Speaker A
Everything is [music] ready. A new world of voices united. You cannot exist without me.
White Lily Cookie faces Tartarus, struggles with her past, and confronts her fate as the next Nether Queen in Cookie Run Kingdom Episode 8.
Key Takeaways
- White Lily Cookie is a complex character embodying both heroism and villainy.
- Tartarus serves as a metaphysical realm where souls are judged and transformed.
- The role of Nether Queen demands complete self-sacrifice and loss of individual identity.
- White Lily’s refusal to accept her fate highlights themes of free will and responsibility.
- The narrative emphasizes the ongoing struggle to protect and preserve the cookie world.
What the video covers
- White Lily Cookie finds herself in Tartarus, the unseen dimension souls pass through after death.
- She recalls erasing her memories at the academy to prevent opening dangerous rifts.
- Despite her struggles, she is recognized as both a hero and villain for her actions.
- The current Nether Queen prepares to retire and seeks White Lily as her successor.
- Becoming the Nether Queen requires erasing all memories and self to become a guardian of Tartarus.
- White Lily resists the role, expressing her desire to return to the cookie world to fix its problems.
- The river of oblivion is a key passage for souls, but only strong souls like White Lily can resist fading away.
- The video explores themes of responsibility, sacrifice, and the balance between freedom and duty.
- White Lily’s journey is marked by confronting darkness she created and accepting the consequences.
- The story sets up a conflict between accepting fate as Nether Queen or returning to save the cookie world.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Arrival in Tartarus
- 04:46White Lily’s Past and Heroic Legacy
- 08:40Meeting the Current Nether Queen
- 12:59The Role and Burden of the Nether Queen
- 17:07White Lily’s Refusal and Desire to Return
- 20:53The River of Oblivion and Soul Transformation
- 24:46Preparing for the Final Decision
- 27:42Cliffhanger and Future Challenges
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
The new world atonement. May our world we share [music] shine bright forevermore. I wonder, precious.
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This place, water. No, my dough hurts. No, it's not that. My dough. I can't feel it anymore.
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I am my name, my dough. It's all right to let go of the heavy name.
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In the end, it was out of reach. If I fade, it won't hurt. In the end, this is how it all just ends.
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No, I don't want to let go. I don't want to fade. [sighs] I remember now.
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That's right. I said goodbye to everyone, and in the end, it became [music] a final farewell.
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After all that preparation, all that desperate struggling, I really did crumble, didn't I? Which means this is Tartarus.
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The unseen dimension I theorized I would reach. And yes, now I remember. This is the other side of the rift I opened at the academy.
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Correct. Still as sharp as ever, aren't you? You're this cold flame. The river of oblivion must have been running quite fierce.
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And yet here you are all the way through without crumbling. Well done. Well done indeed.
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I really do have impeccable taste, don't I? Oh my. Forgive me. It's just been so long since I've [music] laid eyes on you.
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I forgot to dial it back a little. Another queen cookie. [music] That's right. It's been a while, little Lily.
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That day at the academy, you erased my memories. Yes, I did. Because if I hadn't, you would have opened an even bigger door before long.
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I can't say you're wrong. Right. And yet, that's exactly the life you went and lived anyway.
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You loved life so deeply that you could not bear its flaws, and the very [music] desire to save the living ended up wounding the world instead.
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But your life will not be written down as failure alone. You never ran. In the end, you turned and faced the darkness you had made.
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Born into the body of a small cookie, you crossed dimensions and uncovered the deepest secrets of the world by your own hand.
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Called the greatest hero and the worst villain in the same breath. You contended with a soul entangled with a dragon [music] and wielded the power of a witch herself.
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And in the end, you paid the most noble price of all. Radiant soul, imperfect goodwill.
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Your life was a long, long journey [music] of learning what it means to be both free and responsible.
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You've worked so hard. Your name will be remembered in the cookie world for a long, long time.
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Do you really think so? Of course. Now then, shall we? Tartarus has been waiting for you for quite some time.
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This realm [music] is so vast. Well, every living thing in the cookie world has to pass through here eventually, though [music] most of them drift through without ever knowing Tartarus exists.
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How could they pass through without even knowing of its existence? My dear, do you think it's common [music] for souls to be stubborn enough to go waiting out of the river on their own two feet?
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Most of them [music] drift away peacefully right there in the current. I've sent along about three candidates for the next Nether Queen that way so far. [music] The second one was truly lovely.
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But every now and then there are [music] souls that remain stuck in the river.
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Some carry so much lingering regret that their feelings simply refuse [music] to be washed away.
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They don't get carried downstream. They [music] stay right there in the current, grasping at everything that tries to flow past them.
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Simply put, they're greedy little things. In this world, we call them race. Oh, now that [music] I think about it, the third candidate never made it out of the river at all. Even now, [music] it's so unfortunate that it even stings a little. But [music] then a soul as remarkable as yours came along. So I [music] suppose I can look back on that one with a smile. Yes. Yes.
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Don't tell me [music] you still intend to put me on the throne of the underworld.
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Oh, [music] Asphidel Cookie, come look. Our little Lily has arrived. Little Lily, I don't know. That cookie [music] soul is still in one piece.
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You, you [music] are the soul I met at the academy. You've been in Tartarus this whole time.
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Have I? I don't know. How long has it been? This cookie is a soul who made it out of the river.
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Just like [music] you. For reasons of her own, she helps me now. There are a few like this one. Each of them [music] stays for their own reasons.
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H. She's [music] been here so long she gets a little spacey. But she knows plenty about Tartarus.
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I have to go back. Yes. Yes. But do try and remember this one's [music] face. She's going to be the next Nether Queen after all.
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Now then, let [music] me see. Sharp, bold, insufferably proud. I think we can leave the emotions as they are.
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Still, [music] the memories will all have to go, won't they? [music] It's fine. A soul this strong will make a wonderful Nether Queen.
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My memories. All of them. Mhm. To become the Nether Queen, every trace of self [music] and the memories written into the soul must be erased entirely.
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One must become a being unswayed [music] by any one soul's grief over another. To [music] look upon every soul equally, one must first lose oneself entirely.
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Baptized by the waters of the river of Oblivion, reborn as [music] a true and complete guardian of Tartarus.
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You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day. I've been wanting to retire before Tartarus gets any busier.
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I've been at this far, [sighs] far too long. I've been managing [music] this realm since the very birth of Cookie Kind.
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Is that so? That really is an awfully long time. An awfully long time [music] indeed.
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Don't you feel pity for me? Lifetime appointments [music] are a tragic thing. And the work. Oh, the work. Making sure everything flows along as [music] it should.
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Making sure the wraiths don't wander too far off course [music] and occasionally sitting down to hear reports from my little helpers about whatever incidents have [music] broken out in Tartarus.
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And is that the end of it? No, after that it's [music] sorting out those incidents, making sure everything is running properly after checking that all the pieces are in order.
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Round and round like a wheel that never [music] stops turning. Work, work, more work, and yet more work after that. And [music] I've been doing it forever.
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Can you imagine? [music] Now, not long ago, I happened to look in on the cookie world, and [music] it turns out you can actually forge a guardian [music] of nature from a cookie soul.
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And that's when [music] it came to me, find an extraordinary soul to become the new Nether Queen.
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And then I retire. Woohoo! Retirement! I'm so glad you [music] made it here, little Lily. You're going to make a wonderful [music] Nether Queen.
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I'm not doing it. I want to go back to the cookie world. It's been ages [music] since a soul has stood before me and defiantly told me to my face that they want to escape Tartarus. Is it because you know I have a soft
Speaker A
spot [music] for you? You've got some nerve. It's so brazen. It's almost adorable. Should I go?
