spice Cookie’s denizens however. His mantra of the stongest running over the weak was about to bite him in the ass, as a tyrant that rules under fear cannot do so if he himself is perceived as weak.
Always hungry for more power, the factions came together to stage a coup, eager to unshackle themselves whilst they had the chance. Nutmeg Tiger Cookie, however, stood by his side, completely loyal all the way to the end. If Burning Spice still had the power of his Soul Jam, the two of them would be able to wipe out the entire army. They would deserve it for their insolence. But, that power was now gone and, as much as Nutmeg Tiger wanted to protest (so did he, internally), the two of them fled out into the desert.
Both now cast out of their own domains, the (ex?)Beasts both had the same idea. Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar were both very surprised when they met at the bottom of the steps towards the Ivory Pagoda.
Mystic Flour Cookie’s recovery had been characteristically uneventful. The only other occupants of the Pagoda were completely loyal to her, and she had much time to meditate and contemplate on the events that had transpired. She was surprised when the silence was broken by a ruckus out in the courtyard, and even more surprised to find Cloud Haetae and Nutmeg Tiger arguing, Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar watching in amusement.
After some back and forth, Mystic Flour was able to cut through their stubbornness and find out why they were here: they’d been kicked out and had nowhere else to go. She debated internally. Normally, she would send them away. They both indulged in their greed and gluttony, and she knew they would disrupt her sanctuary of Apathy. However, she couldn’t get her power back alone. the Pagoda was huge and empty, and there would be plenty of space for them to occupy… away from her.
Begrudgingly, she allows them to stay. What ensues is a lot of antics and shenanigans, pissing each other off and dismantling the corruption that fuelled them for so long through the power of Talking About Your Feelings.
With the groundwork established, this allows me to start thinking about and experimenting with the core premise: The Beasts helping each other heal from their trauma and walk down the road of redemption. It is also a great excuse to draw them just. Hanging out and being friends again.
I want to see Burning Spice find things in life that make it worth living again. Quite frankly, part of me thinks he is actually suicidal, always throwing himself into Destruction with the hopes that one day, someone stronger than him will finally end his existence. Ultimately, like with most of the other Beasts, I think he’s lonely. Having a stable, persistent presence in his life that can show him a different outlook on living would help him a lot, I think.
Mystic Flour, to be, uses Apathy as a defence to stop herself from getting hurt again. I think she is still deeply traumatised by the day her Pagoda was raided, and Cloud Haeate’s mother was killed. There were probably even more people who died on that day, people she cared about. If she stops caring about anything, then surely nothing can hurt her again, right?
I can see Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar breaking down those walls by just being themselves, by just interacting with each other and getting on each other’s nerves, like two siblings teasing each other, or an old married couple that bicker with each other. Similar to Birning Spice, having a stable, persistent presence in her life can help her realise that there are people and things she does still deeply care about.
Eternal Sugar Cookie, bless her, had the best intentions out of all the Beasts I think. She’s someone who did everything to give Cookies Happiness, but it was never enough. The best intentions don’t always mean the right solutions, however. A big part of her healing process is accepting that strife and despair is needed to experience true happiness, because if you have everything then what is there to be happy about? There are no better teachers for this than Burning Spice and Mystic Flour, I think.
Anyway, rambling over. Thank you for reading all the way to the end! Feel free to loop in any thoughts or ideas you have!
