Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Authors Note: Hey there chat. This is actually the author from 2025 vs the OG post of this fanfiction from Early 2022-2023. Thanks to my time off and my overall absence I have hopefully improved my writing. I will be improving the writing of this fanfiction before I continue writing it. Both to get a refresher on the plot and to better flesh some stuff out in the fanfiction itself.

To old readers wanting a bit of nostalgia and to new readers just discovering this dumpster-fire of a fanfiction of mine I hope you enjoy!

. . . . .

GingerBrave stood at the door of his home, holding his ever present accessory of choice in hand- his beloved candy cane. The day was already bright- though it was surely early. The door of his house was locked, as always. Something he made a habit after one of the times that enemies had gotten into the village. The memory was forever stained in the back of his mind- as if it were a shadow of yesterday.

The kingdom was small, but it was improving. There was always room for improvement after all- what was growing without change and hardship?

The day was bound to be simple and lazy- a dedicated time in the middle of the week for cookies to enjoy instances of leisure. Rest to their hearts content and indulge in things they enjoyed.

The sound of a hammer striking metal was heard in the distance- Avocado Cookie was likely working on something else despite the earlier hours of the morning. It was one of the things she did best, and when your passion was your craft- there never truly was a day off.

GingerBrave smiled to himself at the thought- before finishing securing his home. Plopping a key down between two sugar-bricks that made up his front step. It made him feel safer most days.

A joyful canter turned into a sprint as the child advanced in her direction. He laughed to himself as he called her name- making as much noise as possible for her to know he was getting closer. She seemed to chuckle to herself- throwing her tools down before extending her arm out- and waiting a moment longer.

Within half a second- the brave cookie was looped around her strong arm- his hands using it as a branch as he swung back and forth on the limb. "Hey Avocado Cookie! How are you doin' today?!"

Avocado laughs a little, before rocking a little bit, keeping the child on her arm for a solid minute or two. "Heya there, kiddo! How are you doing this morning?" she finally put the younger cookie down, before picking up her hammer and turning her attention back to the blue eyed boy. "It's a tad it early to be out n' about yet."

"Just got up! How about you? What are you doing?" he looked at Avocado's newest project, not completely knowing what it was. Inching himself a little closer to try and get a better grasp of the objects details. It seems that the older cookie noted this, the plus size woman gently put her hand in front of him. Putting his curiosity to a halt with a small shake of her head and a small wink to show that there was no ill intention in her action.

"No touching that stuff yet bud. It's still a bit too warm." she playfully warned, before giving the smaller cookie a few pats on the noggin. "I will show you when I am done, alright?"

A small playful pout worked it's way onto the boys face, and with a small huff-turned-laugh he gave in and physically sulked a tad.

"Okayyyyyyyy." the word was prolonged into a small whine, before he tapped his cane on the ground a couple times. "I am going to explore the forest a bit more to see if I can find anything interesting!" He tapped his candy cane on the ground- pointing toward the vast greenery that lie just beyond the reach of the kingdom gates.

A thoughtful expression crosses Avocado Cookie's Face as she remained silent for just a second or two. There was no discernable expression though it was easy to tell the apprehension based on the odd silence alone.

Finally, with a small gesture she spoke up, tapping the anvil she was working on with one of her other tools. Her face sported a smile- but there was more apprehension behind it. Well hidden behind a slight kink in her brow and her wandering eyes between the boy and the forest that he intended to explore.

"Hey, Hey! Make sure to go let a few of the others know you are going off to the forest kiddo. If someone is looking for you later, they can spread the word, I am not always out here." The woman moved her hand to adjust her goggles. "We don't want a repeat of what happened last time, pumpkin' "

"Alright. I'll go tell Mr. Almond, Herb, and Mr. Mint! Thanks Avocado Cookie!"

The kid soon ran off in the direction of the place Almond Cookie resided first. He was the first one that cookies usually went to if they wanted to know where somebody went. He seemed to have all of the answers.

-

It didn't take all too long to let the other cookies know where he was going. 20 minutes of running around the waking kingdom to let early-bird cookies know about his plan and e was golden.

Finally having accomplished what Avocado Cookie suggested, he was ready to head toward the forest. He could hear his heart in his ears and feel his blood pumping in his body. The thought of casual adventure was thrilling to him. Something that he would be able to enjoy with minimal consequences. Something casual. Free of responsibility and superior goals.

Knight Cookie, perched atop his usual steed stood ready at the gate with his sword in it's hilt. He lowered the obtrusion down over the water as soon as he heard someone approaching- unsurprised to see GingerBrave in his wake barreling toward him with energy.

With a quick wave and a shout of thanks to Knight cookie, GingerBrave continued to chase his chosen path into the forest. The path was less walked and far less familiar than most. However, that would be no problem to him at all. He had taken lessons from Tigerlily Cookie. Despite her broken English he understood most of it and it was great advice.

Speaking of Tigerlily, she might be sleeping now- she usually goes off to look for things during night-time hours. Perhaps being a bit quieter would be nice so he wasn't waking her up somehow...

Hardly a quarter-hour passes before he finds himself a bit winded for breath. It was a way to feel alive. Exploring such rugged terrain with low hanging tree branches and flourishing colors. Everything looks the same yet so different every time. There was nothing but respect from Brave Cookie for those who navigated the jungle and forest often.

His eyes were guided toward the Eastern end of the forest line- where most of the off-limits areas resided. No matter where one trekked there would be danger. It was unsurprising there were warning signs everywhere and a couple small noticeable traps.

Deciding against testing his luck- GingerBrave had guided his travelling direction somewhere between North, and Northeast. More-so North than the ladder.

The feeling of wandering was always something surreal. Something so magical and yet so merely simple. The ambiance of the life surrounding him at every corner was enough to make his head spin. Teaming with nothing but life.

His nerves, consumed by ever sensation seem to tingle a little bit. It's enthralling and exhilarating. Like breathing for the first time after holding your breath for so long.

As he continued to explore, he carefully avoided the many arrays of plants that Tigerlily Cookie talked about. Suspicious plants and strange critters that would be better off left where they came from. It was helpful information to follow considering he was out here by himself, and the least thing he needed was for something to go wrong.

The more steps he took, the more he got the tinge of something strange being afoot. However, these feelings would not be satisfied as there was nothing that even looked remotely out of place. Perhaps it was due to there being so much around him already. Every single stride made him feel smaller and smaller.

With his curiosity getting the better of him- Brave Cookie dedicated several minutes to poking around where he was. Soon, with the most modest of exploration- GingerBrave happened across a clearing. The location was adorned with lush green grasses dripping in dew that sparkled in the sunlight, chiffon yellow flowers blossom in patches within the delightful greenery.

It was a sight to behold, despite how simple it might seem.

Despite the endless nature to marvel at- there was something that caught the child's eye. There was something in particular that seemed to catch his eye- a stone podium resting nestled in the center of the field of soft flowers and other foliage. A carved rock of silvery sugar that was carefully tucked away in this clearing- something about it calling out to the adventurous pre-teen.

Venturing closer, there was a small hesitation at the oddness of such a structure in such a place. All thoughts quickly diminished by a spiral of curiosity. Initially, he wondered what it was and found himself almost wanting to touch it. Though he consciously rejects the idea in favor of another lingering thought. Perhaps he could ask around and see if there is any local rumors of knowledge of this thing...?

With a small turn of his heel- the boy made a mental note to revisit later. Maybe with some more knowledge he can find out if it's anything important. Though for now he had to prioritize finding another path to chase in hopes of encountering something less confusing.

With a steady pace, he backtracks a little and finds another path that he can follow to do a bit more exploring. A small smile formed on his face as he continued to fantasize about all of the possibilities.

Just out of view of the brave boy, there was a subtle glow. A light dusting of pink enveloped the pedestal as the child retreated away- magic pulsing around it as it seems to acknowledge the boys retreating form.

The glow seemed to deepen whilst also getting brighter- before settling down to no glow again once more.

((To Be Continued))

(Chapter One Rewrit

Chapter Text

Running along the trunk of a tree, GingerBrave continued to explore around the forest while it was still early in the morning. He wash haphazardly jumping around, using his cane to support his weight on vines as he slid down them from high-resting tree limbs. It seemed that he was starting to get less and less cautious the more energized he became. 

It surely had been several hours, at this point. The lad had made it a point to explore everywhere he could reach. There was just so much fun to be had- and new things to see. 

Eventually, though, the blue eyed cookie knew he was going to have to head back to the kingdom to check in. If he was out here too long, without checking in- then he was going to have nearly half of his friends out here searching for him, and he didn't want to make them worry to that extent. 

Taking one final panoramic glance around where he rested near the canopy of a tree, he started to make his way down the trunk of the structure, once again utilizing the aide of his cane so he wasn't falling down- the tree was covered in vines and smaller branches- so there was a lot of stuff to grab onto if needed. He was confident in whatever was going to happen from there. He moved one arm down, followed by the leg on the oopising side of his body. 

This process repeats, until he places his left foot on the ground safely, allowing himself to show a content smile. 

He closed his eyes, envisioning where he had been last. He needed to turn back around- and take every path that went off to the right- seeing as he was going left almost this whole time. 

Dashing forth the bold child smiled, quickly running back in the direction he had known he came from. He whistled to himself, thinking about Mint Choco Cookie's Violin music. Maybe he can stop by the older cookie's place later, and make a song request, if Mint wasn't too stressed. If he was, though, it could wait until another time. 

Keeping his quick, steady pace made the time spent getting to this point feel like everything took obscenely longer than it should have. Though, he didn't mind too much- completely. GingerBrave started to think about Avocado cookie- maybe she got that thing she was working on earlier done, finally! She was a really fast worker. She made some of the coolest things. 

Continuing on for many minutes, the 12-year-old hero looks around- taking note of the field that he had passed by earlier. This time- though- something seemed different- 

He had nearly forgotten that he was going to talk to someone else in the kingdom about it- to see what it was, especially if it was documented to be anything in particular. With these many thoughts in mind, the blue eyed boy starts to travel around the outer edge of the clearing. He knew for a fact that it wasn't glowing before... 

"I wonder what that is....?" he started to ask himself. He wanted to get so close to it, but he also wouldn't let himself move. As he has heard before- just because it seems harmless, that does not mean it can't be dangerous. Looks can often be decieving. "I should probably stay away from it... I still don't know what this is, and I don't need to trigger something that could be avoided..." he started to sweat a little bit- getting a feeling of general discomfor tthe more he looked in the pedastals direction. 

Turning his head to the side, GingerBrave spot the path that he was on earlier that day, and he furrowed his frostinng brows a little bit. It wasn't that far- all he needed to do was walk near the trees- and he would be there in no time!

The boy starts to make his way to said tree line, touching a couple of the trunks, before walking along right in front of them, keeping his eyes away from the structure that seemed to harmess just a little while ago. Maybe it was just his nerves playing with him... then again... MAYBE it wasn't. His gut was screaming to him. Telling him to try and get out of there as soon as possible. 

He wasn't scared- not yet- but soemthing definitely wasn't right-

Just as he made his way to the halfway point between the last path he was on, and the path he was seeking- he heard a bunch of rumbling- and the sound of shooting- almost as if line-triggered traps had been sent off somehow. 

Before he could even have the chance to respeond- a projectile of some sort went flying right by his head- making him wince. 

GingerBrave got cold all of a sudden, and thought back a bit- Tigerlily taught him about this too, right?! He thought and thought, before quckly plopping himself on the ground, and scooting along the grass- using his fore arms and legs to wiggle and shimmy to the other path. it was so close. 

Staying near the ground was his safest bet. He doesn't know where the arrows are coming from. Meaning there is a high chance that he could easily get caught by one. 

Knowing any cookies that set up traps, those arrows are poisonous- tipped off with something that will enhance the amount of bodily harm the object will do. These traps were made for people who were WALKING. Even if he sets all of them off, he is safer near the ground. 

The blue eyed boy continued to quickly scoot his way along the dloor of the clearing the grass tickled his face, nearly enough to bring him temperary joy and distract him from just how much danger he could be in right now. 

'Just a little more- almost there- I just gotta-" the child continued the frantic crawling, trying to keep up his determination. He was right at the path now- all he had to do was stand up and-! 

The second he stood, and made his attempt to hide behind a nearby sign that rested near the clearing- Gingerbrave heard the sound of wood chipping, and felt pain rushing into his leg- He audibly gasps, before covering his mouth to keep himself from making any loud, or sudden nosies. Looking down- his leg looked really bad-

There was a large pinkish-purple object of a jagged, sharpened veriety sticking out of his leg, piercing the back and completely going through the front- no restraint. The wood from the sign was cracked, and pierced behind him, it dind't do anything to stop whatever this was. 

Either way, it really hurt. 

The Brave Cookie grunted, as he closed one eye, trying to keep from crying. He doesn't have time to sit down and cry about what he doesn't have. He needed to get back home, or at least somewhere with an adult that knew how to heal others.  Whatever was sticking out of his leg hurt, it made Gingerbraves body feel like fire- he still wanted to scream, but he bit it back. 

The clearing fell into silence as he crawled along, struggling to get anywhere at all. The jam leaking from his wounds was sure to attract predatory animals. 

"Got to get back... come on- just a little bit-" the boy continued to pull himself, the object sticking out of his leg was starting to glow agian- which only burned the poor child more. He had no idea what was happening, but he felt himself get cold all of a sudden as his arms gave out from under his struggling body- and he fell chin first onto the ground fromw here he barely held himself up in the first palce. 

Eventually, GingerBrave just falls limp, unable to move his body at this point, the strawberry jam pooled under his leg- as he has probably lost to much already. He could hear someone calling his name- but he couldn't process who it was- all he knew was that it was familiar... but he couldn't place it. 

Gingerbrave flops his head down on the ground, passing out as several figures start to run at him from the darkness of the path ahead. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Strawberry Cookie was with Herb Cookie and Chili Pepper Cookie- they had ventured off into the forest to try and find GingerBrave, because Purple Yam was looking for him for some reason. The biggeer cookie had tasked himself with something- as to why he couldn't go and try to find GingerBrave himself. 

The forest had a mysterious air to it today- something felt off, and none of them could explain what it was. Herb was walking behind the two others, looking around aat the trees in thought. He blinks his brown eyes as he tried to listen for any signs of the brave cookie that they needed to find. So far- there was nothing but the ambiance of the forest- Peaceful, and calm. Melodic. 

Strawberry made sure to stay close to the other two cookies who had come with her to find him- originally, they were intent on splitting up at the pathways- but the uneasy feeling in the forest kept all of them from doing so. Something wasn't right. 

Chili Pepper played with her small knives as she looked around from time to time. She knew well that she usually never had to keep an eye out for Brave- Brave Cookie was loud by nature- unless he was trying to communicate with someone who preferred quiet communication. She tossed her knife up, and down, and caught it by the handle, letting the blade spin a bit. 

Haphazardous. 

Surely somethig she would be lightly scolded for by Almond if he were around. 

"Have you guys seen any signs of Ginger B' Being around yet? The silence is killin' me." Girl noted as she grunted, putting her knives back where she usually stored them. "You two never did talk too much, did ya?"

Both Herb and Strawberry look at each other. Strawberry was walking backwards, and the man continued to walk at a normal pace, facing forward the whole time. The younger of the the three cookies shook her head, before bringing her hands out of her pocket. 

"I talk, I just couldn't think of anything to talk about. It's hard for me to communicate with others a lot- especially if Brave is not around, but I am working on it. I am just more worried about him right now... I don't like what feeling I am getting, and I don't even know what this feeling is..." There was a lot of pensiveness behind the words of the hoodied cookie. She starts to look around, her brow arching in a way that made it clear she was uneasy.

Herb sighs, before looking around at the trees. "I am unsure about this place. Something is definitely wrong." the man starts to readjust his apron, tucking the strings in the back in so they wouldn't get caught on anything. 

Chili Pepper cookie just grunted, but she nodded, understanding a bit more. She wouldn't fault them for their preferences. At least she had an answer now. 

As they continued their walk, they all shared light conversation. Mainly with long gaps of silence in between but it was the bits that counted here ad there anyhow. After an unidentified mount of time, Herb heard something, and called out to the other two cookies to ask them to stop moving. Chili and Strawberry both look back to the green haired cookie, before complying, pulling themselves to a stop. 

They all started to her it- it was the sound of slight dragging- almost like someone had a limp and were unable to lift their leg. 

It was close by- so after a little bit of looking, they should be able to find the source- the all nod to each other, walking off in slightly different directions- but still made sure to keep within hearing-range of each other, in case something happened, or went wrong. 

5 minutes pass- and Herb calls out to the other two, seeming to be in a hurry. "Chili, Strawberry, come here- I found him!" there was slight panic in his voice, it was clear that something caused him to either be unnerved or perhaps slightly panicked. Both cookies that were paged started to quickly make their way off into the direction that Herb had went, spotting him not even two minutes later- he was kneeled over something on the ground-

Upon getting a closer look- Chili and Strawberry took notice that it was Brave- he looked fairly fine, save for a lot of jam under his leg- the biggest concern was the strange pink crystal-like spear that had embedded itself in the poor kids leg- 

"What in the name of RoyalBerry happened here?!" Chili exclaimed, before rushing forward a bit. She went and kneeled next to the child was face flat on the ground, and clearly unresponsive. She tapped on his shoulder, hoping to recieve a response that indicated at least some kind of stimuli. 

Other than Brave's leg moving in discomfort upon touching the object that had been lodged into his limb, there was not much of a reaction to anything. 

Strawberry was squeamish at the sight of the the ripe red-pink jam that came from her friends leg. "Hey- G-Ginger- come on, say something- are you alright..?!" the questionn was hesistant. It seemed she didn't really want an answer- it was clear he wasn't okay- but he hopefully wasn't dead-

Herb looked even more troubled that the other two were, somehow. He shook his head, trying to use his healing ability to at least stop the bleeding. However, it wasn't working. It was strange, something that Herb hardly ever encountered- and that worried him more. 

Brave was losing his inner contents fast.

"My healing isn't helping- it hasn't made anything close up a bit so he at least can keep what remains in his body where it is supposed to be-" he somewhat stuttered out- before shaking his head. "I can't do anything... and I don't have too much medical awareness other than what my healing abilities do. I'm going to tie off his leg, but we can't remove whatever this thing is, before we get back to the kingdom, it could be even more fatal."

Chili and Strawberry nodded to the green haired cookie, before the red haired girl took her weapons out of their holsters, and handed them to the smaller female. "Here, strawberry. I am going to carry Brave- I want you to hold these to make sure that they don't come loose- I won't be able to pick them up, and Herb doesn't like knives too much-" 

All of the cookies present worked as fast as they could without being reckless. Herb tore off part of his apron, and sued it to tie off GingerBrave's leg, and Chili handed her weapons over to Strawberry who was apprehensive to have them, but didn't refuse. As soon as the unconcscious boy was picked up, all of them made a quick run back to the kingdom, following the path they were on- chili holding the child as steady as she could, so nothing got damaged more than it already was. 

All of them travelled in relative silence, and held hope that they woudn't run into any animals. 

Other than a few stumps of trees, sugar rocks, and loose vines, there weren't any problems- Strawberry cookie ran ahead, spotting the gate of the Cookie Kingdom. Finally! They were almost there!

She looks back to GingerBrave again, wondering just what happened, before shaking her head. She would just ask later when he was better- he would be okay- he always was... 

That last thought didn't help with her sinking feeling though.

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

Hours later, most of the kingdom where near Herb's house- they all sought the help of Almond Cookie, and Sparkling cookie, as they had a good range of medical experience. Sparkling helped with removing the purple-pink projectile that was stuck in GingerBrave's leg- but the confusing thing was that as soon as the object was removed- it just- vanished. 

There was nothing else to it, the object disappearing into thin air, as if it wasn't there at all to begin with. 

"Do you have any idea where that strange object came from?" Sparkling whispered over to the green haired cookie, who, in turn, just shook his own head with a sigh. The blonde nodded, before grunting and looking down to the basic cookie child under them. 

He could look into it later. Right now, he needed to make sure to help Brave as much as possible. 

-

Even more hours passed by- and the Brave Cookie had seemed to not be responsive in the least. He was clearly alive- but he hardly seemed to process cognative responses. Being talked to, lightly touched on the arm, having his name called- nothing was waking him up. 

Currently, it was Avocado cookie watching over him. The plus sized cookie was pacing around his room, pretty quietly, as to not disturb him at the moment. Much like all of the others, she was troubled. Confused and worried in regards to what happened to her much smaller pal- none of the cookies within the kingdom had actually encountered a problem that serious in a while... it had been months since the last concerning injury. 

Turning to the window, the green haired female looked out, and watched as the other cookies went about their business. Doing what was common to them. Herb was tending to his plants nearby, talking with Sparkling, and Vampire. All three of them were tense. 

Tiger Lily had not shown up yet, and no one had seen Adventure Cookie in a while- who, at this point- were going to be the best bet in regards to asking questions about strange objects found out in the forest. 

The large cookies thoughts continued spinning, but she was brought out of her contemplative trance by the sound of shifting movements, and a small groan.

Turning around, she saw The Brave Cookie slowly sitting up as he rubbed at his head, looking down at his lap as he seemed to be lost for a few seconds. He stared and his eyes landed on his wrapped, slightly crumbled leg. He brought his hand to the wound, before feeling it gently get dragged back away from the damaged limb.

"Kiddo, it's best if you don't put pressure on it. You were already hurt enough." Avocado gently let go of GingerBrave's arm- the child looking up to her in confusion. Other than the small bit of confusion his eyes, held, any other emotions were unable to be placed. It was... unnatural. Avocado felt herself shiver as she shook her head, and looked off to the side. Maybe she was overthinking it...

Just a couple seconds passed, and GingerBrave seemed to snap back to reality. He looks back tot the larger cookie, before pausing, and thinking for a moment. 

"What's... going on?"

Avocado cookie just sighs, before going and sitting in a chair next to the child cookie. "You were hurt pretty bad. You are healing up well... Herb, and Sparkling had to work together to get you to start healing up- because Herb couldn't do it on his own..." she crossed her arms, beforetilting the bag on her waist. "Do you know what happened? Don't stress yourself to remember anything if you can't remember it at the moment... alright?"

The brave cookie seemed stumped for a few more seconds before closing his eyes, and trying to remember what had happened. He struggled, but- it didn't take him long to gain his bearings, and the memories flooded back.

He brought his hand up to his head, before sighing, and nodding up to the green haired cookie. "I do remember. Mostly... I went out to look around the forest... and after I was there for a while- I ran into a clearing with periwinkle and yellow flowers... the place was very pretty. There was a Pedastal or somethig there."

Avocado nodded, leaning in closer to the child as she made sure not to put too much of her weight on his resting place. "Alright... what about what happened after that, kiddo?" she adjusted her goggles again, and took out a small stenograph. Fully intent on writing down what the boy had mentioned to her. 

"Well, I saw the pedestal, but I avoided it... I wanted to touch it, but I heard from Tiger Lily that touching strange objects was better to be avoided. So I left it alone, and continued on until I turned around, and started to walk back to the kingdom...." GingerBrave brought his hands up to his head, closing his heas as he felt his head starting to throb in objection to the movement and the light of the room he was in. "When I got back to the same area the second time... something felt off."