Speaker A
H. No. No. Stay right where you are. I may need your help depending on how this goes.
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All right, let's do this properly, then. The look on your face tells me I'm going to need to spell it out letter by letter.
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Now then, little Lily, why do you want to go back to the cookie world?
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I haven't finished [music] taking responsibility for what I did. Even if I crumbled, it didn't bring everything to a happy ending.
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You just said yourself [music] that Tartarus was going to get busier. It's hard to say you're wrong. Then again, you were always far too clever for your own good.
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If the cookie world is still [music] in danger, I have to go back and stop it from falling apart.
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Mhm. But tell me, little Lily, how exactly do you plan to get there? If you truly want to return, you'll have to walk back into the river of oblivion.
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You walk in there, wash away everything that makes you you, and leave behind [music] nothing but pure life energy.
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Then the river will send you back to Earth, Fred, nice and easy. And when I go back li
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Then the river will send you back to Earth, Fred, nice and easy. And when I go back like that, will I still be me?
Speaker A
Like Lily Cookie? No. Your life energy will [music] become part of other living things. a flower, the soil, the wind, [music] some small names, little life.
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If you're lucky, a part of you might become [music] a cookie again. But that cookie wouldn't be called White Lily Cookie, now would they?
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Then no, I refuse. That was fast. I didn't come all this way [music] to forget.
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Mhm. Yes, I know. You came after fulfilling [music] your responsibility, but yourself is still intact. So, what you really want is to go back and keep doing your best, isn't it? [music] That's right. I And yet why should the realm of Tartarus
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grant such mercy to you alone? [gasps] Since the dawn of this [music] realm, there have been countless heroes who held more complete conviction than you, who wounded the world less than [music] you ever did.
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and they surrendered their souls to the river willingly. Even those who lingered in Tartarus did [music] so only to wait for the soul of someone dear to them. In the end, they too [music] moved on. Every last one of
Speaker A
them. [music] Because those wise souls understood something that in this world there [music] is no task that only the individual I can accomplish.
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That's that's [sighs and gasps] it's that old pride of yours, isn't it? The [music] belief that you're the only one in this world who can do what needs doing.
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M adorable, of course. Truly terribly adorable. [music] But take a look at the cookie world as it is now.
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Don't you think it's [music] about time you let that habit go? Well, hard to say I'm wrong, isn't it?
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Now, little Lily, if you want to help Cookie Kind, you'll need to find [music] another way.
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So, this is the Nether Throne. That's right. The legacy [music] I wish to pass on to you.
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Look at me, the sovereign Tarterus. Take that throne and you'll be able to help Cookie Kind in ways unlike anything you've done before.
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From beyond the veil, you can protect Cookie Kind alongside [music] the guardians of nature. You could protect it through means no one could ever imagine.
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You would come to know the balance of the world, its secrets, its truths. You could hold this delicate, exquisite terrarium in your palm and watch over it.
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You would simply forget the life you've lived until now. Unlike the cookie world, Tarterus needs you now, little more knowledge.
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more power, even a body that cannot be shattered. I'll give you everything you could want. All you need to do is declare yourself as my successor. H I So, little Lily, have you started to feel a little differently?
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I can't give up myself. It's true that I have memories so painful, so shameful, so cruel that I'd want to forget them all.
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Those memories tore my soul apart. And there were times they even brought me to my knees.
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But even in all that darkness, [music] there were moments so radiant they felt close enough to touch. I'm certain of it.
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someone's warm voice. The times [music] we laughed together. A hand that caught hold of me even when I was letting go of myself.
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They're the [music] memories that prove the light inside me still hasn't faded yet. So I understand now. to cast away my memories, my sense [music] of self.
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It means casting away not just the wounds, and everything I ever loved along [music] with them.
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My sins, my dreams, they're all mine. I don't want to let them go. I want to return to the [music] cookie world, carrying all of this with me.
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I won't give up. No one's light, not even my own. I won't let them fade ever [music] again.
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Little Lily, you may feel that way now, but there's a way back. Technically, what?
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[music] Now, now, asked Fidel Cookie, I didn't keep you here so you could go sing things like that.
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And that way is no good. In the end, it would give neither me what I want nor you what you want.
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[music] Tell me what it is first. Whether or not I use it, that's for me to decide.
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You really are impossibly stubborn. Though, I'll admit that stubbornness was part of what won me over.
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Fine, let's go see it ourselves. If I don't [music] show you, you'll obviously just sneak off to find out on your own.
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Anyway, the trials we're going [music] I'll go have to go back. Unlike the creator who made Cookie Kind, the creator who made Tarterus was deliberate in its layout and purpose.
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They begrudged the life energy lavished [music] so freely upon creatures destined to crumble in moments.
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And so they made what we see today, Tartris and the River of Oblivion, so that life energy would circulate within the cookie world and nowhere else.
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A wise witch, then wise, more like calculating. She weighed the worth of life energy against the worth of a soul coldly and precisely.
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And so when a soul too valuable to simply fade away arrived in Tarterus, [music] she designed a trial where they can prove their worth.
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Pass the trials and you may be reborn. The form you're reborn in is another matter. Of course, you can be reborn with yourself [music] intact.
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Asphodel Cookie, you little troublemaker. Why didn't you tell me this sooner? Tell me [music] how. And if you won't, I'll find out myself.
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Now, now, I had no intention [music] of hiding it. I simply meant to start with the side effects.
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[music] Side effects. There were side effects. You're the side effect. Asphodel Cookie. Look at her. A soul who has forgotten her own true name, her memories, her feelings, her dreams.
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And believe me, that's actually quite the success story. She failed [music] the trials and yet she's kept her form.
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Don't tell me. [music] I told you the creator of Tartus was a calculating one, didn't I?
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The trials of Rebirth do not merely sort out the worthy souls. It's a trap. One designed to take the stubborn [music] souls who would linger forever in Tarterus and shatter them to pieces whether they like it or not. [music]
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[gasps] That path, it's the trials of rebirth, isn't it? Indeed. And even [music] if you pass it, there's no telling what you'll be reborn as. [music] Even if you endure this agony to the very end, who knows? You might come back
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as a butterfly that crumbles in [music] 3 days. And I'll just have to return to TardeRus and throw [music] myself into the trials again.
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Is that truly what you want? to hurl yourself into agony over and over until you come out in the form you're hoping for without caring how much of yourself wears away in suffering.
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Holding on will only bring you pain, little Lily. Think carefully. Giving up is not turning your eyes away from responsibility.
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You've already offered up your life. Please just let go. It's the easier [music] path to bear.
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Not once in my life have I ever [music] chosen the easy path. What exactly happens in the [music] trials?
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I won't be telling you exactly what takes place. I've no reason to be kind to a soul who turned down my throne.
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the trials. What it is is Asphodel Cookie. Yeah. Um, sorry. [music] Won't say anything.
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I don't [music] want to become the Nether Queen. I want to live as me, wholly and [music] truly.
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I'm tired of living as some other form of myself, bound by one condition after another.
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So, [music] you're going through with it after everything? I'm going back to the place I [music] broke.
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Questions I couldn't finish. I'll go on living and I'll ask them [music] again. [gasps] I knew you'd say that. Well, [music] off you go. Then follow the path where the merry golds bloom and see if you've come to understand.
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Whether what you're holding [music] on to is defying the path or lingering only as much as the path allows.
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Shatter to pieces in there long enough and perhaps you'll find out. In [music] case it needs saying, if you do come back too worn away to be of use, I'll [music] simply go find another candidate for Nether Queen. You
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understand? So come back while you still [music] can. I'm going to come back as White Lily Cookie as nothing else.
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She's gone. So she is off she went. By the way, it looks like you went and guided [music] yet another homesick soul to the trials, didn't you?
