Content Warning:

Discussions of mental health & illness, abuse, violence, arson, death

  Part 1 - On The Run: Fast forward several years later, as Raspberry grows more unbearable over time; Strawberry just cannot take it anymore, breaks her room's window, and runs away from home after her 20th birthday. She takes on the secret identity of Creamcake Lambert, getting away with not being recognised because she hasn't made a public appearance since she was a kid.

  Somewhere along the line, Creamcake boards an omnibus, where she bumps into Frenzy as an adult, except the two don't recognise each other because they're both idiots + Frenzy transitioned & has face-blindness. Frenzy strikes up a conversation with this stranger he's never seen before, and lights up when he learns that she's looking to settle down in the quiet, idyllic, far-off town of Gumwood- that's his hometown! He explains to her that he's a stage magician performing small shows there. Creamcake is... quiet about her past, just says she's looking forward to finding a new home. Frenzy's concerned, but doesn't push. They barely know each other, after all.

  Creamcake departs quickly when they reach their destination, setting off to find her own housing at a cheap estate- luckily there was a vacancy available. She takes on a job as an assistant to Gumwood's mayor, Silent Sprinklemuffin. It's a relatively quiet & low-stress job, considering the mayor's lax behaviour & the town's quietness- it's mostly records-keeping & menial tasks she can shut her brain off to. She befriends Silent, but doesn't realise he's also Frenzy's dad.

  Frenzy & Creamcake inevitably bump into each other again; and though it takes... a WHILE because of Frenzy's prosopagnosia & Creamcake having to repeatedly tell him who she is, he eventually recognises her vaguely as "The pink-haired girl I met on the bus". A budding, genuine friendship starts, and they hang out more; but neither are as honest as they should be with each other about a lot of things. With Frenzy's reckless hero complex & Creamcake's status as a runaway, both keep secrets from each other about their struggles & tend to lie about their wellbeing, not wanting to be a burden. They're both entitled to their privacy, but bottling everything up & pretending to be totally fine is taking more of a toll on them both than either of them really realise.

  Meanwhile, rumours start spreading about the disappearance of the princess; and in such a small town like Gumwood, people talk. Creamcake has to keep an extremely low profile if she doesn't want to be handed back to the Queen, who's put up a bounty for returning her to the mansion alive. Creamcake... does not react healthily! She buries her past even further down, refusing to speak, or even think, about any of her problems- both past or present- in favour of maintaining her image as the cute, sweet, clueless Creamcake Lambert. Anything that would prevent her from being recognised as the curious & cautious Princess Strawberry Bellerose IV. But day by day, it's getting harder for her to tell what part of herself is an act, or what's real, causing an internal identity crisis that she also represses & refuses to speak of.

  Frenzy notices, of course, and is determined to find out what's going on with his friend & find a way to save her; though to his frustration, his attempts at reaching out only end up with more questions than answers, as Creamcake slips further into the act he knows she's putting on. Meanwhile, Creamcake's getting worried about his hero-complex tendencies & doesn't want to add on to the burden. But there's quiet moments when they see each others' real selves shine through; Frenzy's endless compassion & Creamcake's genuine kindness, and they quietly fall in love with each other. They're not dating yet, though. It's just a mutual crush, for now.

  Part 2 - Small Town Drama: Life goes on, and about a year passes. Creamcake is 21 now & things are coming to a head as Raspberry gets closer to figuring out where Creamcake's been hiding, by simple process of elimination after checking the other towns in the kingdom.

  The rebellion led by Alight's also been getting more popular & people are getting more open about wanting an uprising against their evil queen; especially with the rumours about the princess' disappearance & Raspberry visibly expending valuable resources & energy to find her, which also means the Queen might be wearing herself down enough to the point of being more vulnerable to an attack. Creamcake initially wants to avoid the rebellion because she's worried they'll try & push her into taking over as the new Queen after overthrowing Raspberry.

  With the rise of the rebellion & the Queen growing increasingly paranoid, Queen Raspberry pushes out more laws that limit what's allowed to be depicted in the arts across the kingdom; particularly regarding magic, as it's something unpredictable & new that nobody really knows how to control, and because of magic's recent association with the rebellion, who share an ideal of wanting magic to be properly studied & freely expressed by anyone across the kingdom. First came propaganda declaring magic to being silly & frivolous, then apparently a repulsive danger that has no place in the world. This eventually leads to more & more restrictions on what Frenzy can legally perform; until he's eventually told he's not allowed to perform at all.

  Needless to say, Frenzy is not happy about this. Ze storms into the mayor's office, startling Creamcake, since she didn't know ze was the mayor's son. She eavesdrops as Silent & Frenzy's conversation escalates into an argument, feeling guilty when she realises it's all because of her mother. Frenzy, pure-hearted hero as he is, deflates & drops his argument when he learns the town could be in danger if he doesn't comply, so... heartbroken, he agrees to stop his shows for a while.

