Suddenly, the two girls heard a loud crash from across the house.

“…Alright, come out where I can see you, you rulebreakers!!” called a familiar voice.

Gin was visibly shaken. “…That’s Kyloe,” she breathed. “You need to hide. Now!”

She pushed Dreadli towards a little straw basket in the corner of the room. “What? I-I can’t fit in that…!” Dreadli cried.

“Yes, you can! And you have to stay inside until it’s absolutely safe; until you don’t hear any sound! Understand?!”

“If…if anything happens to me,” she continued, “Just find my Odsplut, and it’ll help you.”

“Your Odsplut??”

Dreadlilocks wanted to ask more, but before she could say another word, she found herself falling backwards into the depths of the infinite basket.

~~

Kyloe was busy turning over the tables and chairs when Gin went out to meet her.

She raised her eyestalks in surprise. “…You! I should have known you were hiding the invader!” she cried. “Once a rulebreaker, always a rulebreaker!”

“Get out,” Gin said quietly.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m under strict orders to destroy that crying child by any means necessary. And those orders extend to anyone who helps her.” She pointed one of her needles. “Tell me where she is, cookie girl, or I’ll crush you into bits. And this time, there won’t be anyone around to put you back together again~.”

“This is my world, you know.” Gin curled her fingers into fists so they wouldn’t tremble. “Maybe this time, I’ll be the one to crush you. You and that ugly shell of yours.”

“MY SHELL IS NOT UGLY!!” Kyloe retorted, suddenly screaming. “DON’T TALK ABOUT IT! DON’T LOOK AT IT AND DON’T TALK ABOUT IT EVER AGAIN!!”

Gin took a deep breath, and collapsed her gingerbread house.

~~

Dreadlilocks found it difficult to tell when it was ‘absolutely safe’ to come out.

All sound that entered the basket from the outside was muffled and distorted, like underwater fireworks. For a long time, she wasn’t sure what she was hearing, and she was a little afraid to find out.

After what felt like forever, she finally reached up to open the top of the basket…and found it surprisingly difficult. She pushed again, trying not to panic.

It took a lot of effort, but she eventually managed to upset the rubble covering the basket and pop it open. She tumbled out, suddenly returned to her normal size.

Dreadli stood up, heart still racing, and looked around.

The fantastical candy landscape was gone, and all that remained was the bleak scenery of the moon. Piles of crumbled stone surrounded the place where she stood, as if some great monument had just collapsed. A few yards away, a small flame burned all alone on the empty ground.

“G…Gin??” she called out. There was no answer.

And she soon found out why: as she tiptoed through the wreckage, basket in hand, she very nearly stepped into the remains of her host’s body.

Dreadli looked down at the scattered bits of gingerbread, too stunned to react.

Slowly, she pulled the needles out of them, one by one. Then she knelt down and took them into her hands, watching them yield and crumble back into the dust. For a while she remained in that position: kneeling, hands outstretched in silent lamentation.

She did not remember to move again until her silence was interrupted by a sudden, gasping sob.