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But she wanted to go back. Because of you, souls who have drifted gently around [music] Tartarus and fallen asleep in the river keep getting ground to [music] pieces in the trials instead.
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You little thing. Today [music] we are finally rinsing that attachment of yours away in the river.
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[sighs] No. [gasps] [music] Let go and you find peace. Hold on and you [music] find pain.
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Did you think those were just words of comfort? Little one, that is the law of this realm.
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Nether Queen Cookie. She's scarier than the Wraith sometimes. That cookie. I hope she made it out. Okay.
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But where did she go? Huh? Is that light? A star. [music] Oh [sighs] a star is coming down.
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Do they normally do that? So, this is Tarterus. Are you here, White Lily Cookie?
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Oh, it wasn't a star. It was a cookie. A new soul. Hello there. Something feels strange.
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What is it? [sighs] What is it? Have you [music] happened to see a soul with the scent of lilies?
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But souls don't have a scent, so I wouldn't know what you I don't know.
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Oh, then. But I smell something. [music] You smell like something. You smell like a living soul.
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That's [music] right. I'm danger. Dangerous. Danger. What? What's dangerous? When there's a scent, the wraiths come up out of the river.
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A scent? I smell a sweet freak. I a life energy. I need two back.
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Give me my Give me ours. Another clean cookie. [music] [music] [music] [music] Another clean cookie.
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Want to go back? Sweet scent. Nutty scent. Soft scent. Get back. I'll use my magic.
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Magic? It won't work. The laws here are different from the cookie world. Oh no.
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Why was I trying to go back? Who did I want to see? Who was I? But I'll go back. I have to go back. I promised I wouldn't crumble.
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Run. Your sweet scent is drawing all the rapes of Tarteus. They're coming. All of them.
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Why me? Why only me? Must I crumble when there were so many worse vile CREATURES OUT THERE? WHY ME? [screaming] And here I was hoping for a nice quiet day today.
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If you had stayed tucked away in the river, I wouldn't have to trouble myself and bother you. So why [music] kick up such a fuss and drag me out here?
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Another cream cookie. Oh, I see. I'll deal with you later. I've got a job [music] to see to you first.
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[screaming] Sovereign, Overseer, Nether Queen Ruler. Scary, scary, scary. Mercy. [laughter] Mercy. Mercy. Hush. I've shown you plenty of mercy [music] already.
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The souls. They've crumbled. I didn't draw them out on purpose. It's the scent of the living soul here.
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[music] I swear it. Yes, I know. I know. You adorable little troublemaker. Fragrant living soul.
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This is no place for the likes of you. Not as you are now. What reason brings you here?
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Sovereign of Tarterus, Nether Queen Cookie. I've come to find a soul who would have arrived here not long ago.
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She is a cookie soul that caught your eye. So I believe she would not yet have scattered [music] nor become a wraith.
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Where is the soul of White Lily Cookie? The cookie [music] world is in danger and we still have need of its hero.
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[sighs] I really am so exhausted [music] these days. Living soul, I understand the will that carried you all the way here. But if you thought I'd grant your request simply [music] because I admire the effort you invested into getting here,
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then you've miscalculated. But at this rate, [music] we won't be able to talk at all.
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[laughter] Oh my. Coming back to your senses now, are we? Then let me give you an answer to what you just [music] asked.
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No. Ever since the moment she entered, the little lily belongs to Tartarus. [music] What must I do to get her back? I'll do anything.
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Get her back. You speak as [music] though she belongs to you. And what is it you intend to do once you've taken the little lily away? Use her to save the cookie world. Is it?
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Yes, we need her. What a sweet, adorable [music] thing you are. But you're wrong.
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What you must save is this [music] entire world, is it not? Yes. But that world will not be set right by the return of a single soul.
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I'm sorry. What do you mean? What you are currently losing is the bond between soul and do the rule of life that the soul jam once [music] held in place and the stability of the timeline itself.
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A timeline. A timeline where a little lily opened a dimensional rift. a timeline that the corrupted fountain of knowledge has tangled together.
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The path you walk is no longer a single one. Do you [music] understand the point I am trying to make?
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If you wish to save this [music] delicate, sweet little terrarium, the answer is not to take the lily away.
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It is to make the broken power whole again. So that the fracture in the world, the one that began the [music] moment that power broke, can finally be sealed.
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This broken power. You are referring to the [music] soul jam. Yes. As sharp as you'd expect from a friend of the liies.
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In the beginning, there were five powers, whole and complete. They were so mighty that they played a great part in holding the world together.
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But they fell into corruption. And as they were sealed away, they each split in two. Now the fallen fountain of knowledge has taken most of that power and gone.
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When the central pillar is gone, the house collapses, does it not? So, the pillar must be raised again before the ruined house can be repaired.
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But the only soul gems [music] that remain now are white lily cookies and silent salt cookies.
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Yes. And those powers came to hold one another close, becoming the possibility of a new beginning. A light to be cherished.
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Indeed. But the other soul [music] gems were all taken by shadow milk cookie. When the cup on one side is emptied, the cup on the other [music] is filled.
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That's the way of things. Count [music] yourself fortunate. The true cup of this timeline still remains.
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The true cup. A cup, a vessel to hold the power of a soul jam.
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You speak [music] of the beasts, but they all crumbled to dust and vanished. Huh? Did they know? How strange. I have no memory of meeting their souls here in Tagris.
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You're right. The beast's [music] that shattered in that war were vessels made by dark enchantress cookie.
Speaker A
If the beasts are truly dead, if their souls each return to their real dough, the silver sealed tree of beast yeast.
Speaker A
You mean they lie dormant in their true doe's sealed [music] beneath it? If we draw out that dough and fill it with the soul jams once more, we can refill this timeline's [music] true cup.
Speaker A
Bravo. Bravo. There's hope for you to clever children yet. Teach you one thing and you grasp 10.
Speaker A
Now then, let's see if you know this one as well. Souljam. Yes, it is no mere jewel that holds great power.
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They are crystals the creators formed by compressing their own life energy, compressed together at a density beyond imagining.
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Of course, this realm holds [music] other mighty powers besides the soul jams. But what matters is that these powerful crystals are the very heart of this terrarium.
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They are the pillar of life that keeps the cookie world breathing sweet and crisp and alive.
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For [music] life to breathe, power cannot sit stagnant. It must flow and flow strongly. Right?
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So that is why the [music] guardians of nature exist. Exactly. They preside over the vast flow of life, maintaining the world, cycling it, letting it flourish and thrive.
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On Earthbred, the other guardians guide the powers [music] of life down to the Nether.
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Whereas I, in Tartarus, cleanse that life energy in the river here, [music] then send it back up to the surface.
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Now and then the balance of cause and effect can break and we fall into a slumber. But our existence alone keeps this cycle intact.
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But doesn't that cause [music] problems? Of course it does. Can you perform delicate actions in [music] your sleep?
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Can you respond to the unexpected while slumbering? Which is why every single time the work piled up on me and me alone, the one who's never once gotten to sleep.
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Do you see now? Being a guardian of nature, being the nether queen is an arduous, grueling role, but a precious one.
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Think the power that you possess. the cycle that we control. It is thanks to these two things that this world gets to stay so beautifully alive. It is not a question of [music] sacrificing the cycle for the sake of
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power. Nor is it about abandoning power for the sake of the cycle. But you're a clever child. You understand what I'm telling you, don't you?
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right now. Then I'll see you off on your way. But with White Lily Cookie [music] alongside us, we could solve this far more quickly.
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No mistaking the two of you for anything but [music] best friends. Stubborn in exactly the same way.
Speaker A
But it no longer matters whether you ask me or not. What do you Has something happened to her?