The older cookie nodded as the younger continued to describe his story. Writing down the more important details, she asked smaller questions here and there, and took note that, at least a couple times, the child had started to grow intensely confused out of no where- nearly forgetting what they were talking about. 

The next ten or so minutes were full of stress and contemplation. As well as worry- and perhaps some small tinges of doubt. 

"That's all I can rememner... the last thing that happened was... I... uh... I remember making it to the end of the clearing- and I felt something stab me through my leg... it went through the post of a sign nearby without a problem. Then- I crawled a little way- and passed out..?" he tried to recall. 

Closing her eyes, the teddy bear of a cookie nodded, and placed her hand on GingerBrave's shoulder. 

"That's good for now. I will go and let the others know... do you want me to talk to Her or Sparkling about getting something for you to eat?" she questioned to him- making the child shake his head. "Are you sure?"

GingerBrave nodded in response before leaning back, growing tired again. He stared at the ceiling for several seconds before letting sleep consume him again. He closed his eyes, and his head slumped over to the right- before a light snoring emitted from him. 

The visiting friend was still filled with concern, and now armed with what little bit of info that her pal had given her. She nodded to herself, before opening the door, and leaving the room, closing the door again behind her. 

She still felt as if something was not mentioned- but she didn't have it in her to pressure the kid at the moment. He was just too tired and drained. She made sure to tuck the stenograph into her pocket safely, and made her way down the hall of the residence she was in- before exiting. She closed the doors of the premisis behind herself, and trudged over to where Herb, Sparkling and Vamper cookie were all talking, and sharing possible scenarios with each other. 

"Ah, Avocado, did you get any information out of him?"

"Yeah, I did." she started, before pulling the stenograph out again. There was really no use putting it in her pocket the first time, but it was too late to ponder on that. "i wrote down most of what he told me... but..."

"But what...?" Herb asked from where he stood behind one of his plants, watering them.

"Something still feels off. I don't know what it is, but he had a very hard time with concentration... I can't tell if it was any pain relieving substances, or if it was because of just waking up. I also am having a hard time understanding some of the things he explained..."

"Well, let's try to figure it out with Almond. He was asking about Brave earlier. He said he was going to meet us at my place, so we could talk about it. He is probably there now."  Sparkling offered to the other three, who nodded in agreement. 

Before long, they were all following Sparkling to where he needed them to go.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

"So, what did you find out, Avocado?" Sparkling asked the bigger cookie, before going, and putting a juice drink together. He looks at the other two men standing there, knowing that they were waiting for an answer too. Herb was lightly touching one of the leaves of the succulent plant he carried around with himself, and Vampire was drinking on juice that he had already been served. 

Almond cookie was on the opposing side of Avocado, remaining silent as he had his own notebook out to put some notes into. 

"Well, to put it simple, the kiddo woke up for a few minutes. He looked really out of it at first... it was concerning. I had to lightly grab his arm so he wasn't hurting his leg, and he just... stared." the green haired cooke put up her hand, knowing well that at least one of them was going to ask what the problem with staring was. 

Sparkling dropped three ice cubes into the juice he was putting together, taking the silence among them as a chance to finish getting the beverage prepared for another customer who was at a nearby table. 

"It was like he was lost in his own world for a moment. I know it doesn't feel like much of anything at face value, but- Brave has never done that before. He is a chatty cathy. He talks because he doesn't like silence. The only reason he will be quiet, is if someone asks. That was the first thing I noticed..." the builder remarked. 

"What else, Avocado? You seem to sill be highly troubled. I would assume that whatever it is that you just explained is not as bad as whatever was mentioned next..?" he finished writing something down in the small book he was using- leading him to tapping on the side of the paper and covers with the long part of the utencil he was using. 

"I'm getting there..." the woman huffed, before adjusting her glasses with a more serious expression. "I did ge him to talk.  He seemed to not be able to remember some things- I am not sure how much he may have forgotten, or just not remembered right off the bad, but there was definitely some chunks of his story missing in places." she took a drink of the beverage that Sparkling had supplied her with, before setting the stenograph on the bar counter.

There was a brief pause between all of the cookies sitting in the general area, before the larger cookie regained her bearings and continued on. 

"Anyways... he told me something about wandering off into the forest, which I did know about this morning. He mentioned how he went in further than usual- following paths that we haven't bothered taking, on account of the fact that they just lead to fields, and other openings in unpopulated areas." the woman noted, tapping on the stenograph she had plopped down a few seconds beforehand. "He said that he had wandered in and found a field of periwinkle and yellow flowers, accompanied by a pedestal of some sort." 

The brown-eyed, plant-nurturing cookie tilted his head, not seeming to remember such a place in has many travels there. However, he said nothing. Sparkling seemed to ponder on the information, also coming up clueless. Vampire remained silent as he had been the entire time, but a somewhat troubled look was present within the knit of his brows and lack of eye contact. 

"He said that he avoided the pedestal, as he knew that he should probably ask Tiger Lily or Adventurer cookie what it was. He knows that they like wandering around the forest. So he continued into the forest more. Later on, he decided that he was going to start heading back, but- that is where we started having problems..." 

Almond cookie took a sip of the juice that he ahd gotten from Sparkling, who was making some of the more quietly composed beverages while Avocado was speaking. He sighs, before placing his own utencil down on the paper that he was jotting notes down on. 

"I am supposing those problems are the main reason why you are worried right now?" the bigger cookie nodded in response to his question, before tapping on the counter. He brought his own hand up to his face, and he grunted, feeling himself grow tired, but more concerned simultaneously. "So... what is it that has you worried, then?"

Avocado took her goggles off her head, before tightening her ponytail in the slightest bit. Not that she could tighten it much, anyways. "He seemed to be having some... memory problems? I am not sure if I am overthinking this or not- because I know some pain-relieving tactics used can mess with the brains of most that are undergoing treatment.. to put it simple, he seemed to be having a lot of memory issues." 

"Memory issues...?" Sparkling asked, putting his shaker and ice cubes down on the counter. He leans forward a bit, taking Avocado's beverage, and refilling it. "What do you mean by that? You said he was telling you some of the things that had happened to him- correct?" 

The green haired woman nodded, before her brows knit together again. 

"That is correct. What I mean to say is that he started to pause when he was talking to me.... he started to stare off into space, and just... forget what we were talking about." she finally grunted, before adjusting her goggles again, mainly out of stress. The strap of them were wrapped around her wrist as she dangled them over the table. "He would ask what we were doing... or just fall silent completley and stare at his lap."

"Memory issues, huh?" Almond cookie thought on it. "I mean... victims of traumatic experiences often experience memory loss... but I don't think it effects them in a way where they get lost mid-conversation... it's more or less them losing memories of the event that contributed to their trauma..." Almond cookie was now more curious about the situation. A really bad combination when paired with worry. 

He was a dad, after all. He couldn't help but be worried for everyone, but a child being hurt or even... he would rather not go there. Either way... if there was a problem with GingerBrave's memory, the detective sincerely hoped that it wasn't permanant. 

"Did he say how his leg got stabbed?" Vampire finally asked, before tapping the glass he was drinking from on the counter, politely asking Sparkling for another drink as he guides his attention back  to the plus sized cookie who nodded,, and let out another prolonged sigh. She was overthinking a lot of things at the moment. Worried. Her mind was racing at a million miles a minutes, trying to find a good answer for herself as to what was going on with her little pal. 

"He said that a long crystal spike of some kind went through his leg- it went through the post of a sign behind him, which was strange, in his opinion. I am not saying he is wrong there. He then recalled passing out after crawling a ways." the green haired cookie grumbled. "If I ever find who or what hurt him, I am not going to be having a friendly chat with them..." 

Coffee put his hand on her shoulder, before sighing. "Don't do anything wreckless, Avocado. I don't want to have to investigate a crime scene and arrest a friend. Having an injured child is enough on my plate. Let's concentrate on helping Brave get better, for now." 

Sighing, Avocado cookie nodded, her body becoming a little less tense. It was then that Herb Cookie decided to speak up.

"He said that he had been in a field with flowers before and when he was coming back..? That... doesn't make any sense..." the green haired cookie became more troubled, bringing his hand up to his face as he recalled where they had found GingerBrave in the first palce. 

"Why do you say that, Herb?" Sparkling asked from where he stood with the shaker in his hand. 

"I saw the trail where the jam was leaking through his wounds... I also saw the sign he mentioned... but... " he paused, looking more confused than anything else. 

"But what?" 

Herb shook his head, again, before wrapping his arms around the flower pot he favored. 

"There was no field, or flowers ... or pedistal nearby... there was nothing but trees, and vines, and several sets of shrubs. The only thing other than that- beyond the sign, were several tree stumps, and patches of dirt... the place looked absurdly... dead." he stated. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Tossing and turning on a bed, the child brought his arms over his head as he fought within a dream- he struggled to move, and groaned in discomfort. The sleepy form lightly scratched at his own face, before jolting his body again. A frown played on his brow, and he bit his lip, indicating intense nervousness. 

On the outside, he just seemed to be having a lively nightmare. 

Within his mindscape, though, GingerBrave was running. Running as fast as his tired legs would let him- a burning pain surging through the limb that was still damaged from the projectile that had impaled it. He was out of breath, nearly collapsing from not breathing properly. He needed or escape. 

Run.

He needed to keep moving. 

Don't stop. 

Don't stop moving they're going to find out- look out-!

All of a sudden there was an immense pain and pressure on The Brave Cookie's chest, and he felt as thought he was choking. He brought his hands up to his neck, and desperately tried to get air back into his system, but everything was moving so fast. His ears were ringing, heart pumping- everything spun and it felt as if there were animals clawing at him. 

He tried to cover as much of his body as he could. 

Curl up... look smaller... cover all of the important areas. When you are in this situation... turn onto your stomch, so you can try to protect the softer part of your body from damage. 

Play... dead...?

GingerBrave let out a small whimper as he tried to muster up his sourage. He was The Brave Cookie... fear was normal... but... why... why couldn't he move now? 'Come on- get up- face your fears... take on your enemies head on. Don't just curl up and try to disappear. That would make you a coward!'

The basic cookie continued to reprimend himself. All of the complaining he did to himself didn't help him though. He just got more stressed.

All of a sudden, there was a deafening ringing noise- making a stabbing headache immediately start to blossom through the sleeping childs noggin. He curled up even more- desperately wanting this accursed flood of unpleasant sensations to cease. He teared up, and shook his head, which only made it feel as though someone was knocking on his forehead with a hammer. 

'GingerBrave- come on... you need to get up..." a voice was becking out to him. The blue eyed cookie tried to pull himself into the world of the aware, but no matter wat he did- it felt like nothing actually changed. The pounding in his head dulled, but dind't stop. "Come on kiddo, you are starting to worry us." the came voice persisted. 

By the sounds of it... it was Mr Almond and Avocado cookie. 

Suddenly, it felt as if there was something was driven through his chest. At first, it was just a feeling of pressure, being winded. He experienced that when he was tossed into trees during battle a lot. Then- he felt a familiar stabbing pain. Except it was even closer to his head. It was almost as if something had been completely driven through his chest- 

'I- can't... can't... br-breathe-' he heard himself screaming internally, his mouth not making a single move to produce a word. 'Wake up.'

He kept screaming at himself to wake up. 

Whatever was below him in his troubled mindscape was keeping him trapped. He wasn't just falling, no he was plummeting and fast. 

Just as he felt his back collide with an invisible surface- the young cookie woke up, gasping for air, as he snapped forward, gagging and choking on air he felt he wasn't getting. He let loose a loud, agony-laced scream, and brought his arms to his head, breathing hard as he frantically looked around the space he had woken up in. 

The first thing the frantic child did was swing his arms around in desperation, only seeing shadows around him, rather than the forms of the other cookies that he racalled hearing while he was trapped in his sleep. He automatically tried to push them away, struggling and searching for his candycane to fight them back if he must- he couldn't see it anywhere. 

All he could see were unpleasant mixes of colors and hues. Everything was blending together. 

It hurt to think. 

"GingerBrave! Calm down, it's us!" there was a quick exclamation from the blonde haired cookie, who had quickly put down his shaking cups that he carried everywhere for good luck. It was Sparkling Cookie. 

The boy was still frantic, making it clear that he was ready to fight, if he must. 

None of them needed that. 

First, GingerBrave was a very tough, resourceful, and tough child. If he was crafty enough, he was able to take out entire teams, and push back enemies with considerable force. Second, was the fact that he was currently in a state of flash panic, and notable turmoil. 

Two terrible combination, a small room, and a bunch of older cookies who didn't want to go and harm their friend. 

Thinking quickly, Avocado grabbed the boy by his hands, and started to speak to him calmly. "Settle down, Pumpkin. You were having a nightmare. Deep breaths. It's me, Avocado. Breathe. Close your eyes, and relax." the instructed to him- the smaller cookie struggling for a few more seconds. 

After that point, though, the child calmed down, and closed his eyes with force- shaking his head subsequentially. 

His breathing and heart rate slowed, and he hesitantly looked back up, seeing the lot of concerned adult cookies surrounding the bed where he was resting not too long ago. He concentrated on their face... focusing on each one. They were really where... he was really awake. 

Though, it felt like everything was still spinning. 

"I-.... I'm sorry..." he breathed out, before gently removing his hands from Avocado's larder, more comforting grasp. "I....I... uh..." 

He couldn't find the words he wanted to say. 

He was still too worked up. 

Almond Cookie took in a breath, and grunted, before sitting down on the bed. 

"Do you want to talk about it, Brave?" he asked the young cookie, which, in turn, made the blue eyed youngster shake his head no, and look down at his lap. It seemed he was shutting down. A common thing he did, when it came to his own problems. 

Everyone knew GingerBrave has a serious connection with what could be considered hero syndrome. 

While he did considered others competant enough to be able to helpful, and strong- he would still do whatever he could to help them. Though, the error, or worrying side of that came with the fact that he cared very little about himself. His own problems always got back-burnered, even if he were the only one who needed help in the moment. 

More than likely the only major reason that he talked earlier, for Avocado, was because he was still somewhat out of it- or... very out of it. 

They were left with more questions than conclusions, even with the information supplied, and that was because... whatever place he knew he got hurt at or in... it didn't even seem to exist. 

With that being said- all of the adults look between each other, before sighing. They knew it was going to be a long while before Brave considered saying anything else to them... so.. all they could do was wait. Hopefully they could persuade him to talk sooner than later...

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

GingerBrave, being the typically active, and adventurous kid he was, wasn't kept from moving for long. Within little over half a day, he was healed up, and moving around his room. Getting anxious. Wanting and yearning for some activity or adventure. He seemed to have healed over his short term memory experience, but it was confusing how it happened in the first place. 

Avocado and Coffee were both looking into it more- going to other cookies with questions. 

Something felt off about the entire event. Herb, Strawberry and Chili went back out to the forest, where they found GingerBrave, Adventurer cookie accompanied them, to see if he could maybe find the place that Brave was talking about- but- no place like that ever turned up. It was nowhere to be found. 

This lead everyone else to get frustrated. If Brave got hit out there, then there was just as much of a possibility that others would too. 

A couple weeks were passing by fast, despit the constant feeling of slowness, and the need to look over his own shoulder.

Right now, a lot of the cookies were in the town square, browsing ideas for more defenses in the forest areas that still remained within the kingdom. Most of the children were there just hanging out with each other, and listening. Sometimes the children did go to battle with the adults if they needed to travel, or explore something, but it was rare. 

GingerBrave was the only one who was with the adults constantly, safe for Strawberry. Despite that, the adults usually tried to make sure he was closer to the back, that way he stood less of a chance of getting hurt. That hardly ever worked out, though. 

The Brave Cookie remained with the other children, not feeling like listening to the entire speech. He was a bit too tired for that. He watched as Onion Cookie huddled herself in the corner, and kept looking around, more than likely being worried as she always was. She was so little though, so it was understandable. 

Something was pulling on Brave's mind though. He just couldn't seem to keep put- he kept standing up and moving around. Looking around constantly, and trying to find something he didn't know he was looking for.

There was an unease about him.  It was easy to notice. 

"Something is bothering you." a shorter cookie stated. Looking down, Gingerbrave took note of the presence of Custard Cookie III. The brave cookie grunted, to the usually more optomistic, freely spoken cookie, before nodding. However, he didn't say anything. This made the smaller, golden haired cookie give him a firm frown. "Then what's bothering you?"

The more simple cookie shook his head, not wanting to answer, but that only made the smaller cookie's face darken. 

He could be so unnerving sometimes when he didn't get what he wanted. Gingerbrave only shivered, and sighs, before looking down at the ground. "Something doesn't feel right. I don't know what it is. I just can't seem to calm down. That's all. I am sure it is just because of what happened recently" even at that answer, Custard Cookie looked dipleased, but he just nodded this time. 

After the blonde haired cookie left, several of the adult cookies went over to where most of the kids were standing, before everyone parted to go home. 

Avocado cookie followed the brave child. She was the one who lived the closest to him, after all. She caught up to him, carrying her customized hammer. "Heya kiddo... how are you doing today?" he asked to him, before plopping her hammer over her shoulder. "You still look a bit tense..." she noted. 

"I know. Custard made sure to tell me that. I am still anxious, but I will be fine. I just need to clear my head a bit. My headache is not helping me out, so that is probably the main means of the problem. I am really tired too, so i'm turning in. Night." he stepped up on his door, and grabbed the handle, before looking to the more crafty cookie who gave a concerned glance to the side. However, despite her worry, she didn't ask questions. She merely nodded, and let him close the door, before walking off herself. 

The brave child walked in, and made sure to secure the knob on his door, before reading to his room, which was not all that far away. He felt a bit of himself lighten up a little bit emotionally. Sleeping would be good for him. He needed it after most of these restless nights. 

As soon as he got to bed, he let his body decompress a little bit, and he turned over to his side, putting his candycane down near the resting object. 

Within moments, he had drifted off to sleep, the warmth of his home comforting him within the silence of the space. Cozy. 

He was the brave cookie- he was going to he okay. 

He was going to snap back to normal in no time at all. 

((To be Continued))

Chapter Text

Falling

Again, he was falling. 

The sensation of weightlessness combined with the conscious knowledge of needing weight to fall was making his head hurt. It felt as if the boy was falling for hours... the sky above him didn't change... the clouds didn't get any smaller. 

The blue eyed cookie then turned his head toward the ground, looking at the dusty floor that he was falling toward for the last several minutes.. hours..? Days? It was the same distance it was from him before. However, the feeling of tingling in the cookie's legs was making the child fear when he would hit the ground. 

Would his legs shatter? Would he feel like he was dying?

At this point, the brave cookie covered his eyes, and took in a deep breath and he tried to close off the thoughts. He was asleep, right? He could maybe control this? He heard about lucid dreaming before... maybe if he did it right... he could keep himself feeling the sensation of pain? 

What if he wasn't asleep?

What if he wasn't safely in his bed, and he was REALLY falling? What could he do? 

Brave felt himself knitting his eyebrows together. He needed to make sure that he didn't just accept his fate. He needed to be ready. Just in case this was really happening...

Opening his eyes again, the boy looked around and looked down at the ground, before leaning forward, and letting his body 'flatten' in a way. There wasn't a change in scenery, but because of the air crashing into his body- he was slowing down, in comparison to the plummet he felt just seconds before that. Which was, at least, some kind of step forward, evne if it wasn't all that large. 

'Come on, Brave, think... you need to find a way to keep yourself from continuing this falling . . ' the boy scolded himself, before looking around. There was nothing to grab onto, and even if there was- if it was something stuck in one place, the combined speed of him falling, and his own weight would surely snap his arms if tried to grab onto something. 

There was nothing around him though. 

Nothing to grab, or hold onto. Wide open air, and what felt like an endless dive. 

Gingerbrave had nothing he COULD do. Nothing he knew of that he could accomplish. 

He couldn't give up... he wouldn't be a hero, if he did. 

He needed to keep trying, even if it seemed hopeless. 

Closing his eyes, he tried to picture himself not falling. It seemed ineffective. The same feeling of rushing air persisted around him, his limbs heavy, but light, and numb. However, within seconds... something changed. He was starting to feel warm... was that a sign he was waking up? He was getting warmer and warmer and warmer... too warm.. 

He felt hot...

Where was this feeling of heat coming from? He could feel an impression of sweat on his skin. The droplets of sweat were not evacuating his form, though. With all of the falling, the force of gravity should of been pulling the droplets of sweat off of the boy. 

Gingerbrave was getting nervous again. He hated the heat. Worst yet, he hated being corner, cramped, or stuck in places where there was ample heat, and no way to turn it off, or hide from it. It reminded him too much of the narrow escape he made from the oven. 

He started to cough. 

There was... smoke? What was going on? He closed his eyes again, and started to cough. It smelled like there was smoke, and it somewhat felt like there was, but from what he saw, the skies and anywhere below him was clear- before closing his eyes again a few seconds ago...

He couldn't breathe. 

He was suffocating.

Why couldn't he breathe?

"Wake up!" there was a voice, there it was- he was dreaming! Nothing around him could have possibly made that noise, right? The boy opened his eyes, before starting to look around frantically. "Come on, wake up!" the voice called again... 

He ... he couldn't tell who the voice belonged to...

Usually, he could remember ANYONE's voice. Even if they did sound alike to someone else. That meant that whoever was talking to him... it was someone he didn't know...? 'SOMETHING', maybe? 

As soon as he had found something else to think about, the child felt his body slamming into what he could assume was the ground of whatever lucid hell he was experiencing. He heard the sound of cracking, and he coughed, despite lacking oxygen. It falt as though any internal structures he had were completely shattered on impact. 

He couldn't even bring himself to move right away.

Could he move at all? HIs limbs- he practically couldn't feel them... but... it almost felt as if he was made out of glass. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He was still struggling too much to breathe. He sweat even more, the heat was making him feel as though he was melting. 

'Come on, get up. This is a dream. Don't sit here and act like you can't do anything...' Brave  scolded himself, before attempting to move. However, his body didn't heed his command. He started to try and even get the slightest movement out of his arms... nothing. His legs? Not responsive... Maybe his back? No...

There was a voice ringing out with laughter within this boiling hellscape. 

It only got hotter and hotter, which was making the boy anxious. He hated the heat. He would always hate the heat. He had been trying to ignore it for as long as he could- but that was becoming an overbearing factor, on top of the fact that he already couldn't breathe- and his seemingly shattered body. 

'Hello, Brave Cookie' a voice called out among the emptiness. The voice spoke to him in a bitter hiss. 'It's nice of you... to... 'drop by'.' The voice snickered at their mindful statement, taking it to mind that it made Gingerbrave's face contort into a frown. Trying to put on a brave face, despite rising levels of fear, anxiety and obvious discomfort. 

The look behind the eyes was eaccusatory. 

Even if the source of the voice could not be seen... Brave was looking right at it. Because it was everywhere. He was looking at it... it was looking at him. 

'Anyways... I wanted to meet you... up close and personal. It seems you are quite the scaredy cat internally... aren't you?' the voice questioned to the child. 'Don't worry... by the time we are done, you will be even worse off than you are now...'

(To be continued)

Chapter Text

Rapidly moving legs were the first thing to be heard. Slamming into the ground as the sound of roaring flames and crackling. There was a laughter rising from the smoke that followed, and the sound of even more feet hitting the hardened ground, though there was nothing to produce the noise. 

The Brave Cookie quickly ducked under several fallen branches in what could pass as this hell-scape. A reddened sky, the fire that persued him, and an unseen mob, out to drag him to the flames. 