  Not willing to just sit idly by when the one thing that's ever given Frenzy happiness is taken away from him, Creamcake confronts Frenzy, and says... no, screw that! Frenzy's passion & earnest desire to spread joy is the best thing about him! He shouldn't have to throw that away! So, she proposes an idea. Frenzy continues his shows as per usual; while Creamcake covers it up when it comes to the paperwork. Erase any record of there being a magic show when the venue is booked. Say that it's just regular dinner parties. What the Queen doesn't know won't hurt her.

  Frenzy's just... in awe at the lengths she's willing to go through for him; but how are they going to hide this when the royal guards come around for patrol?

  Simple. If it isn't safe to discuss magic publicly, then let's borrow from the rebellion's book & use a codephrase: Anyone who's remotely interested in or supportive of magic, is a "Friend Of Selene".

  For a while, this works.

  Part 3 - Uh Oh: Trying to cheer up & bolster the community of an increasingly paranoid & unhappy Gumwood, Frenzy gets in trouble after getting a bit too daring with throwing a big, flashy magic show that he's invited the whole town to see. Ze gets arrested, pleading for zer father to help, to do something, since he's the mayor, but once again, Silent shies away, too frightened to stand up to the royal guard.

  Creamcake, however, is not having any of this. She storms forwards, and before they get to haul zem away in chains, demands that Frenzy be given a fair trial, as she knows is zer right. And so, small-town citizen of Gumwood, Creamcake Lambert, makes her debut as Frenzy's defence. She was a Princess. She knows how the royal courts are supposed to work from all her lonely years of study. ....Well, she knows how things should work theoretically, but doesn't have much practical experience.

  It's a tough trial and a close call; but Creamcake doesn't slip up, and... miraculously, she manages to get Frenzy off the hook. Hugs and happy reunions abound; but Cream evades any questions Frenzy asks about how she learned all this advanced knowledge about the legal system.

  She's eventually approached on her own, after Frenzy's gone ahead to collect zer confiscated stuff, by Alight, whose associates finally connected the dots that Creamcake Lambert was also the runaway princess, and snuck off to pass on the information to him. At first, Creamcake's nervous to interact with the rebels- but instead of pushing her to become a ruler like she feared, they just ask her for some updated info on how the royal courts work, then that's all. She's like, "Oh. Huh".

  Uh oh! All this buzz means that Raspberry's figured out where Creamcake's been hiding all this time! She confronts Creamcake, but when she refuses to go back to the royal mansion with her, Raspberry threatens to reveal her identity to Frenzy.

  Shortly after, some sort of confrontation between Raspberry, Creamcake, & Frenzy takes place, as Raspberry abruptly reveals to Frenzy that his friend is the missing princess & she never told him once during all the time they've known each other. 

  Creamcake just runs before Frenzy gets a chance to speak, because she doesn't want to deal with the pain of being rejected; but then she gets captured by Raspberry's forces & dragged back to the royal mansion. 

  Part 4 - Viva La Revolution: Meanwhile, Frenzy is nothing but incredibly concerned for his friend's safety. He cusses out Raspberry, promptly almost gets killed by her guards, then gets rescued by the rebellion, who help him learn actual active magic- Frenzy learns to teleport across short distances.

  Ze's surprised when zer dad shows up, finally having put aside his reservations about taking risks when there's people who need help. They finally have a proper conversation for the first time in many years. Silent says ze was right- he can't just sit aside, turning a blind eye, when people's lives & happiness are at stake- but Frenzy also admits that ze was stupid, and should've thought things through more, instead of being so reckless. They've both made mistakes, but they both resolve to learn from them, as well as from each other, this time. They hug, and Silent helps the rebellion come up with a plan.

  Rescue mission time! The whole rebellion storms into the royal mansion, with the intent of breaking Creamcake out of her room, but also with the intent of finally ending Raspberry's rule. They completely wipe the floor with Raspberry's guards with the rebellion's use of magic & the royal guards' own reluctance- the guards are overworked & only really became guards to feed their own families, while the rebellion's been eating more healthily & have more loyalty to each other, as most of them are genuine friends who treat each other with sincere kindness & respect, who willingly chose to fight.

  During all the chaos, Raspberry, in a rage, decides to set fire to her own mansion in order to kill everyone inside. If she can't control everything, she'll burn it, instead. Unable to stop her, Alight orders everyone to start evacuating. Both sides- the rebellion & the royal guards, stop fighting, and everybody helps each other to get out despite their injuries; amongst all the fire & falling debris.