Speaker A
It isn't a question of whether I return her to you or not. You see, that young Lily went and walked [music] into the trials of her own accord in order to return to Earthbread.
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[music] What? You're saying she went alone? Right. Even you think it's absurd, don't you?
Speaker A
I told her that to become the Nether Queen, she'd have to wash herself clean in the river of oblivion, and then off she went without so much as a glance back.
Speaker A
But are you saying it's truly possible for the soul of a crumbled cookie to return to the cookie world?
Speaker A
Oh, funny that you ask now, isn't it? You came demanding I return the lily to you, believing all the while that no such way existed.
Speaker A
Well, I I suppose you intended to pile on forbidden magic and plot [music] whatever underhanded means you could to bring your little lily back.
Speaker A
H though that may well have been the better choice. When you say my way might have been better, it sounds as though you [music] mean the trials are dangerous.
Speaker A
The path our little Lily has taken ends in one of two places. She either beats impossible odds and gains what she wants or h she loses everything and comes crawling back with nothing.
Speaker A
And even if she [music] withstands the entire trial and keeps her psyche intact, the poor Lily may have to live as nothing more than a single vanilla orchid.
Speaker A
A shredded ragged cookie psyche housed in a flower that cannot speak a single word who clawed her way out of the Nether only to wither [music] away in the span of a week.
Speaker A
If she returns to Tartarus after that, and if she throws herself into the trials once more, again, and again, how many lifetimes do you suppose that lovely soul can endure?
Speaker A
You sent the soul you coveted as the Nether Queen into a place like that?
Speaker A
Oh, haven't I [music] told you? She turned down the throne of her own accord and chose to become an ordinary soul instead.
Speaker A
As you just saw for [music] yourself, I am not so generous to indulge that kind of impudence.
Speaker A
And that holds just as true for you. Where did she go? If you follow her, you'll be too late.
Speaker A
You're a living soul. Quite so. Oh, and before I forget, I really must warn you. A living soul that stays in Tartarus for more than 3 days [music] becomes bound to the laws of Tartarus.
Speaker A
I know what that means [music] and the risk it carries. H then you'd also do well to remember that time runs faster here [music] in Tardris.
Speaker A
You see that bell? When it pulls three times, you will no longer be a living soul.
Speaker A
And from that moment on, you belong to me. And how I dismantle your soul will rest entirely [music] in my hands.
Speaker A
Are you all right with that? Yes. Very well. If that's what you want, who am I to stop you?
Speaker A
Go do as you please. Then, asphodel Cookie, be a good deer and guide this living soul, would you?
Speaker A
Uh, is [music] that allowed? Of course. As a living soul, the trials [music] will mean nothing to him as he passes through them.
Speaker A
And you're already well like this. So the trials won't pounce [music] at you either.
Speaker A
No one can interfere with little Lily's trials regardless. So go along with the living soul, watch the show, then coax him out and send him on his way.
Speaker A
I really truly want my nap now. Did you get all that? Asked Fidel Cookie.
Speaker A
Okay, let's go. Living soul, let's go back. Thank you. [music] Go on and feel it for yourself.
Speaker A
That thing you believe to be saving her may turn [music] out to be the thing that holds her fast and breaks her.
Speaker A
I'll do everything I [music] can to make sure it doesn't. Oh, what pretty words they [music] all speak.
Speaker A
How will it turn out? I wonder if [music] she truly keeps going out and enduring it. She'll come back a soul of even higher caliber.
Speaker A
And if she crumbles, they could at least have the decency [music] not being so lovely and adorable.
Speaker A
What impudent bratty little things they are. [crying] So this is the trial. It looks like an [music] ordinary bridge.
Speaker A
What's down there at the bottom of the cliff? So that's why it's a trial. [music] One wrong step and the wraiths would tear me to shreds.
Speaker A
Is this a gravestone? Cast away your memories. Does it mean the [music] weight of my memories decides whether I can cross or not?
Speaker A
Let's cross for now. Oh. Uh, are you blocking the [music] way? I remember now. You came to the academy long ago, didn't you? We met back then.
Speaker A
Do you remember? It's good to see you again, [music] but I must pass through. You're far too small to stop me. Sorry.
Speaker A
No, I have to get through. You really are adorable. I [music] could stroke that soft fur forever.
Speaker A
And those adorable expressions [music] I never get tired of looking at. And a warmth that feels like it's putting my heart at ease.
Speaker A
Yes. adorable enough that part of me wants to stay here forever. You weaken the resolve that's supposed [music] to carry me forward in the trial.
Speaker A
You make the road ahead feel frightening. Yes, I see. Now I understand why you guard the paths of TardeRus. [music] Any reasonably kind soul would have surrendered to you completely.
Speaker A
But I'm sorry, I'm not quite that kind of soul. Do you like lullabibis? I heard this one a very, very long time [music] ago before I ever entered the academy.
Speaker A
[singing] I want to go back quickly. Sleep tight. [music] [crying] What's the cake fl?
Speaker A
Who crosses the bridge? Who crosses the bridge? Do they carry heavy memories? Memories? I have to get them back. [music] Have to get them back.
Speaker A
Carefully, one step at a time. It's no use. [music] Let me try casting off at least the lighter memories.
Speaker A
A memory of hiding away alone. Has the shaking stopped? Not yet. I must [music] become lighter then.
Speaker A
I'll discard the memories of suffering [music] within the dimensional rift. And I'll discard most of [music] Dark Enchantress Cookies memories.
Speaker A
Good. The shaking stopped. And somehow my heart feels lighter. [music] But am I supposed to keep casting things away like this [music] just to move forward?
Speaker A
And if so, how much am I really meant to throw away? [music] If I keep discarding memories like this, I heard it again. Clatter clatter clatter.
Speaker A
A soul. There's a sound. I have to throw away another memory quickly. But which one? There are so many I need to protect.
Speaker A
Memories I can't forget. Memories of the world's secrets. The memories that could let me change the world are My memories are wait.
Speaker A
No, hold on. Memories. Give me memories. Give me your memories. So empty. Give me memories.
Speaker A
I'm not supposed to throw them away, am I? Heavy memories, fateful memories, trivial memories. Give them to me.
Speaker A
Don't. And I'll devour you. This [music] must be part of the pride Nether Queen Cookie spoke of, isn't it?
Speaker A
The way I weigh my knowledge, the weight of my own self, like things to be measured.
Speaker A
Because I thought [music] of my memories only as weapons to change the world. That's how my last life came to [music] end the way it did.
Speaker A
This isn't a bridge that collapses under the weight of memories. [music] It was built to crumble from the very start.
Speaker A
To make me cast my memories away. To leave me no choice but to discard them.
Speaker A
That's the trap [music] of this trial. If this trial [music] demands a choice between crumbling or scattering, then I'll be the one to [music] bring it down first.
Speaker A
Even if it means [music] I'm the one who crumbles, I will hold on to every last one of my memories.
Speaker A
I did it. I got hold of nearly all the memories I'd thrown away, too.
Speaker A
So, the wraiths beneath the bridge were just an illusion. And [music] what this trial was truly testing was whether I could hold on [music] to myself, even in the moment I couldn't cast my memories aside.
Speaker A
[sighs] This was probably the lightest trial of them all. It's only going to get harder from here.
Speaker A
Even so, [music] every last [music] one of those regrets is what kept me alive to the very end.
Speaker A
But yes, I do regret my pride. If I'm reborn, will I be able to let that pride go?
Speaker A
[music] If I live through other lives, will my own psyche be able to make a different [music] choice someday?
Speaker A
[music] [music] [music] The bell is ringing. [music] Two days left now. You're a living soul, so you can hear [music] it. I can't.