It was still hard to breathe, but somehow he could consciously process that he... was breathing again? He thought he was, he could feel his chest moving. That was certain enough. He couldn't sit still and find out. He needed to avoid whatever was amoflaging itself as an inferno. The voice that taunted him continued to laugh from wherever it was- though the sound of the mocking individual rung in his ears no matter how far he got from where he was when this first started. 

His feet burned. 

His legs ached. 

There was a pounding in his head and chest, and his line of sight was getting blurrier and blurrier. Almost nothing was able to be seein clearly. The minimal colors of the hellscape were blending together- which had nearly lead him to tripping four times now. 

He held his cane close. 

If he did fall, that would be his only means of defense. Even if it might not do him any good- he wouldn't go down without a fight. He needed to keep fighting, because he was supposed to be a helper for the people he had come to call family and friends. 

He charged forward into battle, and into danger, because they needed him. 

Like hell he was going to be taken down in his own head, even if whatever this thing was- was using one of his deepest, darkest fears against him. 

'You can't keep running forever, Brave Cookie. When you slow down, they are going to eat you alive.' the strange voice teased again, nearly sounding as if they were right next to his ear. 'Why do you keep running, when you know what your fate is? You aren't of much use, you know... not here... not in the real world...' it started to talk to him in what sounded like a somewhat somber, or partially saddened tone. 

Gingerbrave shook his head, before grasing his candycane harder, and using to to swing himself around what looked like a pole, before starting to run off in what looked like a thicket of charred trees, and blackened bushes. 

"I don't care what you say, or who you are! You are the weak one here!" the child shouted out, before tearing up a bit. His emotions were rising from under his usually tough exterior, but he knew. He knew that he was not always the most help. 

He didn't have powers. 

He got sea-sick. 

He felt fear, but being fearful, is what made him brave. If he didn't feel fear, then he would just be reckless. Being brave is the capability to accomplish tasks in hazardous, or threatening situations, even if he felt like he was going to die. 

'Come on now, Brave. You can't keep lying to yourself.' the voice did it's best to sound some kind of sympathetic... it tried to sound like it understood. 'You know that you are not as brave as you want to be. You are nothing, without other cookies assistance. You don't have powers. You are useless in comparison to nearly everyone else.'

Gingerbrave kept running, shaking his head. 

"No, you're wrong!" he shouted. "I don't have powers, but I am strong. If i am not strong, then I am at least capable of taking care of myself, and trying to take care of those around me!" he huffed, before ducking under more branches. 

'Is that so?' the voice prompted, before laughing right next to him. If he had ears, it would have been right next to them. 'Then tell me how you failed your brother? Were you capable, then?' 

The brave cookie almost stopped in his tracks, but he kept going. He can't let himself get distracted. If he stopped running, he got a feeling of impending doom, or something that could be similar to it. 

His brother...

He did fail his brother...

That is WHY he can't fail anyone else. 

'Oh Gingerbrave... you sweet, pathetic little fool.' the voice chimed in again, as if it could either read, or smell his thougths. 'You are going to honor your brothers memory, by making empty promises to not faila anyone else? Don't you think that is a little... oh you know... redundant?' the voice continued, while Gingerbrave had to duck down- whatever invisible forces were chasing him were still persuing him. 

"Ah!" he ducked down, feeling the sensation he had to- which was a good sign, as something went flying past him fast enough to make what bit of hair he had move due to the flow of air. 

He started to run again, turning to the left- the voice laughing at the mayhem that it surely was a part of. 

He was tired. He wanted to stop.

He felt like his legs were going to collapse under him, because it was so hot. 

Suddenly, it was getting harder and harder to breathe again. It felt as if there were flames on him, consuming him. Eating him alive. 

He tried to keep running, but he had started to somewhat sweat, and it lead him to a coughing fit as any conscious air he could process got thin. 

He wouldn't stop. 

"C-Come on. Keep-keep moving. Can't-t-t stay still. They'll ge-et me-e." he haorsely whispers under his breath, before starting to crawl forward again. He moved so slowly. He felt like his limbs were in tar. 

He didn't get that far, though, because he then felt as if someone came in, and bodyslammed him. He was winded, and felt as if there were several other bodies piling on top of him. Slamming in elbows, or knees, or anything that could do damage. 

Gingerbrave let out a small shout of pain as these sensations continued, there was no face to the attackers yet. Even with struggling, the boy couldn't kick them off, punch them, wriggle free, or aim any sort of distractions. 

'You see, Gingerbrave... when you first walked past my pedestal in the forest... I have attached myself to you. I can read your thoughts... your wishes. Your dreams, and likes, and dislikes.' the voice cooed in amusement. 'I know what you are afraid of. I know what you think about yourself that you don't let others hear. Because if they did, they would know that something is wrong, and you don't want that. You are too worried about THEM.' the voice hissed in laughter. 

The brave cookie tried to wriggle, letting out a struggled cry as he got the sensation of someone or something biting into his arm, which made him drop his cane, due to reflexes. 

"They don't need to know that about me! It isn't important! I am here to help THEM!" the child called out, only to let out another shout as he felt himself getting kicked in the side. "Argh!!"

The voice fell eerily silent, before he felt something leaning down next to him. 

The same voice started to speak at him again- however, as soon as it did, several unseen limbs were starting to kick at his sides, and his face. All the child could do was curl into a ball, and cover himself in an attempt to minimalize the pain. 

"-ave!" a voice broke through the hellish screams and moans, and voices that Gingerbrave had started hearing. 

"Ginerbrave!" there was the voice again. "Wake up, wake up, wake up! Come on!" the new voice was desperate. It was probably Avocado again. 

'Remeber this, Gingerbrave. You are only a child. You aren't anything. These kingdom dwellers here would abandon you in a heartbeat. You may be able to drive enemies back.. but you are still rather useless. Even in comparison to those younger than you.' the voice started again. The rotten voice that was telling him all these awful, cruel, dark things. 

Gingerbrave felt himself get picked up by the neck, and the invisible force walked him backwards- holding the struggling child over the fire in the charred mindscape hell. 

Gingerbrave grew frantic, trying to get away from it again. 

'I only need to succeed once. You heroes have to succeed every single time. You don't know anything. You are nothing. No one can change that. Not even you. Now... I am afraid I have to cut this meeting short. Don't worry, though, Brave. We will be talking again... very... very soon.' 

Gingerbrave felt hismelf fall into the fire he was just being dangled over- and with a scream, and the feeling of searing- Gingerbrave snapped back to reality, before bolting up and looking around himself... he... he... was in... the forest...?

Avocado, Vampire, and Custard were all there, looking at him in concern. 

But how... how was he outside..?

((to Be continued))

Chapter Text

The Brave Cookie looked up to the others around himself, and he shook his head, trying to process what the others were saying. He was still a little in shock from seeing the trees, and the darkened sky above him, along with his companions. 

"What...?" he didn't even finish. He just continued to flip his head around, hoping to come to a conclusion himself. Though, to be frank, he couldn't. How exactly would he explain this? Leaving his house, and waking up, surrounded by three peers, who clearly were worried. They probably knew more of what was heppening in the current situation than he did. 

"Sleepwalking." Vampire stated curtly, still sounding a little drowsy. "I know that waking a sleepwalker is not a good idea, but pal, you were running off to the middle of the forest. Just what is goin' on?" the red headed cookie questioned, before crouching down a little bit. "It took us a lot to even attempt catchin' you."

The white haired cookied fell silent, before bringing one of his hands up to his skull shaped buttons. He sighs, before looking to the side. "Oh." It was simple, and distant. 

Just how DOES he explain all of this? 

He could say that he was hearing a voice in his head, but what would other say to that? Was he JUST dreaming? Did he need to seek help from someone who specializes in that sort of information? Maybe he heard some people talking somewhere and twisted it in his own head. 

No.. that definitely wasn't it. That would be a bit too ... difficult, maybe. 

He wanted to blame something on the thing he had been hearing. He didn't want to be plagued by this voice forever, but should he really go and ask others for help with something that is not even gurenteed any kind of success?

What if he wasted their time?

He didn't want to waste their time. He could deal with stuff like this himself! He was supposed to be the one helping them out, after all. He needed to make sure he helped them first, THEN he could ask for help. 

He can't afford to be selfish. 

There were other cookies out there that had more struggles than him! He neeed to worry about them. The others could worry about them too. 

Eventually, Gingerbrave just shook his head, and sighed. The brave child standing up, dusting himself off, and smiling a bit nervously. "I guess I was letting my imagination get away from me... sorry about that, aha..." he looked at the ground, before bringing his arm up, and making a nervous scrubbing motion at the back of his cookie cranium. "I really should get that checked, huh?" 

Avocado looked to the child. She knew something was wrong. 

"Brave... come on... ya can tell us what is on your mind. We won't judge you.." she offered, before standing up, and adjusting her apron. 

"I'm not worried about that... I just... I don't have an explanation.. that's tall." the child lied, but he maintined direct eye contact with the older female, before looking back down at the ground again, and grabbing his cane. "I can't say I know what is happening... I don't. All I know is that... whatever happened- was enough to make me sleep walk. It's not that bad-"

Custard seemed to not be budged by the explanation. The usually oblivious seeming, happy-go-lucky child maintained eye contact, nearly daring Gingerbrave to continue telling lies. 

"I-" Custard started to oppose the statement, before Vampire looks over at him. "We should get you back home. It's already really early in the morning, and we all have some stuff to do tomorrow..." he gestured his head to the child, before turning to walk down the path. He decided that, if he could, he would leave Avocado and Gingerbrave alone. 

They were close. Maybe, with less presences nearby, there would be more comfort inconversation. More of a solidarity of confidence. 

Custard adjusted his shirt a little bit, before going to oppose again, but the red headed cookie grabbed his hand gently, and started to pull him along. While Vampire was still the slightest bit tipsy, he knew the way back tot he kingdom. It wouldn't take TOO long, despite the distance travelled. 

Giving up, the younger cookie looks back to Gingerbrave one more time, before turning his head, and moving his legs faster to keep up with the purple eyed adult. 

With them now out of sight, he looks back up to Avocado, who continued to give him her typical worried glance. She was silent, for a few seconds, before sighing again, and sitting down in a position that was comfortable. "C'mere pumpkin'" she pat her leg, a common gesture for someone to come and sit on it, if they needed to be close by. 

Gingerbrave wasn't getting out of this one. 

There was no way that he would walk away and make her sitting down to comfort him a null, if not useless gesture. That would be inconsiderate and would probably make her feel bad. He could tell the green haired woman was already stressed enough. She didn't need to watch him walk away from any signs of comfort, or worry. 

Avocado cookie tried not to be pushy- but being pushy, and open for communication was in her nature. 

She would always worry, but covering it up with jokes, small gestures of playfulness, and horribly said puns was part of how she coped with these feelings. 

The usual arch was in her brow that followed these many gestures of the older woman. 

"Haha... hey, kiddo... do you remember that time when everyone in the kingdom lined up to punch me as a joke on my birthday, a couple years ago?" she asked to the child, before leaning back against a nearby tree, the child leaning with her- a somewhat distant and cross look in his expression. 

Gingerbrave snapped out of it when he heard the woman speaking again. He didn't get it.

Tilting his head, he waited for her to continue- trying to see if there was a point to the first part of the joke. ". . .No?"

Avocado cookie smiled, her large tooth showing from the left side of her mouth. 

"There wasn't anything else to the story. That was the punchline." 

It took Gingerbrave a moment to process what the other had said, and after he did, he nearly felt stupid. 

Gently bringing his own hand up to his head, he face-palmed a bit, but he couldn't help but smile at the terrible joke the other had told him. He shook his head, in response, before looking right at her, and  lightly tapping her arm, as a gesture of 'foux unamusement'. 

"That joke... it was terrible." the boy stated, before laughingn a little louder. 

Avocado cookie then started to smile more, joining in the small string of laughter. 

"I know, I know.. but hey... I would say it hit the spot."

Gingerbrave shook his head, grinning still as he leans back into the larger cookie for warmth during this cold night. "You aren't a clown, you're the whole circus industry/" 

Avocado loosened her apron, and chuckled down to him, before removing the apron from herself, and laying it over the boy, who she could clearly tell was cold. 

" I try."

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

The next week or so after the experience of waking up in the forest was rather... calm. Concerningly so, in all honesty. Gingerbrave hardly slept. Both because he didn't want the same thing to happen- and because he was starting to suffer from constant headaches. Throbbing in an area where his temples would be made him almost want to curl up on the ground, and wait for it to end. 

Then came the few occasions where he felt as though there was tapping on his shoulder when he was alone, or breathing down his back, as if someone or something was towering over him. 

Avocado cookie was spending more time around Gingerbrave, though, she still tried to not be overbearing. The woman noticed that he was starting to stare off into space, and curl into himself on a few occasions. 

She had tried to talk to him about it twice, but once again, he refused to speak about it. She knew that the child was lying, or in any case, refusing to actually answer her. 

Gingerbrave had grown considerably more tired, and easily startled, because of spacing out, and what can barely replace power-naps to compensate for the lack of rest. He had even passed out while they were fighting  a few cake-hounds- which was both worthy of a heart attack- but also the means of shock from the hound creatures. 

Almond had went to go and grab Gingerbrave- the cake hounds could have taken their chance to attack the child, but they didn't. One of them started to whine, before running up to the boy, and sniffing at licking at him, despite the somewhat derp-ish expression it usually maintained. The hounds retreated, abandoning the fight- which left the kingdom-dwellers surprised, but a little thankful, praising their luck. 

However, on Gingerbrave's end- the poor boy was surrounded, a lot of the others were now trying to gently coax the Brave Cookie into talking, and explaining why he had not been getting sleep, or had been so inexplicably drained. Though, through barely even five minutes of the beginning conversation, it was noted that Gingerbrave was spacing out, and not paying attention. 

"Gingerbrave- you need start talking to us.." Herb walked up to the boy, before placing a gentle hand on the youngsters shoulder. What he didn't expect, though, was for the child's eyes to snap open- and for the boy to quickly grab Herb by the wrist to precent being touched or grabbed- whatever the intention was. 

The Brave Child looked frantic, if not simply disturbed. 

Herb had tried to pull his arm away, but the grasp on it wasn't faultering. It was firm, and nearly felt crushing, which should not have been logically possible on the front of plausibility. 

"'Brave, let him go-!" Sparkling was a little alarmed at first- the blue eyed of the seemingly half asleep kid slowly creeped over, looking directly into Sparkling's own eyes. 

Looking at him now, Gingerbrave didn't even look familiar. Nothing even seemed to change, but... something clearly did. 

The 12 year old tighened his grasp, seeming to know that the adults would not hurt him if they could avoid it. He started to slowly crack Herb's wrist, which made the healer let out a grunt of discomfort. 

"Let go of my wrist...!" Herb quietly yelled out, not wanting to raise his voice. He couldn't bring himself to. He wasn't the yelling type. 

It was then that the child let go of the man's poor, aching wrist that Gingerbrave had actually realized what he was doing. Naturally, he backed away a bit, before quickly starting to apologize. He could only look down, feeling some sweat quickly starting to form on the back of his head. His apologies were cut off by a very concerned, and not-so-gentle Sparkling cookie. 

"Brave! What- what were you thinking?!" it was harsher than it was meant to sound. "Just what is happening? We have been trying to help you, and now- you are lashing ou! You can't keep this up!" another shout- not how the blonde cookie wanted to convey his message, but he was too worked up. 

"I... I don't-" 

"Exactly. You don't tell us anything- you need to start saying something! We can't help you, or each other, if we don't know what is going on! If we don't know what is going on- people get hurt, for one reason or- or another-!" 

Gingerbrave just teared up, before nodding. 

Herb reached over, and tried to get Sparkling to stop. Overall, Sparkling was a man who played the voice of reason. Herb right ahead of him in his means of calmness and the lack of wanting fights, or contraversey. This time, though, the older man just was not having it. He gently shook Herb off of him, before starting to walk at Gingerbrave. 

"How are we supposed to trust you when you won't even trust us to know what is bothering you? It only makes you look like a fool." the expression in the blonde cookie's eyes darkened in a way that would have been unnatural. "You are a coward. There's nothing worth-while about you. Why do we even keep you around?"

The stress really boiled over. 

Herb covered his mouth, and the younger cookie seemed to stand in shocked silence, before his facial expression changed to one of outright hurt. However, he stayed silent. He just bit back any words he could have possibly said, before nodding to the man standing over him, glaring down at him with a  skeptical, angry eye. 

'Would you look at that...' a voice sounded from inside of Gingerbrave's mind, laughing in amusement. 'Even cookies around you doubt what you are capable of. I guess they are seeing that you really aren't all that great, huh?'

Wordlessly, Gingerbrave just turned away from Sparkling Cookie, and Herb. 

"What, nothing to say? How amusing. Going to continue hiding some more?" the bartender mocked him, before his upper lip curled in what could be seen as some kind of uncaracteristic disgust. "Coward."

Herb cookie had enough. The green haired pain quickly grabbed Sparkling by the collar of his shirt, and dragged him back away from the slowly retreating child. He knew that Gingerbrave was tearing up when he left, but the silence only made the green haired cookie worry more. That wasn't what he had to deal with right now though. 

Herb pushed Sparkling into the nearby wall of one of the houses, before putting one of his hands on his hips, still cradling his favorite succulent plant in his other arm. 

"Just what was that all about?!" 

Sparkling glared at him for a second, before seeming to get a massive headache. The blonde lurched forward, before grabbing at his hair, and letting out a grunt that was somewhat between frustration, pain and confusion. 

Sparkling looked up to the plan nurturing cookie, before shaking his head a few times, bewildered, and immensely frightened with what he had just said to the young boy who had now went out of sight behind a building quite a few paces ahead. 

"I... I just- I.. don't... know..?"

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

'That wasn't Sparkling cookie...' 

Trying to reason with himself was fruitless. 

Gingerbrave walked away from the angered man when he had started to be berrated and talked down to. It wasn't because he didn't believe it. Whatever had come over the older cookie was something supernatural, or not of this plane, as most things seemed to be. 

Whatever was speaking through the man was right, though.

There really was nothing worth while about him, and as much as he tried to lie to himself, and convince himself that there was that little something he could do that others couldn't... it was all untrue. 

'I mean... even my name..! Brave Cookie.. the thing that I thought made me who I was for the longest time. I'm not the only brave one here. Everyone in the kingdom is brave. They face more and more days having to worry about kingdom attacks, or each other for various reasons. The main thing I am named after is just so.. useless.' 

The thoughts were making him want to slam his head into the nearby wall. 

The brave child was sitting on the sand of the shoreline, near the outer wall of the kingdom. Frustrated, he tossed a rock into the liquid that made up what would be called a river, before sighing. He kicked at the sand several times, feeling more frustration growing in his chest. He wanted to do something more drastic, but he wouldn't allow himself to, because it would make him feel worse than what he already did. Even if it eased his emotional turmoil for the shortest amount of time. 

Just as he was about to fall into his own pit of self-broiled despair- so he could hopefully sulk it out, before heading back in when he was more emotionally competant- he heard something moving in the water. Looking up, the blue eyed cookie wiped at his softened peepers, and cleared his vision. 

He was ready to jump, in case it was anything unfriendly. You can't be too careful at night. 

With a quick movement, a head popped out of the water, causing Gingerbrave to flinch substantially, before noticing that it was just Sorbet Shark Cookie. They were taking a late night swim, it seemed. The shark-based cookie was in their somewhat fishlike form- their skin- by default was naturally a bit lighter. 

"oo0oOooO0o!" the slightly younger cookie greeted Gingerbrave with excitement, despite the somewhat lazy, or tired-seeming expression they usually wore on their face. 

The excitement quickly died down when the younger cookie took notice of Gingerbrave's note-worthy stressed expression, and tight posture. So the water based cookie gave a look fo sympathy,  and settled down again, before letting themselves gently flop on the sanded shoreline that Brave was sitting on. 

The younger cookie opened their eyes briefly, before closing them again, and flopping their arms on the shore several times, in a way to indicate something that could easily be associated with trying to act cute or playful. 

Gingerbrave couldn't help it. 

Even if he was upset, seeing Sorbet Shark stick out their tongue and blep at him a little bit, before going back to making their usual 'oOoOOooO0ooO' sounds did objectively make him feel better. Sorbet was a cute cookie by default. 

Eventually, the beached fish version of Sorbet cookie transformed themselves into their normal somewhat pirate-like clothing that they seemed to like sporting- including the skin getting a tad bit darker, and their eyes closing more than they usually did while in their aquatic form. 

Gingerbrave smiled more when the younger cookie stood up, and put their arms up in the air, before starting to do a small dance in a circle, making their common cooing noise at Gingerbrave again. The brave child wiped at his tears, before starting to break down right there on the spot.

He wasn't going to try and explain everything to Sorbet. Sorbet was very smart, but he just didn't want to make the other feel like they had to stay just to help him out emotionally. 

As if on cue, the shark cookie puckered their lips a little bit, before reaching into their pocket, and pulling out a telescope. They smiled up to Gingerbrave, before putting the telescope up in front of themselves, and waving it a bit, as a means to get the others attention. Then, smiling up to Gingerbrave, the slightly shorter cookie placed the telescope on his head, before wobbling a little bit to maintain balance of the object, as their hair made it hard to center it for balance. 

Gingerbrave started to laugh a bit, though he still cried in between the laughing. His sadness, at the moment, was melting away, slowly. However, at least it was dwindling down a bit.

His eyes were burning, so it was a good thing. He sniffled a few times, before taking in a deep breath, and keeping his arms over his eyes for a couple seconds, so he could dry his face of his tears the best he could. 

Sorbet smiled up to him, before leanding their head forward, and cooing again, letting the telescope fall forward off his noggin and into their hands. The shark cookie then stuffed it back into their pocket, before inching their way closer to gingerbrave, their eyes clothes, as they almost always were. 

The shark cookie then lifted their hands up, and placed their hands on Gingerbraves face, before taking in a deep breath, and puffing up their own cheeks- to which they were confident that Gingerbrave would get the gist of what to do. 

The brave cookie smiled a bit more, before mimicking Sorbet, and taking in a really deep breath, and puffing up his cheeks, keeping the air from retreating. 

Without a second wasted, the aqua-based cookie then gently slapped their hands over Gingerbraves cheeks, which made a short 'PfFFFtth' sound as air escaped the slightly taller cookies mouth from the action. 

Both of them laughed at it, as it sounded like flatulence.

Sorbet then made the same face, indicating that they wanted Gingerbrave to do it again, but this time, the slightly older cookie puffed up his cheeks, and waited for the other to do the same. When they had- the brave cookie quickly, but gently plapped his hands over the others cheeks, making the same noise that was produced by himself a few seconds ago. 

The shark cookie let out something that could resemble a bit of a chirp, or a giggle, before puffinf up their cheeks again, Gingerbrave mimicking them. 

They both continued to repeat these actions, enjoying how simple the fun was- while it lasted. 

In the end, Gingerbrave had been laughing, and actually enjoying his time. 

"Thank you Sorbet. I really needed that..." 

"OOoOoOOOoooo!!"

Chapter Text

The few following days were getting stranger and stranger.

An air of negativity had fallen over the entire kingdom. At first, it was just things going wrong left and right. Several things in the kingdom had started to fail, either briefly, or for more profound periods of time. 

