[296] Chess Choco Cookie

The White Pawn stood in the middle of a deserted street swept by an icy wind, unable to understand why it had all ended this way. Her hand still clutched the Black Pawn’s hand so tightly that it felt as though, the moment she let go, he would vanish into the damp fog. The heavy doors of the Citadel of Cookies of Darkness had slammed shut behind them a quarter of an hour ago, but the clang of metal still echoed unpleasantly in her ears. The Dark Enchantress' voice had sounded weary and almost indifferent then. She said the games were over. She said they had become too noisy and were no longer of any use, that she had no time to fuss with little pawns when the fate of the entire world was being decided on the board. It was worse than losing the most difficult chess game, because no one had explained the rules of this defeat to them. The Black Pawn was silent. His face remained as calm and focused as ever when he was calculating a complex defensive combination, but his sister could feel his fingers trembling slightly. All around them there was only cold and the indifferent shadows of passersby—just like that evening many years ago, when the Enchantress first found them in the snow. Only now, no one promised warmth or a new home. The White Pawn pressed her shoulder against her brother’s and asked quietly, almost in a whisper “What should we do now?” The Black Pawn shifted his gaze to the dark alleys leading deep into the unfamiliar city, and after a long pause, replied briefly “Survive.” There was neither fear nor anger in his voice—only a cold, calculated calm, planned down to the very last move. Once again, they were destined to become pawns cast to the edge of the board, but this time they would decide their own fate.