Speaker A
Is that so? The laws of Earthbread [music] and Tarteus must be quite strict. Barry, the creators made them [music] by hand after all.
Speaker A
But you, you're amazing. You broke through those laws and came here, little Lily. Important [music] to you?
Speaker A
Yes, very much. [music] There it is. The first trial. So, White Lily Cookie passed through here.
Speaker A
Mhm. She's not on the bridge, [music] so she must have made it across, dropped heavy memories, and left with a lighter step.
Speaker A
Does [music] that mean White Lily Cookie cast off her memories to cross? Mhm. How many did she drop?
Speaker A
I don't know. [music] She might have picked them back up. If she picked them back up, then I'm glad.
Speaker A
Normally, lots of wraiths here. Let's hurry. [music] That shimmering dust of light down there.
Speaker A
What is it? The lily must have dropped it. The cross. Memories. Traces of them. I think there's light on this bridge, too.
Speaker A
It's pretty. [music] May I touch it? It's okay. This is your memory from when we were apart.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie. Still not much light left. Guess she [music] picked most of it back up.
Speaker A
She gathered them back up. Does that mean she went all the way down to the bottom of the cliff?
Speaker A
Mhm. Leaping [music] out over the Wraith illusions to do it. [laughter] That's so [music] like her.
Speaker A
Even with someone trying to chase after her, she'd press forward. even if it meant breaking herself apart.
Speaker A
You wanted to chase [music] after her. I only wanted to help her, to stand beside [music] her, to accomplish something great together.
Speaker A
I hoped that White Lily Cookie would see me the way I see her. How did the Lily see you?
Speaker A
She saw me [music] as light. Then isn't that a good thing? It is. It is a good thing. But she only needed [music] the light so she could rush straight into the darkness.
Speaker A
If only I ran a little faster, [music] I might have caught up. Could I still manage it even now?
Speaker A
No. In the trials, you can't. [music] The trials, no one can help with it. But only get in the way.
Speaker A
Even standing in the same place, Lily won't know. Can't see you, can't [music] hear you.
Speaker A
So when Nether Queen Cookie said no one could interfere with [music] White Lily Cookiey's trial, that's what she meant.
Speaker A
Do you want [music] to help her? The little Lily? I I want to bring White Lily Cookie home.
Speaker A
I don't want her to go through some grueling trial. I want her [music] to return to the cookie world with me.
Speaker A
I already know how much [music] she suffered, broken into pieces like that. Please, I want to keep her whole just as she is.
Speaker A
Sure. Go on. Try all you like. To follow after little Lily, you have to [music] jump down.
Speaker A
Very well, White Lily [music] Cookie. Even if my words can't reach you right now, I can't bring myself to see the [music] things you're trying to cast away as trivial.
Speaker A
Please [music] be safe. Be whole. Don't hurt yourself. Don't break my heart. This looks like the next trial.
Speaker A
I don't see a gravestone like the one before. Where could it be hiding? This waterfall probably isn't just water either.
Speaker A
Last time it was memories, so maybe this time it's this isn't a current. This is Let it flow away.
Speaker A
Let it go. [music] Be at peace. At peace. Don't tell me this is. It hurts, doesn't it?
Speaker A
It's because you're clutching at everything. The things that have passed, let them flow away.
Speaker A
Considering the last trial, I shouldn't cast away my emotions. If I could just let go of my anger and my anguish right now, then maybe I could go back and fight with [music] a heart that no longer waivers.
Speaker A
Always as fierce as the first moment, as heavy as the first moment. You have nowhere to go but under.
Speaker A
Got me at peace. My anger is draining away. My regrets are growing faint. Yes.
Speaker A
Then you'll be at peace. You'll never waver again. Now that I'm at peace, I can feel it.
Speaker A
I for so very long I've been suffering. I was always hurting. If I go back like this, could I see my friends again without it hurting?
Speaker A
Could I grow calmly, stay composed without ever wavering? the friends I wanted to protect.
Speaker A
Why does thinking of them stir nothing in me? Why do I no longer want to do anything alongside [music] them?
Speaker A
No. If this is what being at peace means, then this isn't growth. This is just erasing everything I feel.
Speaker A
It's okay to erase them. It will become clearer until only you remain and nothing else.
Speaker A
No, it's not that [music] I'd be the only one left. It's that nothing would remain at all. [music] So that's the trap.
Speaker A
If I let my emotions go, I won't be able to see the world's complexity anymore.
Speaker A
The moment I lose sight of complexity, I won't [music] feel the need to act anymore.
Speaker A
I'll breathe right here and lose the will to move forward. And in the end, I'll choose to stay here of my own accord.
Speaker A
If I have to let it wash away, if I have to be at peace, then I'll face everything I've done, make a risk to my heart's content, and find peace only after that, by experiencing more, by seeing the
Speaker A
world through the eyes of smaller things. [music] I'll find a way to carry my emotions without crumbling, and I'll move forward.
Speaker A
[music] Cookie, stop. Please, [music] Cookie, please don't be in pain. Please, please come back. [music] top of the waterfall.
Speaker A
Thank goodness I made it through the trial. That fierce pain. Now that I think about it, just now I heard a voice different from the one the trial was giving me. Pure [music] vanilla cookie.
Speaker A
No, it cannot be. No, it can't. There's no way. It couldn't be. The waterfall of emotions.
Speaker A
Must have pulled out [music] the one voice that would shake me the most. Yes, it couldn't be.
Speaker A
Why would his voice suddenly be here of all places? Please don't be in pain. [music] Please.
Speaker A
If I'm reborn, I should broaden my horizons [music] beyond what I see now. I wish I could even see the things I couldn't see before.
Speaker A
Perhaps Ying reborn as a butterfly, as a cake hound, [music] a vanilla orchid wouldn't be so bad.
Speaker A
If I could [music] experience more and see the world through various eyes [music] and someday could I become a better version of myself.
Speaker A
This is the second trial, the waterfall of emotions. I assume this is a place that makes you cast your emotions away.
Speaker A
Mhm. All those colors over there, they're all emotions. Pretty, aren't they? But why is it churning?
Speaker A
Go tell me. Wait, Lily Cookie. Hold on. I'll [music] pull you out. Why is my body floating upward? White lily cookie.
Speaker A
Because it's the waterfall of emotions. The emotions of the [music] dead flow down and the emotions of the living flow up.
Speaker A
What? Living soul, be careful. If you keep resisting, Are you okay? If you're hurt [music] here, it'll still ache once you're back in Earthbread.
Speaker A
So, be careful. The emotions of the [music] dead and the emotions of the living can't mix like water and oil.
Speaker A
Even if you dive [music] in, you'll just get spit right back out. I caught up to her and still [music] there's nothing I can do.
Speaker A
seeing White Liy Cookie in such agony. And I I can't even reach a hand out to her. [music] Then what was the point of me coming all this way?
Speaker A
Did Nether Queen Cookie send me here so I'd come to realize this truth? The point If I let my emotions go, I won't be able to see the world's complexity anymore.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie. If I have to let it wash away, if I have to be at peace, then I'll waste everything I've done and go right to my peace. Only after that dragged underwater.
Speaker A
Then that [music] means white lily cookie. No. Living soul. White lily cookie. Stop. Please stop forcing yourself into this torment.
Speaker A
Please don't [music] be in pain. Please. Please come back. Wait, Lily Cookie. Living soul.
Speaker A
Thank goodness your living emotions [music] barely brought you upstream. You really are desperate, aren't you?
Speaker A
I thought [music] for sure you wouldn't make it up against the current. That you'd never catch up to her in the end. [music] But thank goodness little Lily came up to [music] the top, too, which means she passed the trial.
Speaker A
Then that means how many emotions she cast away? I don't know. But now there's [music] only one trial left.