As an example, Avocado cookie had sustained an injury while she was working, because part of her own home had collapsed that was near her work station, which lead to her needed a cast on her arm. To top things off, it was her prodominant arm, so working with her non dominant arm for tasks was considerably harder. 

Following events varied in nature. 

Some of the other cookies became uncharacteristically more mean, or sarcastic. Others became unnreasonably frightened, or fidgety. No one could communicate with each other properly. 

A lot of Sparkling's Inventory went missing, and mysteriously appeared in Herb and Vampire's homes. Onion cookie was constantly going missing, leading to Blackberry becoming more cold when the child was found, despite her relatively monotonous outlook on anything that happened. Almond cookie was starting to become both aggressive, and neglegent of his duties- and the amount of in-kingdom crime was skyrocketing. 

Gingerbrave knew he had been effected a couple of times... but... this thing that was taunting him in his mind WANTED him to witness all of this happening. 

Whoever or whatever they were- they had a power that was effecting everyone and it lead to a lot of societal hinderances. It had even lead to fistfights, and unwarented arguments. 

The Brave child was scared of what was going to happen from here. The voice had went silent, other than laughing, when it saw the drama that had taken hold of the Kingdom. He needed to do something. He needed to make this stop. They all needed a distraction, and he needed to find the source of whatever had lead to this convoluted catatrophe. 

Walking toward a building in the center of the kingdom, Gingerbrave kept his candy cane on himself- so he had something to clang on the bell with to summon everyone to town square. There, he would try to talk all of them back down into calmness.. but... there was a very low chance of him being able to make a real dent in the issue. In fact.. he might even anger them more. 

He just hoped that this plan didn't lead to violence too. 

He needed to stop this. It hurt him. He hated seeing them hurt each other, and be turned into something they clearly weren't. He wasn't just any cookie, after all- he was Gingerbrave. While his name didn't mean much- he wasn't going to shy away from the calling to make sure those he cared about would be safe, and happy. 

He walked around several corners- taking note of the fact that very few of the cookies in the kingdom actually SAW what was happening... Sorbet was hiding behind a corner with Squid, both of them making their own noises as Sorbet comforted the already emotionally hightened Squid. 

Chilli Pepper was with Herb, who was explaining his problems to the shorter kingdom dweller, clearly stressed, and somewhat angry- though angry wasn't an expression of emotion he was good at portraying. 

After he reached the center of the town, he walked into a small building, before looking to the bell that hung there. He would have pulled the rope, but if he used his cane to bang on the object, it would make an unpleasant noise, in comparison to the ringing of the bell that would sound arguably better. If he annoyed them, there would be a higher chance of them showing up. Right?

With a deep sigh, he brought his candycane back, and was barely even a few inches away from clanging it against the bell before the voice of the same being that had been invisibly taunting him for the last long while. 

'You seem to be awful sure of yourself, there, child.' the voice started off in it's usual amused, and definitely condescending tone. 'Do you ever think everything through?' 

The blue eyed boy grunted, before- bringing his arm down, instantly getting frustrated, as he started to whisper to the voice, his eyes narrowing. 

"I'm not sure of anything. The only thing I am nearly positive of... is the fact that you are behind this. If you aren't, you are definitely a feeding factor to it." the boy hissed, before shaking his head, and pulling his arm back, getting ready to clang the bell again- before the voice continued to whisper in his mind. 

'Ohhhh? Is that so, child? You really are somthing else.' the voice mocked before a small gust of cold air surrounded the brave cookie. 'So, what if I am behind thd this? Hm? It's not like any of them are going to believe you. They don't know that I am here. You never told them about me.'

Gritting his teeth, the brave child the voice was correct. He hadn't said anything about this voice talking to him, even while he was awake, now. 

"I have no idea who you are, but I know that you are causing these problems, plain and simple. I will find a way to break them out from under you... even if it means that I will have problems the entire time.."  the child boldly stated, which made the voice start to laugh a bit hysterically. 

'Hahahaha! You? Break them out from under ME? You can't even escape me in your own damn head, you little brat. What the hell makes you think you can escape me in the real world, where I am twisting your friends around like wired and bending them into something else? You have no power here but then again... you already knew that...' the voice hissed, before an invisible force shoved him into the nearby wall, knocking a large picture frame down large verdically standing area. 

The picture was one that was expensive, and the meaning behind it was dear to the people of the kingdom. It was seen as a stepping stone. It was seeing as an important image that marked the formation of the kingdom that was being put together. 

It marked their progress, despite all of the problems they faced, and how many hard times they had endured. 

It was a large painting of all of the major townsfolk. The only kingdom residents that were not in the painting were ones that joined after it was made. 

The large picture came crashing to the dloor, and the class that covered it shattered- the child quickly moved to the side, and avoided the shards narrowly- as he flatted himself against the wall, behind a barrel, in hopes of staying away from the now fallen portrait. 

Gingerbrave held his hand over his mouth and took in the damage. Not only did the glass from the large, framed painting litter the floor of the space, the glass had also gtten into some open barrels of consumable products. 

These products  were all sorted, which took a long time to do, a lot of labor, and now- they would either go to waste, or have to be sorted all over again, which was not going to be taken lightly, either. 

The voice laughed at the boy, before there was banging on the door that was beard. 

'Look who it is... good luck, child. Maybe you can 'Brave' your way out of this one.' the voice snickered, before the wind around Gingerbrave seemed to settle, and there was the sound of scraping metal, wood, and glass, as well as some gasping. 

'The Mural!' Someone shout out. 'Who could do such a thing?? What kind of-' 

Gingerbrave felt himself get worried and tense when more and more eyes started to focus on him. He needed to tell them that this wasn't his fault. 

"W-Wait- I-"

"You?! How could you do this?!" 

"What on Earth are you trying to say?!"

"All that effort on that painting is now wasted, because of you..."

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Gingerbrave backed up, more cookies stepping into the room, yelling at him accusingly. He Paled a bit, and tried to talk over them, but him raising his voice only lead to them getting angry at him, and belittling him. 

So... this is what the voice wanted to do... 

Ginger brave shut his mouth, trying to think about what he was going to do now...

He had been framed...

((To be continued))

Chapter Text

"What the actual hell has been wrong with you?!" an all too familiar voice was talking down to him, belonging to the blonde man that had done the same thing not too long ago. However, it was followed by many other angered voices, questioning him for his destructive, repulsive actions. 

Gingerbrave said nothing, and just continued to look at the angered crowd of those that were his friends. He didn't completely know who they were now. 

They felt like enemies, but he knew them. 

The voice continued to laugh in his mind, taunting him silently. 

'Come now, you can't afford to freeze up. You know that they mean business. What do you think they are going to do when they get your hands on you? For all you know, they have murder on their mind.' the voice continued to make fun of the child, before several gusts of wind blew past the crowd. 

Gingerbrave looked tot he side. He trusted his friends. 

That was part of being a good friend, it was himself he didn't trust. That's the only reason he had kept so much from them already, and now, they were all effected by this invisible coward that plagued his mind. He would trust them with his life, even if his trust was misplaced, because he would never think of them the way that they are now. 

It wasn't him trying to deny the reality of this development. 

He knew that he very well could be in danger. He very well could die... but he wouldn't have it in himself to hurt any of them. He was supposed to be a hero, and thus far... he had been far from great. He had been far from the hero that everyone deserved, or needed or even liked. That wouldn't stop him though. He would never stop caring, and loving them. 

He closed his eyes, and accepted what was going to happen, before trying formulate a secondary plan in his mind. If he had to run, and get away, he knew exactly where he was going to go. He was going to go to the same place that he found that stupid pedestal. He would right his wrong, because.. he knew for a fact that whatever was happening here, was his fault. 

'Don't just sit thereeee, come on- if they lock you up, there isn't any chance of you getting away.' he scolded himself, before shaking his head. 

He was briefly brought out of his thoughts by the feeling of Almond grabbing his arm, and starting to drag him, with an annoyed grunt. The old man was still strong for his age, it was to be expected. After, all, he wouldn't be a policeman if he couldn't out-wrestle those he was arresting. Gingerbrave didn't fight being dragged, but he heard the man speaking to him, in yet another condescending tone. 

"You know, we all would have expected better from you." Almond started to say, before turning the corner, and walking into his office, the boy in tow. He told Gingerbrave to sit down, before pulling out his handcuffs- and securing the child to the chair. "You have been getting worse and worse, you know. Do you care to confess anything?" the men tapped his fingers on the desk, before giving an expecting glare to the twelve year old. 

Gingerbrave just looked the man dead in the face, before looking back down. "I have nothing to say." The boy then looked away, seeing an open window nearby. There were bars in front of the window, but.. if he turned to the side, he would be able to squeeze through the bars... right?

"You know what that painting meant to the town, Gingerbrave. You can't just go around destroying communal property. You can't go around stealing, and tripping others. You can't go around HARMING them." the man tapped his hand down ont he table, maintaining a piercing gaze. "You keep causing so much trouble, no matter how many breaks we cut you."

Wait... what? What did that mean? 

Gingerbrave looks up to the man, genuine confusion was written all across his features, but he was sure that whatever was diluting the older cookie's actual self wouldn't really recognize that. 

Crimes? What crimes? The only other cookie he harmed was Herb, and that was on accident... Stealing? TRIPPING? He hadn't done either of those things. He had been making sure to stay away from everyone after the small interaction he and Sorbet had that night he hurt Herb. 

He made sure to that, for two reasons. 

For one, he was trying to make sure that he didn't hurt anyone else of his own accord, because he felt absolutely terrible the last time. Secondly.. they all kept asking him questions that he coulnd't answer, either because he avoided the question willingly, or because he genuinely didnt know. 

Feeling pressure growing behind his temples, forming a headache, Gingerbrave took it as a sign. 

That damn voice was mocking him again, wasn't it? That voice had been behind all of this, it's not like it had any tracks to cover. By far, it seemed that the voice could do anything it damn well pleased, and it KNEW that. It abused it's means of powers, and manipulated the world around the child it was attached to- ensure that there was constant drama, or distractions, or hinderences. 

Little did Gingerbrave know that he had spaced out. The outside world around him became a blur, and he barely processed that Almond cookie had been talking to him again. 

"For pete's sake, open your damn ears, and stop ignoring me!" there was the sound of yelling, and the slamming of palms down on the table that separated the child and the detective, who was giving him a long stare of what seemed to be... disgust? 

Gingerbrave shivered. 

He never wanted to see anyone disgusted with him... but... it was too late for that. He can't let that other him now, then there is other stuff on the line. 

Focus... 

"You are staying in here." Almond huffed, and she shook his head, walking over to the door with a cold glance over his shoulder. "I would say I expected better from you... but there is only so much good someone can do, isn't there? You are a lost cause, and a good punishment will be dealt when I talk to the others. Until then, I would say think about what you have done, but you can't even stop thinking about yourself to listen to me."

The older cookie shook his head, and slammed the door shut, his normally light eyes were dark, and clouded, the ice behind the stare made Gingerbrave's back arch in discomfort, and slight fear. 

He looked around the cell he was stuck within, before sighing and leaning his head forward. He knew that someone needed to be watching him... that's how observation rooms worked... right? The glass was... soundproof too, that way conversations hosed outside the room were not heard from the inside... but... anything said within the room could be heard from the outside... 

If he was going to escape, he was going to need to make this quick... 

Looking back up to the very small, barred up window, he remembered why it was there, and nearly thanked luck that it was put there in the first place. 

The room heated up a lot, because the air conditioning didn't always function the way it supposed to. 

Closing his eyes, Gingerbrave started to fidget his fingers around... with luck... even if it may hurt.. maybe he could get his hands out of the cuffs that kept him on the chair... even if it meant he had to.... break something. 

He sure hoped not...

'Oooh, are you getting desperate, Brave Cooke?' the voice snickered from in his mind, 'You are but a mere child. You don't have the pair needed to bust anything in order to escape. You are going to sit there, and sulk. Just you watch.' the voice started to laugh even louder in the boys mind, making Gingerbrave bite his lip, and frown. 

". . . Just watch me." the boy whispered out. "I'm gonna get out of here, and when I do... I am going to get you out of the kingdom, and be rid of you. My friends don't deserve to constantly be angry, or confused, or getting hurt because of whatever you are doing to our home!" the child shouted in a forcefully hushed voice.

'Whatever you say kid. Whatever you say... hahaha...' the invisible source of the voice then fell silent again, their laughter disappearing with them. 

With one findal breath, Gingerbrave looked down, and started to bite at his lip a little bit. Then, he began to pull his arms, struggling in the chair as he tried to wriggle his hands out of the cuffs. 

After over twenty minutes of pulling, tugging, and straining his arms, the boy managed pull one of his hands free-

He just... tried to not concentrate on the crumbles pieces of part of his hand that now rested on the floor...

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

After getting his one wrist free, Gingerbrave took in a deep breath, and he persuaded himself to move quickly to accomplish his next task without being caught. He stood up, and spun himself around, before bringing up his leg, and kicking at the other side of the chair he was secured to. 

A couple of firm bashes to the side that his arm was still stuck with, the arm of the chair snapped free, and the bar that was attached to the handcuffss slid a little bit. The cuffs were still attached to the bar, though, because the space it was within, was enclosed, and the boy would have to snap that in half as well, if he wanted the dead weight off of the cuffs at least. 

Looking to the left, the boy hurried over tot he door, before slamming the object attached to the cuffs right into the hardened structure several times, making a notable racket. 

"Come on, come on, come on... word faster...!" Gingerbrave begged of the object, before slamming the object down one more time- and the opposing end of it finally snapped away from the other half, which left room for the boy to pull his hand free. He was just glad that his hand dind't get impaled in the process, it nearly had. 

Quickly picking up the object, he slammed the wedged end of it under the door, before kicking it several times, attempting to assure himself that it would suffice as a semi decent doorstop- at least until he could get out. 

'Brave! Open this door!" there was loud angry shouting, it sounded like Almond... for a moment, the boy wondered how he could hear the man. 

It must have been the speaker in the upper corner of the holding room...?

The brave boy took a deep breath, before shaking his head, and darting off to the widnow, jumping up a couple feet so he could use his one good hand to pull his body up the ledge of the sill. He would have to use his other hand... it had slightly crumbled, but.. still usable... for now. 

Bitting his lip again, the boy glared down, and swung his other hand up- grabbing onto the bar in the window, so he could move up faster. Then, after a few seconds, he hoised his body up to a rest, turned to his side, and squeezed through the bars, with notable problems. The first being how hard it was to breathe at the moment. 

He couldn't afford to stop for too long. With his head outside, he could hear a door slamming open, though it was feint. 

He struggled faster, before pushing himself out of the window, and he felt himself falling for barely even half a second, crashing to the ground with a heavy thud. 

He grunted in pain, but couldn't take the time to ease his aching side. He needed to get up, and run. He heard footsteps, and angry shouting. With a small stumble, and a grunt, he pushed hismelf forward, stumbling more, and using his good hand to stop himself from crashing headfirst into near wall of a storage shed. 

'Tick Tock, child, better bust a moveeee.' the voice taunted in the boys head, before snickering. 'I am impressed you are really THAT desperate to get out of this situation. What are you going to do now, you fool?' 

"Ignore you, after this." Gingerbrave grrunted, before shaking his head again, and starting his run off to the left of the building wall. With luck, he wouldn't run into anyone else. He would be able to make a clean break to a small hole in the kingdom wall that Sorbet used when he wanted to go out for a swim in the river, late at night.

"Get back here!" the voice of the aged man was quite a bit behind him. Almond was the one persuing him, but he was still a bit old. There was no way he was going to be able to keep up with Gingerbrave. No way at all. "Stop running you coward!"

Dodging several curious cookies coming out of their homes, and random objects that were being thrown in his direction Gingerbrave managed to weasel his way around large piles of wood, several bushes, and a questionably placed boulder. He finally found the gap in the fence, and slid his way through the space, before wrapping around the corner of the wall, and pushing a large rock in front of the space. 

With luck, Almond didn't see him, because of the nearby bushes that might have blocked the way. 

Silencing himself, the boy tried to breath lowly, and not make noise in case the man stopped in front of the gap. 

Half a minute goes by, the sound of running coming and going as quick as the blink of an eye. 

'He will get outside of the wall eventually, get moving, and fast, dummy." Gingerbrave scolded himself and he stumbled to a stance again, before running down the bank of the river. He needed to avoid that bridge at all costs. He knew that he heard more voices and footsteps with the aged man that was hot on his trail. That meant that others were surely with him, and he would have an even lower chace at escape, if they caught up. 

His side hurt. He nearly wanted to collapse. 

Despite this, he pulled himself to a steady jog, travelling down the bank near the rushing water as he looks for a certain line of rocks. If he found that... he... should be able to get across. He cursed at himself, for not having his cane with him, he couldn't spare time to grab it. That meant that he was going to have to struggle harder to defend hismelf. 

Within moments, he saw the rocks. Just a little further... that's all... that's all he needed! Come on! Go faster! The faster you find that stupid pedestal, the faster you can help your friends and undo what you had caused! You can undo your mistake!

Stopping in front of the large rocks, The Brave Cookie clenched his eyes shut, before scolding himself. This all really was his fault. He had let all of this happen to his friends, and they were all miserable. As soon as he fixed this mess, he was going to need to apologize. He was going to need to make sure they all knew he was sorry, and make it up to them. He didn't mean for this all to happen, he- 

'Aww, how cute, you are wasting your own time by standing here, and scolding yourself. Are you really that dumb? Scold yourself after you get there, dumbass.' the voice in his mind talked down to him, seeming annoyed by the constant thoughts. 

Gingerbrave was starting to get mixed feelings now... why was this voice suddenly trying to get him to move faster...? It was trying to stop him not even two hours ago. 

Looking back down to the river, the boy took a deep breath. He was probably overthinking it. Overthinking everything is what got him into this mess as well. Because he overthinks who he can ask for help, and he overthinks what he can do for himself. 

He was going to cross this river, and if he didn't, make it across the rocks, he was going to struggle in the water, until he either made it to the other side of the riverl or he crumbled trying. 

Narrowing his eyes in determination, Gingerbrave took some steps backwards, before rushing forward at the rocks, taking the first leap at the rock that was a notable distance away...

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

The Brave Cookie landed on the rock with a firm stance, nodding to himself, before leaping forward, several more time. He took in a deep breath, knowing that if he didn't slow down, he was going to end up hurting himself, mis-stepping, or falling in outright. He can't afford that. Concentrate. Come on... just a few more..

He closed his eyes, and opened them again, before leaping forward three more times. 

One more rock left... 

'Come on... come on, you got this. Concentrate...' Gingerbrave assured himself, before leaping forward again. 

He stumbled as soon as he landed on the rock, his foot went over the smooth top of the stone, which made him slide forward involuntarily.

Quickly turning his body weight, he lifted his legs, making sure they didn't touch the water, that was before even a few inches away from his form. Took a moment to breath, feeling more pain in his wrist, as he noted that more of it had crumbled. He let out a shaking breath, standing up again, before quickly jumping over to the other shore. 

He could rest later. 

He NEEDED to rest LATER. He needed to get to the forest now. His comfort wasn't what was important. The other's going back to normal, and their safety. He needed to keep thinking about that first, and foremost. He was close. All he needed to do was get to that pedestal. He was sure that if it didn't solve all of their problems, it would solve most of them..

'You amuse me, child.' the voice in his head appeared again, but the boy remained silent this time. He kept running, and running, and running. He needed to constantly go to the left. Right? Go to the left path's. 

He could maybe manage to climb a couple trees, but he wasn't sure if he could... his wrist was too jacked up because of escaping those handcuffs. 

'You can't ignore me forever. What are you going to do about me when that hound shows up? I am going to sit here, laughing at you while it digs it's claws into you. Because of what is going on in the kingdom, no one is going to notice, and when they do find you, they are too far gone to care.' the voice laughed, which struck Gingerbrave right in the temples, making a headache immediately start to form. 

Hound? What hound? 

He didn't-

There was the sound of fast moving paws, and barking. 

The voice wasn't lying...! 

Or... or was it? 

Jumping over several logs, and large roots that were sprout from the ground, Gingerbrave tripped, and fell forward- saving himself from outright stopping, but rolling, and getting back on his feet easier, despite a slight aching in his back from rolling over a rock. 

The sound of snapping twigs under his feet were so loud, it was making him was to get worked up. His emotions were starting to bubble to the surface, what little bit of adrenaline he had was thin, and was wearing thinner and thinner the more he moved. 

He wanted to collapse. 

He wanted to stop. 

If he stopped, though, he would be a failure. He would be making empty promises to himself, and to the others that he was trying to help. He was being reckless, but he didn't have time. Time wasn't on his side, and the universe made sure to keep reminding him of that. Neither was nature, because as soon as he had started to mentally drift onto something else, cursing his luck, or himself for his current situation, he nearly tripped again.

Come on... 

Come on, come on, come on! No one else was with him. He was going to find that pedestal, and-

'And what?' the voice quipped from in his mind. 'Destroy it? Ruin it? Break it, even? What is that going to do? I am right here, witho YOU. If my power was that linked to that pedestal, how have I been inside your measly little mind all this time? Riddle me that.' 

Gingerbrave grunted, before narrowing his eyes down to the ground. 

He started to consider how he had found the pedestal the first time. He was constantly running. Going to the left almost the whole time, until he turned around. He found that Pedestal by accident. When the others had tried to locate it themselves, they couldn't find it. No matter how hard they might have tried. 

Accident....

It's a long shot... but... maybe? 

The sound of a dog howling was getting closer. Gingerbrave hoped that he was just hearing that in his head. If a hound really had caught his trail, that meant that he was in even more danger, especially if it was one that was was in the enemies care, then it would KNOW to HUNT him. 

The Brave Cookie started ot make random turns, not confident in his idea, but he hoped it would work. If he did this, maybe he could find it...!

'Or, maybe, just maybe, you will get lost and waste even more time than you already have~' 

"Shut Up." Gingerbrave hissed out, before taking a quick right turn, then a couple left turns, and another right turn. "I WILL get rid of you. No matter what it takes...!" the boy whispered aggressively under his breath. "That is not a threat.. that is a promise..!" 

'How cute. You really think you are all that big, and bad. Seeing is believing, and the only thing I see is some lousy hero, desperately trying to free himself of guilt. You aren't even in this to help anyone else, you are doing this, so you don't have to feel bad. You are doing this, because you want to protect your own ego. You are a selfish little loser. An attention seeker. A praise addict.' the voice talked down to it, seeming both annoyed, and uninterested. 'You're nothing.'

Gingerbrave felt himself get cold. 

The voice... it... was... right?

Dammit.. no, he can't afford to have doubt now. Doubt could wait until after he found what he was looking for! He needed to do this! For..! For... 

For... 

He really was selfish... wasn't he?

Was he... really doing this all for himself...?

He felt bad. Terrible, even.  He didn't want to feel terrible forever, for letting all of this happen to the kingdom. He didn't want to live with the feeling that he had caused all of this on them. All of this when they could all be more comfortable, and happy right now...!

Had he been doing all of this for his own benefit all along...? 

Disguising it, to himself, and him wanting to help his friends?

If that was the case... that... that was a repulsive, evil, selfish thing to do! The idea that he would be doing that made him sick. It made him want to hide his own face in shame, because of just how selfish it was! 