Speaker A
Just now I heard a voice different from the one the trial [music] was giving me.
Speaker A
Pure vanilla cookie. No, it [music] can't. There's no way. It couldn't be. Wait, Lily Cookie?
Speaker A
Yes, he couldn't be. Why would his [music] voice suddenly be here of all places?
Speaker A
The [music] next trial. She's going, it seems. Should we follow? I Lily Cookie. [music] I think she heard my voice.
Speaker A
I know. How did that happen? Perhaps it's because I've been in TardeRus [music] for some time now, and White Liy Cookie has passed through so many trials.
Speaker A
White Liy Cookie is drawing closer to the living, and I'm drawing closer to the Nether, somewhere in between. Is that why she heard me?
Speaker A
I guess. And it means I can still [music] stop her. If I keep following White Lily Cookie all the way to the next trial, [music] maybe I can talk to her and convince her.
Speaker A
What's wrong? Did I have a soul who thought [music] of me like this, too?
Speaker A
Is that why [music] I tried so hard to go back? [music] If you were trying to go back, the bell.
Speaker A
Let's go. Now there's only the last trial left. You're drawing [music] closer and closer.
Speaker A
The situation is full of hope, and yet it hurts so much. But [music] I won't stop.
Speaker A
It was always at moments like this that I stood still and lost to you.
Speaker A
This time, before you fall apart again, before my time runs [music] out, I will look upon your face. No matter what.
Speaker A
A new beginning carried forth from the past. It means I can be reborn while still holding my past self intact.
Speaker A
If this is the final door, this is the last trial. The wording is firmer than the inscriptions in [music] the trials before.
Speaker A
This time it might not be a trap. This time I may truly have to let everything go.
Speaker A
Just to be safe. I'll be careful until I reach the door. I only have to get past this. Just this.
Speaker A
And then as long as I don't look back, I can open the door and return to the cookie world.
Speaker A
I will go back no matter what. Shall I [music] tell you the perfect answer that could protect the cookie world?
Speaker A
We don't have to keep carrying that painful sense of responsibility. What the world needs to be safe [music] is an answer, not a sense of duty.
Speaker A
Right? No [music] one would have to bleed jam and crumble anymore. If I just had the answer, the idea that one single answer could bring freedom to all Cookie [music] kind is a lie.
Speaker A
I believe that idea was true once and catastrophe [music] is what came of it.
Speaker A
So go. I won't look back. But once you [music] return to the cookie world, you'll go on remembering this very moment.
Speaker A
What if What if those words were actually true after all? If that answer truly existed, then isn't [music] every bit of suffering we see our own doing?
Speaker A
This thought will plague us for the rest of your life. [music] Perhaps it will.
Speaker A
That's why a life of remembering is suffering. So turn around. Go back to where you belong [music] to a world free of pain.
Speaker A
Yes, a life lived in remembrance. All of it would be [music] suffering. You're right about that. Then I'll just have to live a life of pain just [music] once.
Speaker A
You'll regret it. Even if [music] you return to the cookie world, you remain nothing more than frail [music] dough that crumbles all too easily.
Speaker A
You could be torn [music] to pieces for some absurd meaningless reason, only to fall right back [music] into Tartarus's grasp with nothing to show for all the endured agony.
Speaker A
possibly. Then go and find a way to never crumble at all. Will you really walk away [music] and leave behind a soul that knows the creators in such intimate detail?
Speaker A
Will you [music] go without doing your utmost, casting aside everything within your region? [music] If you go back, you'll only repeat a [music] life of cowering before savage violence.
Speaker A
Leaving all that aid, [music] all those clues behind you. You know full well how precious [music] this chance is.
Speaker A
Would you not be ashamed before your [music] very own self? I know even right now dozens [music] of ways to seize this chance are coming to me.
Speaker A
Throughout my life, I gained [music] countless forms of power by every kind of means.
Speaker A
The life of the world [music] itself, forbidden power, a guardian's power, draconic power, [music] and a soul jam.
Speaker A
But every one of those powers I grasped, telling myself the chance was there to be taken, led me in the end [music] to ruin.
Speaker A
Every place I exploited was left in ruins. Only the powers [music] granted to me after I first proved myself worthy were the ones that carried me forward.
Speaker A
So from now on, before I claim my freedom, I will prove my responsibility. [music] That will be the only path I can walk without shame. [music] Worthy of Elder Fairy Cookie and Silent Salt Cookie, the ones who shone their light on me.
Speaker A
So don't try to [music] use my own desires against me. I will live a life of shame because a life of shame is better than [music] a life lived without knowing shame at all. An adventure that doesn't [music] break you isn't an adventure.
Speaker A
And an adventure without wounds. You learn [music] nothing. Oh, a life brimming with [music] disgrace and shame. Then the door got a little closer, [music] didn't it? Good. Just a little more.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie. White Lily Cookie. Let's go back together. Go away. I I have [music] to move forward right now.
Speaker A
Whatever trap this trial is, it isn't a trial. I came [music] to save you. I came to keep you from falling apart all alone.
Speaker A
I came to keep you from hurting alone. I came in through [music] the dimensional rift at the academy. We can go back that way together.
Speaker A
No, I won't go back as nothing but a ghost. I that experiment [music] you spoke of, I'll complete it for you. I'll bake the dough meant for you. So come and [music] enter it.
Speaker A
You'll likely have to give up a great deal. Your talents, even the way you sustain [music] yourself. Everything might change, but you won't have to suffer the way you are now. You won't have to repeat this agony over and over again.
Speaker A
No, there's no way you'd say something like that. After coming all this way, you'd never Are you [music] saying you don't think I'd break the forbidden for you?
Speaker A
I I won't do it. I don't want to be forced [music] again to live differently from other lives. I don't want to live blended [music] into other lives or to live as nothing but a fragment.
Speaker A
I'm sick of being mixed into something else. I saw everything that happened at the academy.
Speaker A
I'm sorry I didn't understand [music] you. I'm sorry I left you alone all that time you spent in seclusion. [music] Please give me the chance to understand you. Please. [music] To hear this voice and be told not to
Speaker A
look back. This really is a [music] dreadful dream. I'm not a dream, not a trial, not some voice in your head.
Speaker A
No, no, no. [music] It's been 2 days since I came here to save you, White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
What? It's been 2 days since I came here to save you, White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
What? White Lily Cookie, stop. Don't move. What is it? No, I won't go any further.
Speaker A
Asphodel Cookie. [music] What do you mean? Are you all right? Was that the last trial?
Speaker A
I can't hear anything [music] anymore. What? No. White Lily Cookie. I'm right here. This trial is too cruel.
Speaker A
No. Asked for Cookie. We have to hurry after her. Wait. Wait. There's something I have to tell you.
Speaker A
This is the last trial, which is [music] why you have to be extra careful. Living soul, what?
Speaker A
From here [music] on, it's one or the other. Keep everything or lose it all.
Speaker A
I know because I'm a soul who lost it all. I tried to go back, too. Just like little Lily. [music] I thought if I passed the trials, I could go back.
Speaker A
But the higher I climbed, the more of me [music] I lost. At first, just small things, things I liked.
Speaker A
Sunny spots, [music] yarn balls, my habits, nap time, how to wash my face, someone's warm touch, and then I lost my name.
Speaker A
The one someone used [music] to call me so gently and a heart that cherished that someone.
Speaker A
Then at some point I even forgot why I needed to go back. Keep repeating the trials and all that's left is the wish [music] to go back without even knowing what you wanted in the first place.
Speaker A
like [music] forgetting memories from long ago without even knowing when they slipped away. You'll lose your sense [music] of self and never realize it.
Speaker A
That's why I stopped [music] you to tell you if the little Lily ever seems different, off, or wrong to you, grab her or [music] she'll break before she can open the door.
Speaker A
Just like me. Sometimes [music] like this. Like right now, my memories come back why I ended up staying here. What mistake I made.
Speaker A
Then I forget all over again so quickly. It's sad forgetting, not even [music] knowing what it is. I'm forgetting asphodel cookie.
Speaker A
Don't worry, I [music] will never break. I'll never become a wraith. Because someday the reason I [music] have to go back might come to Tarderus.
Speaker A
Just like you. Just like little lilies. Riding down a rainbow [music] path of flowers in every color the way I once did.
Speaker A
Maybe [music] that's why I like the two of you. I wanted [music] to help.
Speaker A
Funny, isn't it? Not even knowing if anyone will ever come for me. Don't make little Lily become like me, okay?
Speaker A
Don't make her sad and lonely. [music] I promise. Then go now. [music] I don't want to go near that door.
Speaker A
Why? Because I don't want to watch it open. The moment it [music] does, it'll only make it clear that I have nowhere to go back to.
Speaker A
When the door opens, you might [music] be able to return that way because you're a living soul. [music] You wouldn't be reborn.
Speaker A
You'd simply return to your own dull naturally. I won't open that door because the path [music] I want to take isn't one where I survive alone.
Speaker A
I see. Ask for Delil Cookie. Mhm. What was I about to do? There was something I wanted to say.
Speaker A
That's right. I was [music] trying to show the way over there. The door. [music] Yes, you told me. Thank you, Asphodel.
Speaker A
Cookie. I'll go on alone [music] from here. Are you sure? Yes. [music] Thank you for guiding me all this way.
Speaker A
I won't forget your kindness. Oh, a door. I hope the door opens for him.
Speaker A
But [sighs] no, I don't want to watch it, though. Maybe I'll head back now.
Speaker A
Another queen cookie. probably napping. Heat. Heat. [music] This trial is [music] too cruel. Oh, but was that really some kind of trial?
Speaker A
It was [music] so different from the other voices I heard on the stairs. That was when he said it was the second day.
Speaker A
[music] White Lily Cookie. Why can I still hear his voice? When I said it was the second day, it was all true. I've [music] heard the bell told twice so far.
Speaker A
And now, if I can't take you [music] back with me, I'll simply stay here with you until I hear the final bell.
Speaker A
Is it really you? Hello, white lily cookie. What? What are you doing here? This is already [music] your second day.
Speaker A
You need to go back right now. I came to find you because I was so afraid [music] of never seeing you again.
Speaker A
I wanted to take you back before your soul suffered even more. When I think of the trials you've been through, I'm terrified [music] you'll be hurt even more here.
Speaker A
Please, let's go back now while you're still at your most whole. I'll find [music] a way to keep you together.
Speaker A
But this is exactly why I'm doing this. Because I want to stay whole. Because I don't want to [music] cast away or lose my sense of self.
Speaker A
Even if I get hurt, [music] even if I break, I want to live as myself. Pure Vanilla Cookie.
Speaker A
[music] But you keep choosing such dangerous paths to get what you want. Please, White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
[music] I simply don't want to lose you. Saying you don't want to lose me. Saying it's dangerous.
Speaker A
Does that give you [music] the right to erase the paths I choose for myself?
Speaker A
You're vanilla cookie. You say you understand me. But in the end, you understand [music] nothing.
Speaker A
The danger is over now. The trials are all finished. All I have to do now [music] is open that door and walk out.
Speaker A
You said you might even have to come back here [music] again and again. You said there's no telling how many times you'd have to relive this torment.
Speaker A
How can you be certain whether you've already lost [music] yourself going through those trials or kept yourself intact?
Speaker A
You might have lost things without [music] even knowing they were gone. Your very self could be wearing away while you don't even notice. [music] Stop staking yourself on this longshot gamble over and over.
Speaker A
Come out with me and live. Even if it's a different dough. Yes, it could be agony over and over. I could break.
Speaker A
But it's better than being blended into another life. better than becoming some confused complicated incomplete existence.
Speaker A
This is the way I want to live. Don't you understand? [music] The way you want to live, that's not [music] living.
Speaker A
You're just dressing up suffering as conviction to endure it. Just letting yourself wear away to nothing.
Speaker A
And [music] what about you? What is it you want? For me to come back the way I used to be, looking the way you'd like [music] me to?
Speaker A
Whether or not I can accept myself? Whether or not I'm lost and confused? [music] I'm afraid of you getting hurt.
Speaker A
You always talk about the world, always looking [music] to the distant future. But in that future, beyond your convictions, beyond your plans, there's no you.
Speaker A
And there's no room [music] in it for the hearts of the cookies who treasure you either.
Speaker A
Do you have any idea how [music] much that hurts? That heart of yours, the one that treasures me.
Speaker A
Do you have any idea how [music] suffocating, how stifling it can be sometimes? You always said it was [music] for my sake. Don't get hurt. Don't take the dangerous path.
Speaker A
I know you're always right. You've [music] never been wrong. And that's exactly why you kept holding me back, stopping me, [music] trying to make me turn around.
Speaker A
You never tried to hear what I actually wanted. So, the things I didn't [music] tell you, the things I couldn't tell you, kept piling up. I knew a moment [music] would come when no matter how hard you tried, you still wouldn't understand me.
Speaker A
Because your light, in the end, only reaches as far as the [music] places you can understand.
Speaker A
So that's why you left all alone, having already [music] decided that I'd never understand you in the end. Gave up on even talking to me.
Speaker A
No, pure [music] vanilla Cookie. It's not that I'm giving up on you. If anything, it's because I want so badly to live as White Lily Cookie. To go back exactly as I am, to your side.
Speaker A
That's why I'm [music] doing this. And if I can't do that, if you can't do that, then you'd [music] rather just lose yourself like this.
Speaker A
[gasps] Trickery, [music] forbidden shortcuts. You were always a cookie who never feared such things.
Speaker A
And yet [music] now when there's still a possibility left, when a miraculous [music] chance to live alongside one another again is staring you in the eyes.
Speaker A
You won't [music] even try to grab hold of it. Leaving us, leaving me here [music] just like that.
Speaker A
to the very [music] end, right? To the very last without ever once looking back at me.
Speaker A
You're asking that question now. Here I am because in the end I never got my answer [music] because the choice you're making right now could lead to the very same result.
Speaker A
The same result. Pure vanilla [music] cookie. I told you I came all this way through all this hardship [music] to make a different choice.
Speaker A
A different choice that you can make right now. Prove to me that you'll choose differently.
Speaker A
Come with [music] me so I can take you back here and now. You're a vanilla cookie.
Speaker A
Yes, you're brilliant. [music] You're extraordinary. You can do anything. But all those things [music] you give up along the way, I won't stand by and watch you sacrifice them any longer.
Speaker A
Please, White Lily Cookie. I refuse to watch you wear away little by little [music] in trials that repeat like an eternity.
Speaker A
I can't [music] quietly send you down a road of endless agony, not knowing if we'll ever meet again. If there's a way, I'll [music] do anything to protect you.
Speaker A
A way? that way that you're always trying to find. But you always compromised. [music] In the end, you'd hold on a way that neither gained nor sacrificed [music] anything.
Speaker A
Even now, with the memories of being dark enchantress cookie still inside me, you're telling me to [music] siphon away someone's life all over again and live as a parasite, to leech [music] up them to live.
Speaker A
Only for a little while until we find another way. This isn't the time to weigh such not the time to [music] weigh it. Am I becoming whole as myself?
Speaker A
You're telling me to give that up, too? Wait, what? Lily Cookie, that's not what I'm All that time I had to breathe inside my own self alongside something [music] that wasn't me.