He had barely even noticed that he had stopped moving, 

When he did, he slapped himself in the face with his good hand, before lettingout a firm yell to himself to stop getting off task, and to do what he needed to do. As he had this internal argument- he looked over tot he right, and... there... there it was! There was the pedestal!

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Picking up his pace, the boy stopped in front of the damaged sign that he had first seen when he encountered this place the first time. The hole was still in it from where it had torn through his leg... he narrowed his eyes, before taking in a deep breath. If this place was the same, there were likely still arrows that would fly off in every direction as soon as he started running toward it.

Or... maybe as soon as he started to run away from it. 

He remembered the arrows not going off when he went toward the pedestal, but on his way back, several were sent flying right at him...

He had nothing to cover himself. 

If he did get hit, it was going to hurt something bad. 

Just before he could start to make his way forward, barking was heard, and a cakehound went dashing by, stopping in the field of annoyingly familiar flowers colored in yellow and blue. 

The cakehound barked at him, wagging it's tail. Most of the hounds looked similar, but... this hound was familiar... definitely a hound they encountered a lot during their travels and adventures. 

As soon as the hound spotted him, it grew a tad bit more serious, but not aggressive. It started to run at him, to which the boy would have cringed in apprehension, if not for the fact that he heard several sounds that could be similar to loose springs going off from the many tree lines. The arrows had been released and that cakehound was right in the center of it. There was no way it was going to get out of there unscathed. 

Gingerbrave knew that the hound was associated with enemies- but that would be a terrible way to go. 

Whever they fought, the cookies did their best to make sure not to harm the dogs in a way that would leave them debilitated permenantly, they just tired them out, if they could. It was a rule that Gingerbrave made sure to multitudenously vouch for until it was approved. 

While it was inconvenient, it made many of the cookies feel a lot better, morally... 

The cakehound int he center of the field started to become nervous, letting out a light whine as an arrow went flying past it's head, The dog-like creature instantly crouched down closer to the ground, trying to move forward, but it only put it's paws forward a couple paces, before backing up. Due to the noise of all of the arrows being released at different times, it was becoming confusing, making the cakehound whimper even more. 

Gingerbrave quickly sprung forward, and ran through the arrows that were being fired. He managed to dodge most of them, narrowly, of course. 

He saw the understandably frightened hound, and he went to pick it up, to which the hound, within it's blur of fright, bit down into his already crumbling wrist due to the panic. 

Gingerbrave let out a curt shout of pain, tearing up a bit, before pulling the hound as close to his body as he could, continuing to run forward. So far, the arrows were only coming from the side, if he hunkered down, and wrapped his upper and fore arms around the hound, he could hopefully protect it and still get to the pedestal. 

So long for a long, clear run to get there, at least...

As he continued moving, he felt several arrows graze several parts of his body, leaving small, but still painful cuts. A couple of arrows got lodged in his right leg, nearly making him stumble. He was outright crying in pain now, it really hurt, but he couldn't afford to keep moving, no matter how scared or in-pain he was. 

The cakehound in his arms had stopped barking, and biting him at least- seeming to understand now that it he was trying to keep it safe. 

Though, at the knowledge of that, the hound seemed to then grow increadibly worried, and saddened, whining up to him, before curling into a small ball in an attempt to preserve it's physical health. 

The Brave Boy continued to run, stumbling a fore more times from the exhaustion, and the lack of oxygen- from him being hunkered over so far. 

"I-It's okay.. I gotach-a! Please.. don't move-e o-okay-y?" the boy stuttered out, before making a very small dive toward the grass right in front of the pedestal. The cakehound whimpered again in response, knowing full well that it couldn't do anything to help the young cookie. 

'Tsk Tsk Tsk. So noble. That is going to be the end of you, you know? What a shame...' the voice within his mind scolded him, before letting out a boistrous laugh that felt as though it shook the entirety of the boys's head to it's core. A throbbing headache instantly took the place of the voice, nearly hurting so much that Gingerbrave couldn't see straight. 

"No... No." Gingerbrave started to crawl up the few steps in front of the pedestal, keeping the cakehound right in front of him, and sheltered by his arms. The arrows continued to fire off, several more leavin cuts over his already struggling form, the feeling of warm, sticky blood was distracting, it made the boy nearly want to hurl, because of how much of it he thought he could feel. "-A-Almost- ... Almost there...!"

The boy collapsed in front of the pedestal, and leans over the cake hound, contunuing to struggle for breath. A couple of huffing breaths escaped him, nearly making him choke, because the expansion of his side from breathing made a sharp pain shoot through his body. 

The hound licked his face in response, whining more as it tried to calm the boy down. 

Gingerbrave took a moment, regaining any composure he had, as he looks to the pedestal. He didn't know how to destroy it.. but... nothing was going to stop him fron trying. He needed to. He stood up again, keeping the hound close as he heard a voice from the area that the sign rested in front of the field. 

"Chiffon!" it was a man's voice. It was concerned for the hound, as most would be, in this situation. 

Barely even managing the strength to move his head, Gingerbrave directed his blurring gaze to the side, where he saw a familiar face, depsite it normally being unwelcome in this part of the land. 

A blue eyed man with reddened skin, red and black hair, and a strangely formed arm stood just out of the reach of any arrows within the field, looking to the hound, and the boy that was protecting it, his eyebrows furrowed. 

Several other hounds were with the man, barking, and whining at the arrows, while stamping their paws in the grass as they went forward a bit, to try and seem intimidating, though it wouldn't work, because arrows were not sentient objects. 

The hound in Gingerbrave's arms barked, peeking out tot he man that seemed so far away. Chiffon barked again twice, reamining in it's shelter of the boys arms, and back. 

The boy kept silent, trying to gather more strength to get that damn pedestal smashed. 

"C-Come on...  m-move-e-e..." he huffs, feeling sweat starting to fall from his forehead, due to his heavy, exhausted efforts. 

No sooner than he brought up one of his legs, he felt an arrow come soaring right into his shoulder, which made him let out another sharp cry of pain. 

'Come on, 'hErO-'. You cant' figure you way out of this, can't you? All you HAVE to do... is let go of the dog, and you are free to break that pedestal. What's one life, over your entire kingdom..?' the voice taunted in his mind, before it's voice went into a hiss. 

Gingerbrave shook his head, tearing up in frustration. 

"There- there... has to be... a way..." he started to cough, wheezing as he felt liquid sputtering out of his mouth, leaving his mouth tasting sour. ".... there has to.. be a way to save... both..!" 

'You can't succeed all the time, you fool. Sacrifices have to be made. Stop bowing to your ego, and let go of the hound. The hound is below all of you cookies. It is nothing.' the voice let it's tone sound disappointed. 'Tick tock... tick... tock... tick-'

With a pained look of determination, and another chain of painful coughing, making him wince, Gingerbrave narrowed his eyes to the ground, before tightening his jaw. 

He knew what he was going to do...

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome toooo t-t-t-t-t-t-Targetttt! **Airhorn Noises**))

- 

Gingerbrave might not have known the darksides well... but he knew that Red Velvet had a better means of self defense, and more recision. Chiffon was his friend, and most likely his closest companion. The man had started to run acrss the field as the voice was talking to the child, and taunting him. 

Gingerbrave just had to protect the hound, until Red Velvet got there... 

The child closed his eyes, and took in another deep breath, wincing as the feeling of air entering his lungs expanded out his side, a twang of intense pressure was on the verge of leaving him winded. 

Eventually, Red Velvet got there, seeming to be using a kind of spell on himself that deflected the arrows. It wasn't his normal power... but it was working for now, so it was better to either leave the questions for later, or not ask questions at all... the boy had more important things to concentrate on... even if it just might be the end of him.

The Brave Child looks up as soon as the shadow of the man got nearer and nearer. He didn't attack the child, though, because there was no reason so. That would only put his companion and friend, Chiffon, in harms way.

Shakily, the blue eyed kid shuffled over to Velvet, shielding the hound, as he stood, getting a couple more arrows to the back in the process. 

The child teared up from the pain ringing through his body, handing the hound to the man before hurridly backing up, and coughing up more of his inner, reddened contents to the stone base of the pedestal. 

'No!!' there was a loud, surprised shout from the depths of the boys mind. The voice was clearly not happy with what had transpired.

Red Velvet knew well that the spell he had managed to use on himself would only last so long. The way the spell worked was simple, in reletivity, it was contained via a controlled capsule source the Enchantress gave him. 

Red Velvet watched as the child stumbled over to the pedestal, before looking around and picking up a large, jagged brick from the ground. With much strain, and efford, the kid started to violently bash at the pedestal.

'Stop! Stop it right now! You drop that brick, you little shit, or I will make sure you-' the voice suddenly went to static, seeming to have a hard time continuing the connection. However, behind that... Gingerbrave heard laughter... 

Several pieces of the structure cracking and breaking under the pressure of the large brick, before falling to the ground, the feint pink glow around them dissapating as soon as they were no longer attached to the main structure. 

'Hahaha! You little FUCKING BRAT! Do you--- - - - -__- - -_ _ -- - -_!! .>!@#**!""@:!!!' the words spit out by the voice were even more sour, and angered- before they too started to fall into incomprehensible static.

As soon as Gignerbrave had bashed the rock into the pedestal again- and more chunks of it came falling down- the voice was no longer static-like but it became scrambled. Full words being spoken, but they nearly seemed to be in a separate language.

The child was getting more and more tired, though. He struggled to hold his arm up to cotnue bashing down the pedestal, before it fell to his side, the object was still clearly running, but the arrows had started to slow down a bit. That was... that was good right?

Red Velvet didn't have any idea what the child was doing, but it was clearly having an effect on the arrows, which were a danger to all of them. He could have easily left, but... the child had helped to keep his friend safe. Gingerbrave could have easily let Chiffon either get hurt, or die, but he didn't. So, as an act of pity, or maybe returning the favor, he walked over, and grabbed a large rock with his larger, clawed arm. 

The older man proceeded to start to slam the larger rock down into the pedestal, which sent cracks down through the entire structure. 

Gingerbrave made sure to stay out his his way, but he kept slamming away at what he could reach after getting back the bit of energy he could muster. The energy burst didn't last long, he was gettign slightly dizzy. 

The voice in his head was continually buzzing in and out, throbbing sent through his temples every single time the pedestal was hit . 

The voice wasn't even screaming, or trying speak anymore, at least at the moment. It just kept laughing hysterically, which made Gignerbrave fill up with more and more doubt. 

-

With one last slam, and a burst of energy, Red Velvet hit the side of the pedestal,, sending the pieces of the structure flying off to the left of the stone stand where the pedestal had rested- the pieces of stone were now sprawled through the grass, powerless. 

The voice in Gingerbrave's head had eventually disappeared... his headache vanishing along with it. 

His tiredness suddenly completely overcome his body, which made the child slump forward as blood continued to pool from his non-clotted open wounds. The arrows around them had stopped a bit beforehand, which was good, as he should hopefully be able to move without triggering something. 

He didn't talk to the darkside cookie that lingered nearby looking down at him as he held the cakehound in his arms. Gingerbrave didn't want to look Red Velvet in his eyes, he already felt like shit. 

". . . Thank you..." the child said it to be polite... he really was greatful... he didn't want the man to think that he wasn't. 

Red Velvet just sighs, looking at the boys beaten body. There were teethmarks in his wrist... likely from Chiffon. His wrist was nearly fully crumbled, several arrows were protruding from his body, and he looked extremely nauseus. "I didn't do it for you." the man grunted out. "I did it to make sure Chiffon and I wouldn't sustain injuries. That thing affected the arrows. That's all..." 

Gingerbrave gagged and coughed up more blood, before slumpting forward onto the ground, and shaking. His face rested in his blood... he didnt' have the energy to move. Unless he got another sudden burst of adrenaline, he probably wouldn't be able to...

'You want adrenaline...?' 

No... no! No no no no no! 

'Oh yeah... did I really trick you into thinking that you got rid of me? It was quite a show, wasn't it? I would say I deserve 5 out of 5 stars. Both for my acting.. and for the plot twist.' the voice started to laugh within his mind, making the sharp pain shoot through the boys temples again as he grit his teeth, tearing up in frustration. 

No... it was suppsed to be gone! Dammit! All of this was... it.. it was for nothing!! 

'Did you really think it was going to be that simple, Brave? I would have expected better from you...  now.. pull up a front seat... I wouldn't want you to miss witnessing the next event without being in the splash zone!' the voice sounded disgustingly excited for whatever stunt it was about to pull.

Gingerbrave weakly looks around, the red and black haired man easily noted that the boy was both distracted and distressed, so he, too starts to look around. 

Barely cathching the sound of rustling in a nearby bush, Gingerbrave looks over to the right, before seeing something pink, lightly glowing from the darkness. 

He took miliseconds to process what was going on, and that adrenaline rush he begrudginly partially wished for not even a minute ago, became reality. 

He stumbled to stand, before quickly making a quick sprint in Red Velvet and Chiffon's direction, before shoving the man down to the ground with brute force as he dead-weighted himself amidst another stumbling motion. 

Red Velvet fell back, cradling the hound as he was about to shout to the ungreatful child that had shoved him back, nearly twisting his leg.

However, looking back up to the pre-teen- he stopped himself, realizing that the child stood in front fo him, and Chiffon, his hands crading a huge hole in his abdominal area with a look of dazed shock on his face. 

Promptly, Gingerbrave's body lurched forward a bit, and the blooded gap in his abdomen moved in the slightest bit as if there was a weapon being removed from it. 

Then, Gingerbrave collapsed to the ground, his eyes half lidded.

Chiffon whined, trying to wriggle free of the stunned mans arms.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Thinking as quickly as he could, Red Velvet grunted, nearly considering leaving the child behind. He wansn't even supposed to be away from the base as it was- he had left the base, in persuit of Chiffon, who had started to act sparratically. Barking, whining, and clawing at the long bars of the sizeable yard was there for all of the hounds. 

There was also a good chance that The Enchantress KNEW Red Velvet was gone..

The man had been presented with so many problems in just under an hour than he usually got in over a week. 

He wasn't a healer, he couldn't do anything to fix the child, not yet. However, this young enemy of his, and Chiffon couldn't afford to stay in this area, which had proven to still be unsafe, even after the arrows had ceased. 

"Foolish Child." Red Velvet grunted under his breath. "I could have handled it myself. Now I am stuck dealing with even more complications." Of course, the man didn't mean that. He wanted to find any reason he could to be angry as he covered and tried to tie off any means of blood flow the child could possibly have. 

It made the Darkside General uncomfortable. The blood of a kid over his hands gave him overwashing feelings of guilt, and unpleasant shivers. How old was this kid again? 11? 

Finishing typing off any means of blood flow to the best of his ability, and stent of knowledge, the man picked up the child, and looked down to him in a concerned manner. He would have no choice. Whether the other darksides liked it or not, he would NEED to take him back to the base. 

Red Velvet could risk taking the child to where the Kingdom was, but, the problem was that he didn't completely know where it was himself. On top of that, he couldn't afford getting caught by the other kingdom dwelling enemies. 

They would likely seize the moment to apprehend him, injured child or not. 

As if on cue, a demanding, expectant voice started to ring through his head, seeming impatient, or even belittling, amidst a couple of her simple, but not so calm words. 

'Red Velvet. Do you mind explaining to me where exactly you are?' 

The red and black haired man admired the woman he worked for, to some extent. However, that didn't stop him from having the urge to somewhat be annoyed at her talking down to him the way she did. 

The Enchantress could be quite the cruel woman, if she wanted. 

Though, even if that were the case, the woman had sides that displayed rare moments of kindness that most would not ever get to become familiar with. 

"I am here, Enchantress..." the man sighs within his mind, running with the cake hound, who was leading the way back to their home. The dog howled a couple of times, jumping over  a few obsticals within his path. 

'That doesn't tell me where you are, Velvet. I would hope you have some sort of good, if not amazing explanation, considering you are not at your post, like you are supposed to be.' to that, red Velvet sighs, shaking his head. 

"I am not Enchantress. I am afraid I encountered some... truouble..." the manstarted to speak, jumping over a couple more roots that protruded from the top of the ground due to the nearby trees. 

There was silence. She was clearly waiting for the man to continue his explanation.

"Chiffon somehow managed to escape the yard, and I still don't know how. I chased him off into the forest, and lost track of him a while into the chase. I did find him again, and that child that you hate was there, protecting him..." he ran around a couple more trees, and a large rock, spotting a red mark on a tree off to the left. 

He was nearly there. 

'Of course the blasted brat was nearby. What exactly was dear little hero protecting the hound from?' the woman scoffed within her mind as she communicated with the man. 'Wild animals?'

Growing the slightest bit more frustrated, the blue eyed man tighened his grip on the boy he held, before shaking his head. 

"No. He was keeping Chiffon safe from an area that was filled to the brim with something that was producing arrows. Chiffon surely would have died, if it wasn't for him." the man continued. He quickly places his foot on top of a log that ran over a small creek, before continuing his run. 

The woman's powers seemed to fade a bit, before they returned. She was silent for a few seconds, before letting out an annoyed, but passive sigh. 

'Where are you now? What exactly happened?' she seemed a bit more patient, now, but there was still clear annoyance behind her voice. 

"After I got there, and managed to get to Chiffon, the child was trying to destroy a pedestal that rested in the middle of the field where the arrows were all being senselessly produced. I helped him finish the job, and it got rid of the arrows. However... just before anything else could happen, he came running in out of no where, and pushed me..." the man reflected back on the event. 

The boy in his arms felt cold, but he was cleaerly still breathing, as  feint, and slow as it was. 

However, his heart was beating faster, which was a sign of strain on the body, as it wastrying to pump blood through the body. 

'Pushed you? I get the feeling there is a more solid piece to the story than that.' the woman stated in the man's mind, before Red Velvet snapped out of his small trance, shaking his head. 

"Right..." Red Velvet let out a deep frustrated sigh, before wrapping his langer, larger arm around the child more, in a means to try and make sure his body was getting as much support a spossible.

Chiffon whined a little bit more, before running around a few more trees. There, in the distance, was the base that all of the Darkksides resided in together. Cake brutes, hounds, and other 'affiliats' were all there, standing guard. 

"The boy ran in, and pushed me down, to protect me from something. I don't know what it was... I am assuming it is invisible. Either way... the child pushed me out of the way, and now, because of it... he has a gaping hole in his ches.t.. I don't even know how he is alive."

There was silence from the other end of the connection, again. 

'I assume you are almost here?' the woman seemed to have a more calm aura to her. The tone was more thoughtful, now, than anything else. 

Red Velvet grew a little anxious, before nodding to himself, and asnwering the woman's question. 

"Yes, I am here... I am close to the gates of the base now... I know you won't wan't want him here, but-"

'Velvet.' the woman started from within his mind. 'Bring him to the dungeon from the back entrance. We don't need any questions. DON'T make me regret my decision. You will be responsible for guarding him after he is healed. Do you understood?' 

Falling silent, Red Velvet keeps his mouth shut as he continued in toward the base, now in the yard of the structure. Several of the hounds and brutes either growled, or sniffed at the familiar scent of the enemy cookie, but they held themselves at bay. 

He wasn't looking forward to this, and was still actively questioning his decision. 

It was too late to turn back though... whatever happened to the boy, after he was healed, would be up to the Enchantress... 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((That's why I looooooove- Nestle Crunch.))

-

Hurrying through the hallways of the dungeon, Red Velvet made sure to get the child in his arms to the nearest medical ward. It would be surprising, that they even had medical wards in the dungeon. However, they weren't barbarians. They were keeping prisoners, if they were ill to the point where they could infect others, it would be best to medicate them. 

They hadn't had prisoners in a long while... 

Not that having prisoners was ideal, by any means of interpretation. Keeping prisoners was just as exhausting as fighting them was. Especially if they were the stubborn kind. 

This child was surely going to be one of those prisoners who would be crafty enough to try and find ways out. That was part of what worried Velvet the most. If he was stuck there, looking after the boy, and making sure he didn't escape, anything that did happen when he was on guard would lie over his name. 

After finding the appropriate room, Red Velvet set the surely dying child down on the table, before walking over to a glowing candied rock, of some kind. He picked it, up, and cracked it open over the gap that rested in the boys chest. 

The red and black haired man nearly looked away, in all honesty. 

Even in all of his years of fighting... and sometimes dealing immense damages- he had not been able to see that much of a cookies inner contents trying to pour out of them. 

He didn't even remember seeing so much blood when he had done critical damages to enemies in the past. 

The dust from the cracked healing candy, as it was called, absorbed into Gingerbrave's blood, and within a few seconds, the healing candy started to get to work, doing it's job. 

At first, changes were minimal. There was only some much healing candies could do, after all. If they were used to heal EVERY little thing, it would eventually become ineffective to the recipients body, and be no more useful that dirt.

Eventually, any 'organ-like' structures were healing themselves. The muscles, jam and ingredients of the child slowly rebuilt any internal bearings they had to, while the magic was still in effect. 

As this was happening, though, the Enchantress walked itno the room, her typically red eyes looking down to the man in an expectant, somewhat impatient manner. She certainly wasn't thrilled. Not that Red Velvet blamed her. The aged woman absolutely hated the child. 

Nearly with a burning passion. 

She wasn't a coward though. Maybe it was because of personal pride.. maybe it was because of little bits of pity she held. She would nearly never give the time of day to an injured opponent who couldn't fight back for themselves. 

"What a mess you have gotten us into, Red Velvet." the woman noted, in  a somewhat cold, and somewhat distant tone, before she paced around the unconscious Brave Cookie that lie on the tabletop. 

The corner of her mouth went up in what could maybe even be assumable disgust. 

The man just sighs, nodding to the woman, before giving a small, quick sorry. 

Both of them watched Gingerbrave's body continue to heal itself. The purple skinned woman tapped her staff on the ground which made the candy's magic start to work a bit faster within the child. 

"What a bothersome process. It always takes forever." she stated to herself. 

Chiffon was curled up in the corner of the room, watching The Enchantress and Red Velvet. The hound whined a bit, but quieted down a bit when the woman's cold gaze barely started to look in his direction. 

'Always?' the man asked as he somewhat scoffed in his mind. 'We barely use this method... especially if we don't have to...'

After about another ten minutes, the body of the boy on the table had stopped healing itself. It had been about a minute since the magic candy had ceased. However, it was necessary to wait that amount of time. It was to make sure that whatever they might do next didn't interfere with the candy's magical properties. 

"Now, what all happened? I am assuming this candy targetted his worst damages. From what little bit I see, it is unrealistic that he even survived long enough to get here. How... disappointing." the woman scoffed, before she shook her head. "However, it was not surprising. This child seems to have a knack for being a thorn in my side."

Red Velvet kept his mouth shut. He didn't need to go and get himself dug in any further on the woman's shit list. Her mood was particularly bad. Most likely because of several things. 

Gingerbrave now being stuck in their CARE was certainly one of them. 

Then there was whatever stress came with dealing with the other Darkside cookies. Dark Choco and his flashbacks from time to time. Licorice, and his intense abandonment issues, and depression. Mushroom cookie being somewhat inattentive, and overstimulated from time to time. Pomegranate, and her own... issues. 

"I need to give him stitches. There were a lot of arrows in his back... they are in the trash now... I kept one, so I can look over it. By the looks of it, none of them were poisonous." Red Velvet said quietly, before walking over to the nearby cabinet. 

"Oh no, you are not sewing him up. I know that you do a very poor job with the needle." the woman sighs, before gesturing for the man to bring it over to her. "Don't just stare at me. I know what I am doing. I hate this kid, but I don't need you inadvertently stabbing yourself with a needle, just because you are trying to keep me from doing something." 

The red and black haired man remained silent, before he looked down, and off to the side, seeming to not want to open his mouth at the comment.

However, he did as the woman told. He brought a needle over, with candy floss, and means of cleaning the medical tool. 

For a few minutes, there was nothing but prolonged awkward silence between the two of them. The woman was concentrated, but Velvet caught his mind wandering constantly. Mainly worried about this, that, or the other. 

It was no surprise that the information that things go wrong in mere seconds was a ringing truth. 

He needed to make sure nothing else went wrong. 

-

The Enchantress continued to clean, disinfect, and stitch the boy's open gaches back together with much distaste, but surprising patience. She started on the softer part of the child's body, as it would likely be the part that woudl get shifted too much when he got turned over. 

After an unknown amount of time, the woman called over Red Velvet. 

"Lean him up, and take the shirt. It's useless anyhow. There is nothing but holes in it. I need it out of my way." the woman went to clean the needle as Red Velvet walked over to the unconscious child. He somewhat felt like he was invading boundaries, but he leans Gingerbrave up. 

((Seeing as these cookies has human-ish characteristics, I will continue to clarify that this child has a shirt, lol.))

Luckily for him, Gignerbrave's shirt was a button up. The smaller polo vest that the child usually sported had already been discarded by the time he had to bring the brave cookie here. 

As he pulled the shirt from the boy's body, carefully moving the arms back a bit to make sure that they didn't get caught, or twisted uncomfortably- Red Velvet noticed something. finsihing with one arm, he remained in front of the child, before finishing removing the shirt. 

Once that was done, the shirt was tossed into the trash, but, that was beside the point. 

Red Velvet took in a deep sigh, before he looked back at the brave child, and leaned him up again. 

Curiosity getting the better of him, the man walks closer to the child, before peering at his back, to see just how many places would need  to be sewn up. 

Though, the man stopped dead in his tracks when he got a good look at the back of the child that had protected him. Sure, it was cut to high hell, because of the arrows, both being embedded in his back, and because of the gashes from the arrows that didn't reach their marks. 

The thing that caught Red Velvet off guard though, was the huge barely-faded scar that covered the boy's back. The scar looked like one that would be similar to a burn, and it covered the entire back, and part of the back of the shoulder-blades, though it wasn't able to be seen from under the sleeves of the boy's typical shirt choice. 

The scar had been there for a long time... was was for sure... 

Little did he know that, over his shoulder, The Enchantress had also seen the large, aged wound. 

((Headcanon: Seeing as I gaave the cookies human-ish characteristics with the cookie ones, I headcanon that Gingerbrave has large burn marks on his back, upper arms and upper thighs. I imagine himself having to peel himself from the cookie sheet when he was basically beeing cooked alive.))

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Just Fre-Sha-Voca-Do like ya do.))

- Thank you to all of the A03 Readers for 200+ Kudos, and making me want to write on this fic more. I thought I would have abandoned it a long time ago, but we are still going strong. Have a nice day everyone. -
~

-

Composing herself, the purple skinned woman striaghtened her posture before letting out a deep, aggrivated sigh. She tapped on Red Velvet's shoulder, letting the man know to move out of the way, so she could go in, and start to repair the boy's damaged back. 

Red Velvet walked thoward the door, before leaning on the wall, giving the Enchatess as much room as he could. 

As the woman worked on the brave child, though, she began to feel more and more off. She was old, and she had a lot of exposure. She could just tell there was some lingering magic around Gingerbrave. Magic that she, the medical equiptment, and Red Velvet had not produced. 

It was foreign, and whatever it was, definitely meant to do harm. 

Shoving these feelings aside, she quickly patche dup the child's back, before looking over to Red Velvet with an expectant, agitated stare. 

"Go and make sure that his cell is ready for him. It's not like we will need to worry about anybody else being around, so pick whatever is going to be the most convenient for you. I have stuff I need to do in my quarters. Make sure he knows why he is in there. If I have to deal with him, because he is being loud, then it will get ugly really fast." the woman blatantly stated.

After adjusting her gloves, the woman grabbed up her staff, before starting to walk to the door.. She looked over her shoulder one last time. "If any of this causes trouble for the others, or myself; more than it already has- you will be punished accordingly." 

Nodding, the man tensely felt him mentally slap himself. He was begining to feel ample distaste for this hole he had dug himself into. Though, in all honesty, there was no point in complaining about it now... he was stuck. That was the solid fact. 

He couldn't back out, even if he wanted to. 

Leaving the boy in the forest so he could wake up, and walk himself back to wherever his home was- it was a hit or miss idea. He may, or may not die, and there was no point wasting all those medical supplies, if that was going to be the case. 

They didn't know where the kingdom was, so that was another option off the board. 

With a heavy grunt, and a look of distaste, Red Velvet stood back up, and looked over his shoulder, picking out the cell that he thought would possibly work best. 

He settled on the one that rested in the middle of the cell block the dungeon held. There was a heating and air conditioning unit somewhat nearby. The cell had no real lights, and there were some blankets, a book, and a pillow. 

It wasn't much, but in comparison to what some other prisoners got in other places, it might as well have been fine treatment.

The Darksides were villains, however, even the Dark Enchantress had standards. They weren't barbarians. They weren't genocidal, either, despite what a lot of cookies may force themselves to believe. 

The red and black haired man made sure that the cell was sturdy. The bars were close enough for the boy to not be able to squeeze through them, so that was a plus. 

Chiffon had been with him the entire time. The hound clearly disliked the idea, tugging on the man's pant leg with his gentle teeth every time he got closer to the cell with supplies. The hound let out several whining sounds, but never pulled to hard, knowing that there would be minimal actions that could be taken to stop Red Velvet's progress.

After setting the cell up, Red Velvet walked over to the table where the boy was, before picking is body up, and double checking it to make sure that there was nothing else wrong with him. 

Then, walking over to the cell once more, the blue eyed man gently put the child down in the blankets that were on the floor. There were several other pillows under the blankets, that way the ground wasn't messing with the boy's back all too much. 

He covered Gingerbrave, before, walking out of the cell, and closing it. There wasn't a lock of any kind on the cell door, that way they could avoid lockpickers and other more simplistic escapees. Sitting down on the opposing wall, Red Velvet brought his knees up to his chest, before leaning his head back. Naturally, Chiffon trot over to him, and curled up right beside the man. 

-

Waking up with a headache was never an ideal way to wake up anywhere. However, waking up after feeling like you died was really something else. 

Gingerbrave sat up quickly, nearly lurching forward as he felt a bit of pain springing through his back. The boy quickly tried to catch his breath, as he had left himself a little winded from the sudden movement. Upon finally clearing his vision, though, the child went from barely calm, to considerably confused, and a little bit panicked. 

Looking around, he spotted several things- the main thing being that he was behind bars. Around him, there were a few blankets, and one small book rested in the cell, presumably for him to read. 

Looking just outside of the bars, the child managed to spot the red and black haired main that he had kept from certain death. Though, it seems death didn't want claim him, either. 

Red Velvet was looking right at the child, his face fairly unreadable, and unsettlingly concentrated. it was clear that he was displeased... but the man didn't talk for a solid fourty seconds, at the least. 

Noticing the look in the man's eyes, The Brave Cookie took it as a state of contemplation. 

"So ... you are finally up." Red Velvet finally started to say, before he sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. "I guess I might as well get this dealt with right away. You are locked in there, to keep you from getting away from us. Then again, you likely would have figure that out on your own." the man continued to explain. 

Gingerbrave locked eyes with Red Velvet briefly, not saying much of anything, but making it clear that he was still listening. 

"You are our prisoner. Even so, you are going to have to follow rules here to ensure that one of the others doesn't kill you. The only reason we spared you is because you were still alive to be spared. Killing you while you are weakened is not an ideal thing that would sit with any of us." Red Velvet stood up, before putting his hand on his hip, his expression getting a bit colder. 

Gingerbrave still kept his mouth shut, not wanting to dig himself into a deeper hole, until he could start to solidly consider a plan that would be good enough to get out of this cell. 

Defiant, younger eyes locked with colder, aged ones. 

Imprisonment... 

Gingerbrave really wasn't liking this trend of being locked in cages. In fact, he rather hated it. 

It was just like being trapped in the oven, all that time ago.. except, it wasn't as warm, which he was thankful for. 

He needed to figure something out... and he needed to figure it out fast...

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Three days passed slowly. Then again, with minmal leg room, sparse entertainment, and limited communication, the only thing the brave child COULD really do- was sleep. He was tired, a lot of the time. Energy that his body put into healing the damages was tiring. 

Leaning on the bars of the cell he was being held within, Gingerbrave gently slipped his hands through, and pet the cake hound that lie next to the cell. 

Chiffons's tail wagged at the attention, before the hound moved a little closer to the bars, despite the fact that he was right up against them already. Licking the boys hand a couple times, the hound went back to relaxing, it's eyes closing after a moment or two of more attention from the child. 

It was only a matter of time before the other Darkside cookies became aware of the boy's presence. 

Red Velvet was needed in other areas all of the time. However, all things considered, the least the man could do was leave his trusty cake hound with the boy. It would ensure the others would be less tempted to do anything. 

Poison Mushroom wouldn't really be too much of a problem. Neither would Dark Choco, unless he had a relapse of some sort. 

However, Pomegranate, and Licorice, on the other hand- they were a completely different ball of wax...

Pomegranate was manipulative, and she had her way around the mind. She knew how to mess with others, and with Gingerbrave being the prisoner, he wouldn't be able to say anything and have anyone care. That meant, that if she were in a bad enough mood, Pomegranate would likely be able to do anything she really wanted. 

Licorice, well- that man really was something. The black haired cookie was obsessive with certain topics, and he would often become agitated, or over-active when certain things became a topic. He was also highly judgemental, and a bit self centered, though, of all the cookies, Licorice was one of the ones that were the most ... 'approachable'. 

-

Within the boring, slightly dampened cell, Gingerbrave leans against the wall, his eyes staring to the floor. 

He had been hard at work, trying to assimilate a plan, or something. 

Anything...

On top of that... all of his hope of possibly being able to get out of this cell... get home... and be free of that voice had been shattered hours ago. As if it were mocking him, and his hopeful nature. 

The voice was null, at first. Not there. There was no need for panic, or worry. 

Gingerbrave had been in these situations before, right? 

Trapped.. no way out... worried about others elsewhere. 

He just hoped that the kingdom was not tearing itself apart.. he could just wish, and hope. 

'Come on, are you going to sulk in here forever?' the voice let out a whining voice, seeming to once again be mocking the child. It was amused... he could tell that much. That, in turn, only made Gingerbrave grunt, and lean his head down onto his knees, a low pounding starting to overtake his temples. 

Considering it now... it was a good thing he wasn't talking to the darksides. Hopefully, with less close exposure.. will keep them from being affected. He didn't need them to become nonsensibly aggressive like the other Kingdom Cookies had become. 

Though, he didn't even know how the voices powers worked. 

Hell, Gingerbrave was nearly positive that the voice had not even shown all of it's abilities yet. He couldn't talk to it... that thing was a liar. Who knew what was true, and what was false... 

'Ugh, stop thinking kid, you're making my head hurt. Damn you're do annoying.' the voice complained again, sending another pulse of pressure through the boy's temple. In turn, just to spite the voice, Gingerbrave started to think about more and more things. 

First, he would think about picking flowers, then jumping, then wondering about why the sky was blue, how flies without wings would probably be called 'Walks' instead-

All of the quickly changing trains of thought made the voice give out a shout of annoyance, before it started to yell. 

'ARE YOU TESTING MY PATIENCE, YOU USELESS LITTLE SHIT? BECAUSE IF YOU WANT TO PLAY AT THAT GAME, I CAN PLAY AT IT.' 

For a brief moment, Gingerbrave felt as if all of the air within his lungs had vacated his body. He slumped against the wall, bringing his hands up to his neck as he tried to get oxygen back. 

Chiffon was as the bars of the cell, whining as he starts to paw at the floor in front of the enclosed area. The cake hound could sense something was wrong, though it was clear that he didn't know what was actually going on. Gingerbrave just maintained his determined, tired face, before standing up in his cell. 

'Oh, are you finally going to start moving? Took you long enough you lazy bastard...' the voice complainend to the boy in his mind once more, before the sound of intense static started to ring through The Brave Cookie's head. 

Gingerbrave fell to his knees, before curling up, and covering his head. The static was intense, making his entire body shake from the sheer pressure it was causing. He was tearing up, despite trying to hold it back. It wasn't doing any good, it was nearly at the point where he was outright crying. 

He felt like his head was going to explode. 

Everything was spinning, and it nearly felt as though the world was becoming distorted. 

He saw splotches of color all over the walls, his eyes wouldn't focus. He wanted to hurl, but swallowed it back twice, because he didn't need to get in trouble for making a mess of his cell when he was already in the very territory of the darksides. 

'Oops, my bad. What's the matter baby-boo? Did that hurt? What if I just-' the voice was pensive again. 

Gingerbrave knew that was a bad sign... 

All of a sudden, the vibrating in his temple from the ringing static, and the sound of shouting made him fall to his side, curling into a fetal position as he tried to do anything to make the pain stop. 

He wouldn't beg... he would never ask that voice for mercy. 

He was supposed to be brave, and he couldn't tell if he was, but at best... he would continue to be stubborn... at least he was still trying...? 

'You can't ignore me forever, child, and when you finally slip up, I will have you begging me for mercy. When that time comes... I will be able to look down on you... and enjoy the look on your face when I break you. Honestly... I didn't think attaching myself to any random host would be so much fun. Yet, here we are.' the voice mused tot he child as the static continued to torment his mind. 

The voice was the onyl thing that the brave cookie could hear... other than the buzzing, and the subtle sound of screams, and shrill scraping. 

The boy had started to sweat, still tearing up as he nearly clawed at his own head. 

'You are the most infuriating, determined, yet somehow still useless little shit I have managed to attach to. You've lasted so much longer than anticipated. I... my annoying little host, am not going anywhere. I can, and will, always find my way back here. Just you wait.'

A most subtle feeling of futility was starting to stir within the child. 

However, he bit his lip, and pushed back those thoughts. 

His world was still consumed in the static, and the sound of scraping, and screams. The world around him, in the minimal vision his eyes had, was distorted. Everything was waving, unsteady. Pulses of colors made him wish he was seeing nothing, over what he had been stuck bearing sight to. 

He struggled to breath, silently gasping as silent sobs tried to make their way from his aching throat. 

He couldn't see Chiffon anymore... did the dog leave...? 

Maybe the hound got scared and ran... 

Good... maybe the dog running away would be better, that way whatever happened wouldn't get any chance to effect the hound. He would hate it if the damned voice started to target tohers, even if they were enemies of his. 

All he did know, for now... was... this static, and the feeling of suffocating wreren't going to leave him. Not for a long time.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

Standing within a room, over a cauldron, of sorts, a gray skinned man held several estranged objects. Mumbling things to himself, despite having the slightest shaking hand, he drops the items in, one by one- the contents of the cauldron turning the liquid inside of it to many differents hues and shades. 

Some estragnged. smaller creatures lingered near the man near the cauldron, producing some kind of sound as some communicated amongst each other, in their own little ways. 

Placing one more thing into the bubbling liquid of the hot cauldron, the same man stepped back, laughing as somethign started to rise from the non-solid substance that occupied the cooking space. 

"Rise! Rise, my creation! Come to me!" the thing rising from the cauldron looked at the man- it was odd, and disfigured- it seemed more like a crytpid, than any sort of living creature that could be identified. 

That made Licorice grimace a bit, before he went to continue goading the present creature to come from the pot of which it was borne, and walk around in the world that it was now within. However, this only made the estranged figure nervous, and without time to spare, the creature sunk back into the liquid within the cauldron, no where to be seen or heard. 

"Blast." the man grumbled to himself. 

He had spent a lot of time working with the arts of Black Magic. Whereas he had avoided genuine error, or critical fail with this practice, the man knew not to take these magic spells slow, or to be too terrible reckless. 

Just as he went to go and purify the cauldron that his previous spell had been created from, there was the sound of several barks, a whine, and scratching on the door of the man's quarters. 

This nearly made Licorice fall forward from the sudden noise, however, the amber eyed man caught himself, and regained his composed, despite still sporting a look of ample annoyance across his features. 

He slumped over to his door, before opening it, seeing the diturbed cake hound, who was whining a bit, tapping his paws on the ground near the doorway, as if he had tried to dig his way into the room. 

Licorice would normally be put off guard by these actions, considering the fact that the hound didn't seem to like him too much- though- on the same note, Chiffon was never aggressive with him either. The hound simply avoided him, was all. 

Licorice wasn't a dog person. He had nothing against them. He wasn't really a cat person either. He preferred birds. 

"What do you want you yammering hound?" the man questioned somewhat impatiently down to the seemingly quarrelsome quadruped. "If you heard something from in here, know that it is already-" before he could continue, the hound grabbed onto part of the man's robes, before starting to tug. "Hey, Hey! Stop that-"

The hound the let the man's robes go, before starting to trot off down the hallway, coming back to the door after several paces, to imply that he needed the man to follow. 

Then, it hit him. 

Licorice was told by the Enchantress that the child brat that they had several encounters with was now here- being held captive, it seemed. He went ask ask hwe how he got here in the first place, but the woman never answered his question. 

In fact, it seemed that The Enchantress was purposefully avoiding it. Being as he was her suboordinate, he was never in the position to press for information. Even if everone that worked under her did have oppertunities to voice their own opinions, ad thoughts. 

"Fine, fine. Lead me to the problem, just stop making all that racket. I can't think with you barking and whining, and Pomegranate is probably going to come storming out of her room any moment if you don't shut up-" the hound was instantly silenced, before starting to trot down the hallway- going in the direction of the prison, which would lie along a secret passage.

Licorice would admit that he didn't look forward to having to follow the hound, though, that was obvious at this point. 

For all he knew the child had escaped, and was now on the loose somewhere, which would mean there would only be messes to clean up. What a pain in the ass...

Pressing onward, the black haired man started to make his way into the room that was reserved for the secret passage, which really just looked like an unused study, of some sort. Chiffon simply squeezed behind the door, whereas, the dark magic user had to move the shelf, and move it back, before continuing on. 

Contiuing down the staircase, they took several turns, before finally arriving at the somewhat chilled cell block. 

To his surprise, and slight relief, Gingerbrave was still in his cell. 

This made the man sigh as a slight bit of tension left his shoulder. That, however, was dismissed by the awkward positio the child was laying in on the ground, near the cell door. It didn't even look like the child had attempted escape. 

Chiffon started to whine again, before pawing at the bars of the cell, and trying to stick his muzzle under the bars, sniffing at the boy that was contained behind them. 

In slight annoyance, Licorice finished walking over to the child, before shaking his head. "Hey, you- kid- get up. Stop ignorin' the dog, he's making a racket because of you." the words started out tough, and somewhat condescending. However, the overlay of tough emotion was soon broken through- as a feeling of uneasiness settled over the man. 

He was fairly sure it wasn't him ACTUALLY caring about the kids health, it was likely him just not wanting to face reprecissions of anything that can or may happen if the purple skinned lady-leader of their party found out something was wrong, and could have possibly been prevented. 

"Kid, get up. I don't have all day for your games." the yellow eyed man walked over, to the area right in front of the cell- Chiffon whining more as he stepped out of the way, barking twice, before going silent, save for the constant, anxious movements.

Crouching down in front of the cell, Licorice instantly feel back- the child was clearly awake, and aware, but he was staring at the ground and blood poured out of his nose- Gingerbrave was covering his ears and it seemed that hose nose had been bleeding for a little while now, at least, as an alarming amount of it was now on the floor around his head. 

"What the fuck...!?"

\\Please Note: Alright not everyone remembers these tidbits, or even knows this- but as I stated before, I write the cookies to have 'Human Like Features' but they are still cookies- meaning yes, they do have lips, noses, ect. This is mainly because I tried to stick true with cookie anatomy before, and it just wasn't working for me, lol.//

((To Be Contined))

Chapter Text

((When I wanted Berries and Cream, Mama used to have me do the Little Lad Dance... but now... Mommy's gone...))

-

Backing up a bit more, the hound grew anxious again, seeming to get agitated, getting closer and closer to the cell once more. Chiffon started to bark, and whine, whimpering, before trying to drag the Goth of the Dark Arts back over to the ailing child. 

Licorice shook his head, before grunting, and using his own magic to quickly open the door, though it usually drained more of his magic at one time, if he wasn't using, or at least near his cauldron. 

The black haired man was trying to understand his feelings of alarm. He had seen blood before. He knew what blood was. Hell, he even used it in a spell or two, seeing as he was a practicer of the dark arts. Grunting, the man bent down to the child, shaking him a bit. 

"Oi, wake up- you look creepy as shit laying there like that, ya know...!" Licorice's more nervous nature was really starting to show through. His anxious habits. 

When Gingerbrave didn't even LOOK at him, the first thing Licorice did was bite at his fingernails- mainly out of apprehension. He couldn't tell if he was nervous about the idea of The Enchantress blaming him for this current problem- or the sheer bizarre nature of what was happening right in front of him. 

Seeing more blood spilling from Gingerbrave's nose though, the Wizard shook himself from his slight trance, before pulling the child to sit up- tilting his head forward. 

Hopefully the rest of the blood in the child's nose would finish draining from the nasal area. With Gingerbrave showing little to now conscious stimuli, tilting The Brave Child's head back would likely make blood build up in the back of his throat, and he could choke on it.

Bringing an ashen-skinned, cold hand up to their prisoners face, Licorice heard overwhelming static pooling in from all around him, which immediately made his head start to feel like someone was hitting a hammer against his cranium. Screaming was under the sound of the static- it was maddening... overwhelming... it-

No! No- no, stop it! 

Shaking his head, Licorice pulled his hand away, before furrowing his brow, as he looked into the child's alarmingly dull pupils, and absent expression. 

He was alive, but it nearly looked like he wasn't. 

"Hey, kid, snap out of it-!" the man tried to urge, snapping his fingers in front of his face. 

That, to his disdain, dind't seem to wake the child up either. So, in a last ditch effort to try and do something that would hopefully stop what was happening- the man grabbed his staff again, before starting to mumble something under his breath, wrapping his hand around the child's head. 

He started to hear the static again, and the screams, and whispers- it nearly made him lose concentration on the spell he was trying to chant out- but- after struggling through a few more words- his hand started to glow. 

Lit up in a soft, whitened hue, Licorice was cofused on the nature of the magic he had just used, but shoved that thought aside- as the static and screaming that was somehow being produced by the contact with their prisoner eventually disappeared. 

Sighing in relief, the black haired grumbled to himself as the child slumped forward, his eyes closing. 

By an unknown instinct, Licorice kept Gingerbrave from falling forward onto the floor face-first. He rolled his eyes at his own gesture, before shaking his head, and looking back to the Hound, who seemed more at ease now, but still on edge. 

"I guess I won't have a choice but to tell the enchantress about this..." he noted to the cakehound, Chiffon simply turned his head, before looking away, seeming to grow a bit tense at the name of the woman as well. 