Speaker A
Don't you dare make light of it as if it were [music] just some some thing.
Speaker A
The time draws near. [sighs] The three days promise to the living. The time draws near. The three days promised to the living.
Speaker A
the voice. He's strong, stubborn, too, just like [music] you. And so the moment you open this door and leave, that child will remain here.
Speaker A
He told me himself. If he couldn't take you back with him, he'd stay. I I still have to go.
Speaker A
Otherwise, what was the point of coming here at all? Yes, little Lily. Go on. France away.
Speaker A
I'll be seeing [music] to what I must do now. Witches. Isn't it obvious? I'll be taking the living one's soul.
Speaker A
[cough] What is [laughter] boy Lily Cookie? This is No. No. If this is another trial too, I won't look back. I won't look back.
Speaker A
I'll I'll open this door and walk out just like this. I'm sorry. I weighed [music] down your heart.
Speaker A
There must have been so much more we could have talked about. I had so much I [music] wanted to say to you too.
Speaker A
So very much, White Billy Cookie. hoping that our last conversation, the last words [music] you left me, wouldn't truly be the last.
Speaker A
Did you know, White Lily Cookie, to me, you are so very precious. You're a vanilla cookie.
Speaker A
White, Lily Cookie, what's the matter all of a sudden? Are you okay? I see.
Speaker A
This was one of the final [music] trials too. In the end, I In the end, I White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
How cruel. How relentless. This trial won't even fade. Even though it's already over. White Lily Cookie, I'm here. It's me.
Speaker A
Pure Vanilla Cookie. Pure Vanilla Cookie? Is it really you? Yes. I I'm tried not to look back. I tried to open the door. I tried to go all the way to the [music] end.
Speaker A
No matter who held me back, no matter whose voice I heard, I tried to do it.
Speaker A
I I was trying to change, leaving my pride, [music] my regrets, my fears all behind me. Telling myself I'd taken the wider, truer [music] world with my own eyes.
Speaker A
I did something wrong again, didn't I? White, Lily Cookie, that's not it. [music] It's always because I'm weak. Because in the end, I'm just like this.
Speaker A
Because I couldn't let [music] go. Couldn't release my regrets, any of them, because [music] I couldn't hold my heart firm. And in the end, I tried to grasp everything.
Speaker A
I was going to leave it all behind. And yet, in [music] the end, I I stopped right here before the door.
Speaker A
Fight Lily [music] Cookie. This version of myself I despise. I'll never be able to change it.
Speaker A
No matter how I struggle, in the end, I just collapse in the very same place all over again.
Speaker A
But Lily Cookie, that isn't true. Why do you think of yourself [music] that way?
Speaker A
You're Why would you say such a thing? You There's nothing about you [music] that needs to change.
Speaker A
I only wished you wouldn't walk alone. That was all I You're such an incredible cookie. Everyone [music] is in your debt.
Speaker A
You're the cookie who always leaps into the darkness and lights it up [music] with your entire being.
Speaker A
Why must someone as radiant as you hate yourself this [music] much? No, I was always like this. You only ever saw the good in me. But I'm not that incredible a cookie.
Speaker A
I I liy cookie. No. What do I do? [music] What if I despair like this and lose sight of the way I'm supposed to go all over again?
Speaker A
[music] The things I thought I've come to understand in the trials, I'm afraid [music] I'll forget them, as if I never knew them at all. [music] What if I forget everything again? And what if I come to hate myself and
Speaker A
everyone and the whole world once more? What do I do then? So the reason you [music] wanted to find a different way, it wasn't to make yourself shine brighter.
Speaker A
It wasn't to become stronger [music] either. You only ever wanted to stop yourself from [music] hating who you are.
Speaker A
I I had it wrong all along. White Lily Cookie, I'm sorry. [music] I thought of you as nothing but radiant light.
Speaker A
And so I believed that [music] someday I could understand a darkness as vivid as that light.
Speaker A
All this time I was only [music] ever trying to understand the you that I saw.
Speaker A
The you I wanted to believe in the you I wanted to protect the you I thought was beautiful.
Speaker A
I believed that was all of you. That's why I kept trying [music] to bring you back as the old you.
Speaker A
But the real you. What the real you was truly afraid of. [music] I understand now.
Speaker A
I think I finally [music] understand. If the you I see and the true you are different, then I'll take hold of the real one.
Speaker A
Whatever [music] anxiety and fear you were living inside, why you wanted so desperately to remain yourself, this time I won't run.
Speaker A
I'll see it through to the very end [music] alongside you. It should have been this way all along.
Speaker A
I'm sorry. You're vanilla, [music] little cookie. You know something? I've shed [music] every last regret.
Speaker A
Never once looked back. Which means I can open the door for you. What? Just remember this.
Speaker A
This isn't about holding on to some perfect vision of you that I imagine in my mind.
Speaker A
I don't want to keep you anymore [music] as light defined by my own measure.
Speaker A
Even if you're wounded, even if you waver, I want you to live the way you [music] choose.
Speaker A
So that the life you wanted all the way to the end, you can grasp it with your own hands.
Speaker A
You're a vanilla cookie. Do you understand me? Too late, I know. But if you'll let me.
Speaker A
I think this is the first time I'm following you. Are you crying, pure vanilla cookie?
Speaker A
No. You know, we we might not see each other for a long time now.
Speaker A
I'm going to [music] hold on to myself exactly as I am and try being reborn as all kinds of things.
Speaker A
Kounds, butter tigers, [music] licorice uses, cheese birds, a jelly bean tree, or even a vanilla orchid.
Speaker A
That sounds like a wonderful journey. And by living through all of them, I'm going to learn to love the cookie [music] world even more.
Speaker A
And once I've learned so much and come to love myself more too, then I'll take on this trial [music] again until I can be reborn as a cookie.
Speaker A
And then when I'm born as a cookie once more, I'll come find you. Will you?
Speaker A
Yes, I can do it. It'll be easy for me because I have always walked towards your light to get this far through the [music] long darkness.
Speaker A
I followed your light, too. All the way here. Nothing's [music] changed since our student days. We really are exactly alike, aren't we?
Speaker A
We never did completely understand each other. That's true. Even [music] so, we were the ones who lit each other's darkest paths. Without a doubt.
Speaker A
Without a doubt. So, this time, let's say goodbye [music] without crying, looking into each other's eyes.
Speaker A
and smiling. Yes, with a smile. Yes. Then I'll open the door for you now.
Speaker A
One. Two. [music] Oh, little one. So, you're [music] leaving after all? Yes, I'm going.
Speaker A
The question I never found an answer [music] for. I'll go on living and I'll ask it again.
Speaker A
Life really is a strange [music] thing to weep so much, to grumble, to be shaken hard enough to lose [music] absolutely everything.
Speaker A
and still cast [music] aside the embrace of peaceful oblivion and h rest. Only to want in the end to go on living all [music] over again, remaining incomplete to the very last and still [music] trying to walk on
Speaker A
towards a tomorrow. Really? Now you're beautifully stubborn, aren't you? One thing will [music] be different.
Speaker A
I won't open the door alone this time. Right. You've understood [music] something important. You mustn't ever forget it.
Speaker A
In that case, [music] little Lily, it's [music] time for you to wake again. Pure Vanilla Cookie.
Speaker A
Pure Vanilla Cookie, are you awake? Are you all right? What? He opened his eyes.
Speaker A
Are you all right, Pure Vanilla Cookie? [crying] [crying and laughter] Thank [music] [music]
Topics:Cookie Run KingdomWhite Lily CookieTartarusNether Queensoul journeymemory erasurehero and villainsacrificeresponsibilityfantasy story
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