"Tell me what, exactly?" Licorice automatically tensed, before turning his head around slowly, seeing the woman slowly coming down the staircase. The gray skinned man let out an intense sigh, before he lays the child's head back down, lying him on the floor, before locking eyes with the older man that now leans on the far wall of the room, her own staff in hand.

The man gave up, knowing there was no lying out of this situation. This was quickly turning into one of those days he wished he didn't get out of bed at all....

"Chiffon came and got me, to let me know something ws happening. The kid was stuck in what seemed like a trance-like state. There was blood under his head in the cell- he was bleeding from his nose, though." Licorice tilted the boy's head over to the side, exposing the cheek, which now simply had dried blood over it. 

The woman continued to stare at the child, before shaking her head, and looking to the side. "I swear, He has only been here a pitiful amount of time, and he is already finding ways to get in trouble, without even leaving his cell, or making noise."

Licorice would agree with her on that front, though- internally, he couldn't help but wonder about what was actually happening. 

"So, what was with the spell you cast on him?" the woman questioned over to the man, before starting to walk in his direction. She adjusted the gloves on her arms, before shaking her head, mumbliing something under her breath.

The Dark Magic Weilding man pulled down his own sleeves, feeling uncomfortable leaving them rolled up his arms. 

"I used some kind of numbing spell... I don't know what is going on, but every time I touched his head, I heard screams, and static.... it was notably painful, and nearly caused me to quickly get sucked into it." licorace looked the woman in in her read eyes, the leader of their little gang making it clear she was still listening. 

"Hmm... perhaps it was the statick ringing through his head that caused his bleeding. Most likely internal damages of some kind." the woman narrowed her eyes down to the boy. "I know for a fact... that there is someone or something lingering around him, or within him." 

At the very notion, Licorice seemed confused. 

"What do you mean by that...?" he questioned, before adjusting the way he was sitting on the groud. Once again, it was subconscious, he hardly noticed- but he brought Gigerbrave over into his lap, holding him, so he would be more comfortable.

The Dark Enchantress did notice, though. Despite a small, unreadable look behind her eyes, she didn't really say anything about it, and just let Licorice be, without question.

"To put it in simple terms, you are somewhat familiar with it already." the woman started off, before standing back at her full height. "It is sort of like being 'marked'. You know how you have some 'marked' or 'hexed' objects around the base, correct? That way, if you ever need to use your magic, you can make your magic stronger by pinging off of said objects?"

Listening to the woman, the black haired man considered it, and he could think he was starting to understand it a bit. 

What she said was indeed true, after all. 

Seeing as his magic was generally stronger, when attached to his cauldron, he had made sure to mark specific objects around the house with a power-storing spell, of some sort. 

He never really needed to use them, but just in case he did, the extra stored magic energy would be there. 

He also marked quite a few things on himself, too- mainly due to the fact that he couldn't have his cauldron at all times. 

The skull necklace he wore was the main power storing object he had, as well as the swirled licorice orb atop of scythe. 

"I see- so what you are saying is that someone or something is basically... piggy backing off of this kid in some way? Though, rather than being a source of magic, he is more or less being leeched off of, in some way?" 

Sighing, the aged woman grunted, before nodding her head to the man, crossing her arms over each other as he looked back down at the child. 

"This parasite that is leeching off of him ALSO probably knows that... we know it's there." she stared directly at the child, her gaze narrowed, concentration falling across her features. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Roses are red; I'm inside your house; your door was unlocked; It's me, Mickey Mouse. haha))

-

After a considerable amount of minutes spent talking back and forth, Licorice noticed that the child in his lap was starting to get agitated again. So, grumbling, the man started to run his fingers through the kids hair. 

He knew that brushing ones fingers through anothers hair worked to calm down most people he ran across. Hell, that is probably why a lot of people raked their fingers through their hair if they were stressed. It took a couple seconds, but he noticed that the child's body had become less tense, despite the look of disdain still written across his features. 

The Enchantress continued to watch the man who was dealing with the child. She could say that she found it a bit... amusing. 

Licorice, by default, seemed to be the kind of guy that would be afraid of children. Especially considering how she had met him. However, Licorice had been the prodominant one to look after Poison Mushroom. 

Poison Mushroom wasn't much of a problem to begin with. The somewhat spacey child was good at what he did, and he followed orders well. 

"What are we going to do with him now? Seeing as wel know all this information, I would imagine that you have some sort of plan, Enchantress?" this was where Licorice became fidgety. The man sometiems had a tendency to jump, tremble, or grow tense, even if he wasn't caught off guard, or in shock.

"To put it frankly, I don't want to have to come in here and deal with this kid every time he has a breakdown. I am still considering my options." the woman let out a bit of a huff, before setting her staff against the wall.

Licorice was silent, for a few moment, before simply laying back, and resting his head against the wall, his hood plopping over his face a bit from the sudden movement. "I mean, we could just leave him in the middle of the forest. There are Kingdom Cookies there all the time- he would be found. Boom, problem solved."

The woman nearly laughed to herself. Even she knew that Licorice knew it was a bad idea. He must have been trying to get the child out of there, in a hopes it would be less tension on everyone's end. 

"You and I both know that leaving him out there in this condition could likely mean certain death." the woman chuckled to herself. In return, Licorice looked away from her, and just started to stare at the floor of the cell block. 

Before either of them could speak, another voice finally piped up. "Am I interrupting something?" 

Guiding his eyes back up, the amber eyed goth spotted Red Velvet, was was standing there with a weapon in his hands. The red and black haired man saw the boy in Licorice's arms- before letting out a begrudging, nearly apprehensive sound of disapproval. 

"He finally tried escaping?" it was more of a question, than a statement, both the gray skinned man, and purple skinned waman looked at each other, and sigh, shaking their heads. 

"No. Chiffon went and pulled Licorice down here. I suppose you could say that the boy might as well have been having a seizure, at this point- differences not being considered." Dark Enchantress stood back up, before tapping her staff on the groud, and walking over to Red Vel. "It seems that traces of Leeching Magic are within the boy, and he nearly drowned because of his own bloody nose." 

Red Velvet looked confused. 

The black haired man sitting on the ground with the child let out an annoyed sigh. It was easy to forget that Licorice was the only one with magic that even slightly resembled Dark Enchantres's own magic style. He would be the only one who WOULD understand- even if it took time to do so. 

"In other words, some kind of magic is effecting him. Whatever happened caused him to get a very bad bloody nose, and he likely collapsed, or curled up in his cell. There is magic that is effecting him badly, and by what it displayed a little while ago, it can do real harm." 

With the small explanation out of the way, Red Velvet went from annoyed, to more concerned for the child. He crossed his arms, his larger limb resting over the smaller one. 

"Okay, if that is the case, what are we going to do?" 

After spinning her staff in her hand a few times, contemplating the same question for the Nth time since the troubled child has even ended up in their base- the red eyed woman suddenly got an idea. It might not have been the best idea, it was better than nothing. 

''Hopefully, with luck, they would eliminate the problem. Though, the main point of this next tactic would be to simply find tidbits of information to go off of, and maybe look more into this current situation from there.''

Bum-Rushing something like this would go badly, and with whatever was lingering within the child knowing they knew of it's presence, who knew how much time were was. 

"Why were you so concerned on helping him?" a new voice asked from the walkway, resting at the top of the stairs. The tone was cold, and monotonous. Of course, it would be the one and only Pomegranate. The woman held her mirror close to herself, seeming to be watching in slight confusion. Though, as always, her expression bordered unreadable- or maybe even misinterpreted. 

The Enchantress looked up to the other female of the group, before adjusting the gloves over her arms. 

"Because none of us want to continually come down here to deal with him, especially when we have other things to do." the simply stated, before pulling something from her staff. 

"Even so, couldn't we just- get rid of him?" the woman asked, before tilting her head. "He is weakened, he isn't a threat to us. Why keep him alive, if he doesn't have a purpose here? Crumbling him would be easier." the woman offered, before she was cut off by the feeling of tension around her.

Knowing this feeling well, Pomegranate stopped talking, The Dark Enchantress walked up to her slowly. 

Seeming the slightest bit irritated, Dark Enchantress brought her gloved had down to the other woman's face, before grabbing it, and squeezing it. It was forceful enough to cause discomfort, but not enough to hurt. Pomegranate felt a small wave of un-ease pass through her body, despite her somewhat unphased expression.

"Oh Pomegranate- if only it were that easy. Crumbling him would only send the wrong message. He is our enemy, yes, but what is most important here is that- he is our enemy, merely because he gets in our way. We dont' need Kingdom Dwellers chasing us down, beacuse we took out one of their own. On top of that-" she leans in closer to the red haired woman. "Killing him in this state would be quite petty, don't you agree?" 

Pomegranate was silent, looking away from the older woman with a sigh, as her face was soon let go of. "Now, I am going to require your mirror for the spell I am going to attempt completing." 

Not feeling like being talked down to again, the woman handed her mirror over to the aged woman, before it was gently grabbed, and walked over to the medical ward. 

All of the present darksides followed the woman, Licorice picking up the child as he stood, so he could be brought along. 

"Licorice, set him on the medical table, and strap him down. We don't need him shifting too much while we are trying to accomplish this." With a nervous grunt, the dark haired man complied, softly laying Gingerbrave on the table, before pulling firm, padded straps over the childs arms, wrists, legs, ankles, neck, and torso. 

The point of that was to minimalize movement. If the child didn't move much... it shouldn't hurt any. 

While he did that, Dark Enchantress sent Red Velvet after a book, the long haired man returning with the requested tome, before it was set sown in front of the mirror. Then, he returned to his spot, leaning against the wall as he watched in notable apprehension. 

The room fell silent for a moment as Dark Enchantress closed her eyes, aiming her staff toward the tome and mirror- swirling it a bit. The small motions made small amounts of dark magic form in a spherical cluster within short range of her magical tool. 

A couple moment more, annd she opened her eye, touching her staff to the tome in front of the mirror. It didn't even take half a second of time for the spell to work it's orders. The tome had started to glow, a faint gray light travelling from it, right into the mirror that was positioned on a small retractable medical table that was positioned over the boy's head. 

The glass of the mirror was facing toward the boy, and upon the light from the tome reaching the chosen weapon of Pomegranate cookie, the surface of it started to glow a deep purple-red hue. 

"What exactly does this spell do?" Red Velvet asked from where he stood next to the wall, before the woman pulled the few strands of bangs she let hang out of her headpiece away from her eyes. 

"This spell is going to take us into Problem Child's mind. We shouldn't be able to be seen, heard, or felt by him, when we enter. I don't know if the Leech we are persuing will know we are in there though." she admitted, before settng her staff off to the side. 

A light discussion passed, answering some questions, and contemplating moves that needed to be made for whatever they were trying to pull off to hopefully succeed. 

There was a noise from the top of the stairs again, as the bookshelf shifted, and both Dark Choco and Mushroom made their way into the Medical Ward, the short Mushroom Themed Cookie walking ahead of the older man. 

"There you two are. Did you cover the door back up?" she asked over to Dark Choco, who- in turn, nodded to the woman wordlessly. "Good." 

Looking back down to the boy, the woman shook her head, hoping like hell that all of this effort was going to be worth it, to make detaining this troublesom pre-teen less of a pain in the ass. She exteded her hand out to the mirror, before touching the glass of it, and vanishing in a puff of light. 

At first the rest of the darksides were apprehensive, but Red Velvet Followed suit- the same thing happening to him. 

One by one, all of the darksides touched the surface of the now glowing mirror, and felt themselves being enveloped by a feeling of uncomfortable static- 

-

Opening his eyes, Red Velvet saw hismelf in the space that could be considered the mind of their prisoner. At least, that's what he hoped it was. If they were elsewhere, then there would be a big problem. 

The blue-eyed man gazed around, seeing the other darksides standing there as well. 

Rather than there being a medical table in front of them, though, Red Velvet stepped back, recognizing the object that they were in front of instead. 

There, where the table was just seconds ago... was the pedestal that he assisted Gingerbrave in shattering when all of this first started. The pedestal was glowing brightly, the bold pink-purple light sickened Red-Velvet, causing the man to turn his head away. 

Licorice was covering his ears, hearing the static, and the screams that he heard when he had contact with the child earlier. He let out a deep sigh, trying to contain himself, before swallowing a lump in his throat, and focusing back on wha thtye were there to do. 

Dark Enchantress looked around, seeming surprised by the darkness of the mind they had entered. 

"There he is." a voice broke all of their concentration, guiding their view to the distance, where there was a figure who seemed to be sitting on the ground, with their knees close to their face. 

Red Velvet and Licorice started walking ahead, trying to see who it was. 

Dark Enchantress followed, keeping a modest pace as she made several mental notes to herself. The fire made this place feel like it was sweltering. It nearly hurt to breathe. As soon as she reached the area where the silhouette had been seen, sure enough, it was the troublesome child they had found.

Gingerbrave's form was just sitting there, staring off into space with a caste-off, nearly dead expression. His darkened blue eyes were teary- and there were deep bags under them as if sleep was something foreign to the child.

All of the darksides could only stand there, and... look. 

From looking they had been able to pick up on more things. Troublesome things, that some of them would rather not think about. 

Gingerbrave's body was cut in several places, the pink-red jam that functioned as their blood pooled from gashes and puncture wounds all over his form. 

Just as Licorice went to take a couple steps forward, to get a closer glimpse at what all was displayed on the child, a shadow formed from behind the tired, seemingly brain-dead pre-teen, there was the sound of whispers, and more screaming. 

Popping up form behind Gingerbrave- another child stared to all of them, a look of Malice in their eyes. 

They... looked like Gigerbrave..? The child, though, had a slightly different hairstyle, more droopy eyes, even with the malicious glare that serged through them-

This similar, but clearly different form had an almost ashen tone to them, any bright hues were suffocated with the ashiness. Though, from what all of the darksides could tell- the similar form to Gingerbrave sported a blue sleeping cap decorated with yellowed stars, and a small fluffy ball on the end of the cap. 

This figure also had blue buttons where Gingerbrave's skull-shaped buttons would have been, and instead of having a red and white candycane- the parallel object was light and dark green instead. 

The Enchantress also took notice of the fact that the figure behind the mental projection of their unwelcomed guest was shorter- YOUNGER than Gingerbrave was. 

This cookie, unlike Gingerbrave... KNEW they were there. 

Without wasting a single second- the younger Gingerbrave Look-Alike smiled to all of them, the grin sending chills up their spines. 

"So... you all have arrived..."

((To Be Continued)) 

Chapter Text

((Skibi bop mm bada- *slaps face into refrigerator CutElY*))

-

((Note: Hello, as we all will know, P. Mushroom Cookie is a character of Ambiguous gender, if I accidentally call P. Mushroom by 'He' I appologize in advance. I still need to go back in past chapters and correct this. Thank you for you patience.))

-

The younger Gingerbrave look-alike kept smiling up to the darksides, his dark eyes were nearly unreadable. The sleeping cap and pajamas of the child were the thing that stuck out the most as a comparison. 

Getting over their shock, and maybe even borderline apprehension, the group of older cookies all looked to each other, before Dark Enchantress stepped forward. 

"So... you have been expecting us." she stated, a cold tone to her voice. "Just who are you? You clearly aren't the brat..." she noted with a bit of a light scoff. This, in turn, made the smaller boy grin more, closing his eyes as he tilted his head a little bit to the right. 

"Oh? I wonder how you came to that conclusion." the child walked around the seemingly catatonic mental projection of Gingerbrave, standing right in front of the woman. 

At that gesture, the woman quickly pulled her staff into a position that was more the willing to prepare for violence, all of the suboordinates of the aged woman getting into fighting positions as they went to move forward. 

The child in front of them laughed, seeming to find a lot of amusement in the situation. 

"Oh you all crack me up. Have you ever considered stand up comedy? My name is... Dozer." the hesitance before the name was a strange way to speak. "As much as I would want to kill all of you right here..." the child let his arm extend out a bit, pointing it at Red Velvet. "Especially YOU..."

There was a contemplative pause as Red Velvet narrowed his eyes to the kid, his larger arm displaying it's sharpened claws as a means to pose a threat. However, he didn't speak to the form that was mocking all of them. He didn't need to distract the others or himself from the mission that Dark Enchantress had put into place. 

"I can't kill any of you... or even harm you. Even if I so desired. How much of a bummer is that?" with a sudden motion, Dozer's hand was pointed at Pomegranate, and a large pink spike rose from the ground. 

She wouldn't have had the time to move, and avoid it, but- that was the thing. She hadn't been damaged in any way.

Standing in the exact same spot she had been before, the same spike rose through her body in a way that seemed to look like a phantom projection, of some kind. However, right under her, the ground where the spike had risen from was damaged, rocks, and pebbles jumbled around shifted dirt. 

"You all could have avoided all of this drama and this annoying incident if you hadn't interfered. Now my powers are cut short, and I need to work harder. Selfish of you all, honestly." The boy walked around Gingerbrave's still form, a smile spreading over his face- wider than the other grins he had given thus far.

'Dozer', as he called himself, stood right next to Gingerbrave, before getting an idea. A wicked aura passed over the child, before he went back behind the older cookie. 

"Why do you bother, anyways? You all could walk off scott free and not have to deal with all of the drama, and the annoyances that had had you annoyed for the last three or so days. Wouldn't that be nice?" Dozer leans over Gingerbrave's shoulders, a gesture that would have looked like a hug, at first. 

Red Velvet glared, before stepping forward. He wouldn't admit out loud that even he wouldn't want Gingerbrave to be trapped in whatever warped mental state this was. 

Instead, he snarled, baring his teeth as he pointed to Dozer. "I became involved the second Chiffon was in danger. I know that you would have hurt him more, had you gotten the chance." 

Dozer deadpanned at Red Velvet, before rolling his eyes. 

"Don't be dramatic, nothing yould have happened to you cake abominations. That hound would have been fine, if you wouldn't have let him escape you. This is YOUR fault." Dozer leans in closer to Gingerbrave, grinning to the Darksides as he brought his hand up to the older cookie's face.

Dark Enchantress shook her head, trying to make sure her followers kept  themselves in line. 

Licorice seemed to be having a hard time containing his annoyance with the voice, amber eyes darkening as he clenched his scythe and kept the blade pointed in the direction of the 'child' that was was leaning over Gingerbrave. 

"Aww, don't give me that face... it's making me sad... it makes all of us sad." the Darksides automatically started to look around themselves. Asking questions would likely not inspire a straight answer- but they grew apprehensive- not liking the implication of even more strangers being there. 

Red Velvet was the first to step forward, growing fed up with the sarcastic, snivelling voice of 'Dozer' as he called himself. 

"All of you, huh?" his voice was snyde, clearly indicating he was about to lose his usually well-contained temper. 

Dozer laughed before snapping his fingers, and looking directly into the eyes of the man that stood in front of himself. "What? Did you honestly think I would be working all alone? What kind of fun would that be?" within seconds- more and more shaded figures started to appear behind Dozer and Gingerbrave. 

There were about... 14 of them. Maybe...? 

All of them looked similar to Gingerbrave and Dozer in many ways, either considering hair, candy-cane accessories, shaped buttons... 

In comparison to 'Dozer' and Gingerbrave, though, all of these cookies that were appearing from all corners of the shade and shadows had no distinguishable faces. All of the cookies were also disfigured, or crumbled in many areas. 

Dark Enchantress also noticed that these cookies were burnt, had missing limbs, and some even had a missing head. 

Jam was baked onto their form, most likely being produced from injuries- the result of the jam baking outside of their bodies made it look like heated tar. 

All of the figures that now stood with the alleged Dozer were whispering, screaming, sobbing, and producing other incomprehensible noises. 

"I would like for you to... meet the family. I guess you can say I rekindled myself with them... very recently, in fact." 

Dozer's body soon started to crumble in specific areas, nowing larger lacerations with candy floss- sewing him back together from where it looked like he had been bitten into. 

Dark Enchantress remembered this.. if this really was what she was thinking... this was... a cookie that had been eaten. More then likely.. the other cookies surrounding Gingerbrave were ones that were let be cooked to death in the oven. 

All of the figures started to walk forward, Dozer smiling and going in to hug Gingerbrave agian. However, as soon and his arms and hands wrapped around his brother, Gingerbrave's skin started to darken- a small sizzling heard in reaction to the gesture. 

Dozer's smile shifted to an unfriendly, emotionless stare right at the Darksides. "Stop interfering. I am taking my brother back. We all are...." 

With that, all of the shadowed similar figures bodies looked as if they became scrambled, several of them walking forward to where Dozer was, grabbing the living 'sibling' by his arms, and legs.

Soon, more and more sizzling was heard, Gingerbrave's skin that was touched by their limbs was starting to burn- the skin growing dark and reddened, irritated. 

Whisperings from the form came in many similar, but notably different voices, gettling close to the child's ears as they started to scream, and yell again. 

Distant accusations of 'Your fault' and 'How could you?!' or even 'Failure' were heard- making the barely responsive, unaware form of Gingerbrave curl up more, as his eyes filled to the brim with tears, his eyes becoming darker and darker with ever little reminder they gave. 

The voices continued, laughing and throwing accusations. Hurting him. Reminding him. 

All of the darksides didn't know what they felt.. but.. within all of them- some kind of nerve had been struck. 

Even Pomegranate had quite enough of this mental torture. She was about to make a move.. or say something. Perhaps in protest, before Dark Enchantress stepped forward, her eyes narrowed, and cold. 

"That is quite enough...."

((To be continued))

Chapter Text

"Are you a boy?" -> No.

"Are you a girl?" -> No.

"Then what are you?" -> I ... am... AN IDIOT! **Dramatic pose time**

-

Dozer narrowed his eyes at her, a chill passed over the mindscape as the surroundings grew darker. "Just what do you intend to do to me? This is MY realm. MINE. You have no power here." he made a disgusted sneer in her direction. 

Dark Enchantress got closer and closer to the child, her red eyes staring right back down to him, a similar sneer on her face. 

"Oh? Is that so? If that is the case... then-" she leans down, getting close to the child's head as her eyes narrowed even more. "Just how did I get in here, if this place is YOURs to control?" 

There was silence from the child, who's face went from the typical sneer, to an expression of outirght resentment. 

"Thought so."

Dark Enchantress gestured to the other Darksides, who all started to run off in separate directions. They were going to find a way out of here first. The woman made sure to keep 'Dozer' etertained. She taunted the boy, made fun of him, ruined his composure. 

"I already know that you won't tell me anything. Once I figure out exactly what I need to know- I can and will find out more about you. One way, or another. I don't believe you are who you say you are..." she leans down, getting eye to eye with the child, before smirking. "Two can play at the stubborn game."

Dozer smirked up to her, before moving back, the other Gingerbrave like duplicates doing the same thing. 

"I may just have a way to defeat you all yet. You darksides are all going soft. All of this for someone you don't know well, care about, and is an enemy. How pathetic is that?" the question rung out, as Dozer and the shaded duplicates started to sink into the darkness. "You will get tired of him, and give up. Don't be mad at me when all of your efforts have been wasted."

Dark Enchantress grit her teeth, before firing off a burst of magic at the retreating forms. 

Eventually, they were no where to be seen- or heard. It was clear that her magical burst did not hit the figures. However, with that being in mind, it would be better to escape this realm while they could. She turned, getting ready to walk away, before looking down to the mental projections of their prisoner. 

The woman took three steps away from him, feeling a pull in her mind- telling her that she couldn't leave yet. 

She hated these feelings. They were getting in the way of progress. 

With a scoff, she gathered why she couldn't leave with a clean conscious. 

"Damn this stupid feeling." she hissed in a hushed tone, before she held out her staff, and pointed it at the child. She might as well put him out of his misery... 

Pulling her arm back, she let her magic charge up again, and with a whisper of a spell, the ball of energy was caste toward the unaware, catatonic child. 

Gingerbrave was enveloped in a small beam of soft light, before it dispersed- revealing his body again- the burns that the shadows and that alleged 'brother' of his had marked him with were healing, slowly- but surely nontheless. 

There was also a light orb of light around him- lighting up the rather dull space that would be this child's mind. 

Even the Enchantress would say that this place was pretty bleak...

Testing out her work, the woman fired what would be considered a harmful beam of shock-magic at the bubble around the idle Gingerbrave- blisslessly unaware of everything that had been happening around himself. 

The negative attack bounced right off of the bubble and was projected off into the distance where a shout of protest was heard. 

"Aaaaaaa! My ass!" It was Licorice- of course. Dark Enchantress snickered a little bit under her breath, before shaking her head. "What was that about?!"

"I don't even have to hear you, but I know for a fact that you are were monologuing to yourself, weren't you?" she shouted, as she started to walk in that direction, somewhat... satisfied(?) that the protective bubble did it's job... for now.

There was silence from where Licorice's voice came from, before Pomegranate piped up, shouting from where she was. 

"He was monologuing about being the best cook- he even called himself 'The Grand Soup Master.'" Pomegranate shouted out, letting herself produce an audible snicker. 

"Sh-shut up!"

Dark Enchantress shook her head and snickered at the light-hearted bickering, before hearing Dark Choco calling from somewhere off in another direction. 

"Hey, I found a glowing doorway. I think this is where we are supposed to go!" he hoisted his sword into the air, casting the slightest bit of light there was to spare on the blade. 

With that, all of the Darksides were on their way- meeting with the armoured darksides, who had let down his arm, to rest it as soon as a couple of the others came into view. 

Red Velvet was the first to walk over to the woman, readying himself to ask about Gingerbrave- to which the woman put up her hand. 

"He is fine, for now. I wouldn't doddle, though. Get moving." she gestured to the doorway, to which the man let out a sigh and a nod. He head inside, following Poison Mushroom through the space, as they had walked in ahead of everyone else. 

All of the suboordinates walked in before their leader had, by her request. 

Turning around, the woman looked around, her gaze catching 'Dozer' and the multitudes of shadows that continued to stare menacingly at her from the darkness. Her posture became tense, and she scoffed. 

"Better make this quick..." she walked into the doorway, and closed it behind herself, before sealing it shut with her magic. 

Within miliseconds, she woke up, standing in front of the medical table where all of them were at when the twisted mental-escapade had started. 

She looked aroud, observing as the other Darksides woke up from what seemed to be a dreamlike state where their bodies physically stood. 

The Enchantress looks down to Gingerbrave's sleeping face, before pulling up a gloved had to rub the bridge of her nose. She couldn't tell if she was going mad, getting soft, or a mix of the two. Either way.. she didn't like it. 

"We have a lot of work to do... let's get started..."

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Legend says that if you are weird, that is a tell-tale sign that you are weird.))

- 

// Hello, Hello, I would like to make a couple announcements. First, I would like to thank Defuna and WittleWittling for amazing fanart that has been submitted, and linked! 

// I have permission from Defuna to use the fanart that they made for this fanfiction, and here is the link to the art on their DeviantArt Page! ------

-> www.deviantart.com/defuna/art/Fragments-cover-896950854

// I do NOT have certified permission from WittleWittling to display/link their art here. So, if you read this, go ahead and drop in the comments if you would like for me to display/share the link to your TikTok Vid of your beautiful art, WittleWittling. I would love to show more people your work, if you are comfortable with it.

-

It had been several days. 

The kingdom was amidst a full-out unrest. All of the kingdom-dwelling cookies were searching the forest, inside, and out. Trying to find any hyde or crumb of their lost child-friend.

Almond was pacing around in the office of the Police Department, still cursing at himself from time to time. He remembered what had happened- for the most part. Especially AFTER it had happened. That only angered him even more. It frustrated him, as well as confused him. 

He didn't know what to feel, but most of the emotions were wrapped up in cumbersome negativity. 

Walnut was trying to get him to take a break for a while now, and he hadn't, That only lead him to being more and more tired. 

Pacing around in the office that he had been occupying for a notable amount of time, he heard his phone going off on his desk. The old man let out a contemplative sigh, before giving in, and going to look at the screen. 

Displayed in bold, white letters, he could clearly see 'Herb' written over the calling number. 

He pulled some of his hair out of his face, before dragging his finger over the green button that pulsed with the ringtone. 

"Hello, Police Department. Detective Almond Speaking.." it was more or less habit, by this point. Being formal, introducing himself, and making sure to describe where it was that had been called and recieved.

There was silence on the other end of the line, which lead the older man to silence as he shook his head, looking back to the phone screen. 

"No. I haven't found anything yet." he stated into the mouth-piece. "That's what you were going to ask about... right Herb?" he questioned, before a sigh was heard from the other end of the line. The phone line was the slightest bit choppy, but sure enough, the plant-coddling man answered his question. 

"Yes..." there was a brief pause. "I can't help it... I feel so bad for what we all did, some of the things I said- I can't stop thinking about it." based on Herb's voice, there was a high chance that the man was either crouched down, watering something, or pacing around his home at a notable speed. 

Almond rubbed the bridge of his nose, between his eyes. before pulling a few strands of hair out of his face- as they were starting to annoy him. 

He did understand the feeling. 

He couldn't stop beatinng himself up over it, in all honesty. 

He was one of the last ones to even see Gingerbrave- and when he had gotten his emotions... HIMSELF back under control, hours after losing the boy when he had escaped the jail, he remembered that his wrist had crumbled, because of the escape from the room. 

"I am still looking, Herb. Get some sleep. You need it." he closed his eyes, exhaling before shaking his head, and closing his end of the coversation, so the green-haired man didn't have time to object to the forceful suggestion. 

Almond remembered very clearly what happened when he had snapped out of the fog that his mind. Just how did he get into that state? He felt like violence was just.. RIGHT. The ONLY answer. He felt heavy amounts of adamant predjudice against Gingerbrave, and he definitely acted on it. 

Then... it's like he woke up- not from a nightmare, or anything. It was more like... daydreaming. Being awake... and there... but somewhat in his own world, while knowing what was happening. 

Grabbing his coat from the nearby coat rack, the man lie it over his shoulders, before walking to the front of the building. 

He didn't know how many times he had done it, but he was going to go and search the forest again. It was too late to ask anyone else for any help. He also didn't want to disturb them. All of the other kingdom dwelling citizens were having problems getting their stuff together. Due to all of them collectively coming back to their normal senses aroud the same time...

Sorbet and Squid Ink were still actively avoiding coming back to the land for long periods of time, just in case something else happened. Avocado was still injured, and mostly rendered immobile- until Herb can help her out. 

Herb wasn't able to actually heal anyone completely, because of the emotional stress he was enduring at the moment, giving him concentration problems. Sparkling had fallen into long pits of silence, and hardly said much of anythig. 

Out al all of them, Sparkling probably felt the worst, seeing as he had freaked out at Gingerbrave before the more recent incident with the entire kingdom falling to the same kind of estranged spell or compellings. 

The old detective only managed to sigh, tempted to pull out a cigarette to pass the time as he looks around, but he decided agaisnt it. He was sure that he had been walking for a while now, but at this point, his sense of time was likely escaping him. 

"Gingerbrave! Are you still out here?!" he put his hands around his mouth, calling deep into the forest. 

All that returned to him, though, was the sound of rustling leaves, and wind wafting the branches of the nearby trees. Some birds trilled in their movement somewhere in the distance. The darkness was usually unwelcoming- as it had been forever...

This time, though, he started to travel the path to the left. 

Hopefully... he would be able to find something that could aid him in finding Gingerbrave. He still couldn't help but worry about what may have happened on the time since he ran off. What if he was hurt? Killed? Wild animals were usually not evil, or aggressive by nature around these parts, but there were always a few that were hungry. Willing to dig their claws into something weak, and available.

All of these troublesome thoughts bothered the man. If something did happen, he knew he would be partially at fault. 

He already lost sleep over that fact. Most of the kingdom friends had. 

-

Just as he was about to round a curved path, Almond peered over to the side, spotting a sign, and a clearing of yellowed grass, and wilted flowers... it was strange. It wasn't autumn yet, and everything around the area was still in full bloom. For now-

Advancing toward the area, the detective looks around, before spotting a crumbled structure in the distance. 

It looked like it may have been a... 

Something hit him. 

It looked like a pedestal... was this... the area that Gingerbrave was talking about that no one could find..?

Narrowing his eyes, the older man started to walk toward the space, spotting a bunch of arrows in the field. All tipped with pink-tinted arrowheads- much like that spike that Chili, Strawberry and Herb described seeing when they found Gingerbrave injured. 

If that was the case... then... 

Looking back up to the field, Almond stepped back a few paces, just in case something in that general area was still active. All he hoped was that no one and ntohing passed through there.. though he got the lingering feeling that this is exactly where Gingerbrave would have went after escaping. 

"Damn it..."

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//AAAAh! Stop! I coulda dropped my C R O I S S A N T!!//

-

Continuing to contemplate his options, the olden cookie made sure to consider what he was going to do. He needed a plan, and one that was solid. Based on the looks of the field that lie ahead, one wrong move, and he could easily become a jam-filled pin-cushion. 

Brainstorming really wasn't all that hard. The stress from whatever situation had prompted the brainstorming was always the issue. 

First, he needed to consider air censory systems. Then, he had to consider tripwires. Maybe he could do this a more simple way, without wasting even more time. Time was clearly not on their side, and the last thing he needed was to be sitting here, stuck, trying to concoct an elaborate plan for a venture that had 50/50 chance of ACTUALLY being perilous. 

With a couple more moments spent, the man looks around himself, deciding that, it would be worth the risk. He shouldn't abandon the area he had found, especially if he had found it somewhat by accident. He remembered that Gingerbrave seemed off-put and upset by the knowledge that the others hadn't even seen it when he was found injured a while back. 

The old man very briefly mourned his slightly aching back, and pushed his own needs aside. Then, peering around in the nearby trees and other foliage, he located a large, dense looking log. It was at least 6 feet long, and a foot across the diameter. 

If he grabbed the nearby sign, and used it to push the log in front of himself, he should be able to trigger any trip wires, and hopefully avoid being shot, if there were any still active. 

Before he did that, though, he needed to throw something heavy out into the field. He had a good arm, and censory systems were usually large, so if he threw something as mosdest as a hand-sized stone, it should trigger something.

Taking off his coat, and looking around on the ground, he located an object of interest, and nodded in brief, but non-lasting satisfaction. It was a jagged rock about half the size of his hand. 

Picking it up, guided his eyes around, spotting a few more that he could use that were of the same relative size. He also pulled them into his grasp, before walking back out o the edge of path, his focus still on the meadow-like field ahead. It certainly was quite the crime-scene. Taking in a deep breath, and leaning himself back, Almond separated one rock from the others, and quickly chucked it across the field. 

The rock flew over the grass, unhaulted, and undisturbed, until landing somewhere in the grass, close to the other side of the space. Which was quite the notable distance indeed. 

Nothing happened. There was no firing arrows, no other weapons- not splays of powers, or contained energy. The field itself was just all silence. 

This brought forth the smallest tinges of satisfaction in his mind, before he looks around in the other directions that the space had extended out to. With a sigh, he pulled his arm back again, and repeated the previous action at least four times, sending the rock in his hand flying across the way. 

Just like the first, nothing had happened. Everything was relatively undisturbed, and there was nothing to see. 

Confident in the lack of more advanced sensory systems, Almond popped his back, before walking over to the fallen log he had spotted and mentally marked not even a few minutes beforehand. He had to take in a deep breath, before bending over, and grabbing the fallen plant life and dragging it to where he needed it to be placed. 

With a heave, and what could count as a gasp of pain, from the sudden popping of something in his side, the man regained his composure, before looking back to the broken pedestal, and the many abandoned, fallen arrows within the collection of dying grass. 

He lines up the log in front of him horizantally, placing it at the very edge of the grass, before turning to walk over to the sign that had been one of the main mental landmark Gingerbrave had when that pink spike had went through his leg. 

With strained effort, Almond broke the sign from where it rested, and carried it to where he intended to work, and- finally, he started roll the log in front of him forward. 

The sign he held, to roll the log at a distance, kept him away from the actual means of safeguard by about... maybe three feet. 

All of this effort, just to move around out here, it seemed ridiculous. However, if he could trigger tripwires, and be a notable distance away from them, he would have a better chance of not being injured. Him being hurt out here, when no one knows where he is at the moment, would be terrible way for this day to go. 

The last thing ANY of the others needed was the stress of TWO of the residents missing. 

-

A strained 15 minutes passed, and the man had not encountered any tripwires. All of that heavy lifiting felt as though it wasn't worth it, but he reminded himself what would be at stake if he were to encounter an accident that could have happened without the log there for safety. 

He really wished he would have brought his bullet proof vest... he needed to start wearing that again. Even if it did stunt his movement a bit...

After stopping for a moment, the man leans over the log, trying to catch his breath as his back was continuing to ache from being arched over. Just as he leans forward, though, something caught his eye.

There, on the ground, sputtered within the grass, there was splatterings of jam that had fallen to the ground. 

Shaking his head, trying to confirm what he had seen, the man opened his eyes again, hoping his eyes were playing tricks on him. 

However, they weren't. 

He continued to look ahead of himself, even past the log, and up ahead, there was even more jam sputtered over the ground, on the flowers, and stones. 

Rather than feeling like he had made progress anymore the olden detective started to feel dread. Just what had happened here? 

He sucked up his pain, and rushed to push the log forward faster, before looking up after crashing into the base of the pedestal that lie in shambles on the fine rock that it rested. He didn't need to look over the large chunks of stone that had fallen all over the platform the object rested upon. 

This was only because, right in front of him- there were several large pools of dried blood that covered the ground below them. 

((To be Contiued))

Chapter Text

//**Crashing noise** Oh no.... our author... they're broken!//

-

The blood had clearly been there a long while before he even got there. More than a day, easily. However, there was no sign of Gingerbrave anywhere in sight- not a hyde nor hair of him has been found as clues. 

The man would hate to imagine something bad happened... but... what should he think. 

Feeling his stomach turning, he closed his eyes, and shut down his negative thoughts, before doing his best to swap over to his more detective-like mentality. He would need it, especially if he wanted to figure out what had happened. He had to walk back across the field to retrieve one of his more important tools. 

Picking his jacket back up from where he had abandoned it a while ago, to traverse the field in the first place, he sought out a specific tool that he almost always had on him. 

His stenograph and a blue pen. 

After clearing his mind, the man jogged back over to the crime scene, before starting to write stuff down. He made sure to note important things he saw, including the blood, the pedestal, ad arrows that lie embedded in the ground, or in the trees at the line of which they were fired. 

Normally, it would be in his best interest not to disturb a crime scene, unless there were other workers there with him. However, he was trained in all fields, because he was the only officer the Kingdom had. So, it would be alright. 

He started to try constructing a scene in his mind, which was hard to do, seeing as he still had no idea what kind of condition Gingerbrave would have been in by the time he even got there. With the amount of arrows fired through, it seemed that they were set to rapid fire. 

It was surprising that there were not more substantial amounts of blood found within the grass on the way up to the stone platform.

Perhaps the boy had made it through most of the field before he even got up there to the platform of which the pedestal stood. Maybe he got hit early on, and more movement caused more serious bleeding where it would have only been a moderate injury otherwise.

Two hours passed. 

Strained hours of surveying, and making sure not to disturb the scene, to the best of his ability. Writing down everything he found. Frankly.. he didn't find much. In fact, he found very little. He had really just spent so much time there, because he was nearly desperate to find more leads. 

With nothing more than the information he had armed himself with, his coat, and his worry, the olden detective started to make his way back to the kingdom. It felt as though it was taking longer and longer to get there. 

Every path he stepped on, despite familiarity, felt as though it winded on longer than it needed to. Like it extended, somehow. Everything within time crept to a crawl, producing nothing more than headaches, and doubt. 

An unknown amount of time passed since then too... and, with a tilt of his head, the aged man saw the gates of the Kingdom, and the bridge he needed to cross to get in there. 

Surely, he would need to gather everyone together at a better hour, and hold conderence with them. Meaning, it was likely that he was going to need to talk to Princess Cookie first, so she could situate a better meeting place, and time, rather than straight out of the blue. 

Almond doubts he was going to have much more information than he had now... 

No matter the case, he needed to prepare. He couldn't afford to waste much more time than had already been burned. 

Spotting Knight cookie standing right by the gate of the kingdom, Almond took his chance to walk up to the man. "Knight cookie. I require your assistance." he curtly stated, before letting out a deep sigh. "It is important." 

The man looked over to the older detectice, immidately taking notice that the situation was either going to be serious, or dire. Hopefully the less negative of the two...

"What can I help you with, detective?" Knight cookie asked, before adjusting his helmet, and shifting his stance from one foot to another. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, he always had. However, he started to drum his fingers a bit, a sign of slight anticipation. 

"I need you to relay a message to Princess Cookie for me, if it is not of inconvenience. We need to set up a kingdom meeting, because there is some very important information I need to share regarding Gingerbrave... can you do that?" 

Almond closed his stenograph, before storing the small hand-sized notebook back on the inside of his jacket. 

For a brief moment, Knight cookie seemed to be a bit hopeful. There was slight interest in his eyes as he perked up. 

"You found him..!" looking around, Knight settled down a bit, before shaking his head. He already knew he had not seen the child there when Almond was approaching. If Almond had found him, there was no way that he would be returning alone, unless it was very serious. "Nevermind... sorry..."

Almond only held up his hand to keep the other a bit more quiet. 

"I will keep it short... I haven't found him. The only thing I foud was a bunch of blood in an area that he had mentioned to us before- but we were unable to find. I don't even know if it is his. I am only assuming it is. Even so... the place is a crime scene, and the others need to know that there is an ample chance that he... may or may not be alive." the olden man adjusted the collar of his coat one more time before fixing his tie. 

Knight cookie looked a little defeated at the very idea of the child either being dead, or still missing with no idea WHERE he could be. 

"I will let the princess know right away." 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

// Somebody Once Told Me, 'Hands Off My Macaroni'-  Milwaukee Pasta Bandit
Found Dead~  He Was Picking Up the Gun, With His Finger
And His Thumb, Raised It Up- Pointed Straight to His Forehead, **Deep Inhale** WELL- //

-

Waking up in a cell, Gingerbrave rubbed his head as he sat up, his vision blurry, and his pounding in pain. Some spots on his arms felt itchy, and he couldn't help but lightly scratch at them.

The room was darker, but not completely devoid of light. A couple lamp-lights glowed off to the corner of the room, letting out a soft orange-red hue. 

"So, you're finally awake..." a voice emerged from one of the darker corners of the immediate area. The voice was calm, and feminine. Grumpy, of course. Though, that was beside the point. It sounded olden, and a little croaky, but otherwise normal. 

There was only one person that would be. 

Guiding his vision in the direction he had heard the voice from- Gingerbrave's slightly tired eyes focused on a spot, before seeing the reddened eyes of the purple-skinned woman. He said nothing, but he knew she saw him look directly at her. Her eyes narrowing confirmed that within him. 

She sat on a chair, with her arms crossed over each other, one leg over the other as it lightly swayed with her prompts. Likely something she had started doing out of boredom, sometime before he woke up. 

The child dared not to speak. 

"You know, for someoene who is supposed to be our prisoner, you have managed to cause a lot of trouble, and you haven't even attempted escape to do so. Impressive, and inconvenient. I can tell you that much." By this point, the leader of The Darksides was now standing, looking down to Gingerbrave as she raised a brow, a look of concentration crossing her face. 

Gingerbrave continued to look up at the woman. Keeping his mouth shut, he listened to what she had to say. 

"You know, that thing lingering in your mind really is annoying. More annoying than you, somehow. You should either be relieved, or defeated with that information. Because I finally met something that I hate more than you. Either way... since you have no where to go- I dabbled into exploring that presence lingering around you." the woman folded her hands over her lap, before making her way to the front of the cell where the child sat on the ground. 

Gingerbrave had a look of clear worry, and slight panic written across his features. He tried to maintain eye contact, but that only made him more apprehensive. The child looked down after a minute or two, unable to look her in her eyes again. 

"Ah. So you are well aware of that thing. Aren't you?" the olden woman questioned before shaking her head. "You would have kept it under lock and key, I am sure. You hero types can't rely on anyone for anything, can you? It's part of what makes you 'heroes' annoying." Dark Enchantress shook her head. "Perhaps it is to protect your ego."

Pressing his buttons intentionally. 

That's what she was doing. 

The Dark Enchantress looks down to the child, who just turned his gaze more toward the floor. With a small wave of her finger, she activated a bit of magic, which would have persuaded the child to talk. 

Despite his silence, Gingerbrave felt himself wanting to speak. 

He couldn't explain the sudden feeling. However, he desperately wanted to tell her she was wrong. Tell her that she was making all of these bold assumptions about him.

He wasn't even sure of himself. Was he selfish? Greedy? Was he terrible for not wanting others to know about his problems? 

On top of a new root of growing frustration, he was becoming saddened, and confused. 

"I don't have an ego to protect." Gingerbrave started to protect, before bringing his knees to his chest. He just looked to the ground, and tried to stop what he was saying. 

"Sure you do. Why else act like you have no fear? No problems? Why act like you don't need help, when you clearly do?" the woman prompted again. She tried to make her voice sound as judgemental as possible, but the last little bits of words were a mix of genuinely curious, and maybe even confused. 

Gingerbrave felt frustration growing in his chest. He shook his head, and pulled his hands and arms up to cover his noggin, trying to block out the insulting words. 

"No, I do not." He grit his teeth, and grunted. "I don't need to protect myself. I don't need others to worry about me." he went silent again, feeling more pressure building up in his chest. It was making his breath hitch from his boiling, constantly shifting emotions. 

Angry. Confused. Hurt. Doubtful. Loathesome. 

All of these things he felt toward himself, and about himself, those were the things hurting him the most, and he wanted to blame her. 

He wanted to blame anyone, as long as he didn't have to admit that he was refusing to help himself. 

"Are they not good enough to worry about you?" the woman asked, before walking directly in front of him, forcing a grin onto her face, despite her lack of amusement at this situation. "Are you such a big, independent man that the others are irrelivant to everything you do?" she tapped on the bars. "Are you such a big shot that you would be more than willing to lie to those around you to get all the credit for your adventures and troubles?"

Gingerbrave had enough. 

Snapping his head to her, with an unusual, angry expression- and obvious amounts of stress just pooling off of him- the child stood up, and made a quick step to the bars, which separated her from him. 

He teared up more, before slamming his fists into the bars, and starting to shout, tears pouring down his face. The lingering magic amplified these emotions. 

Something the Enchantres didn't intend to do.

She was a bit surprised at the prisoners sudden movement, and his expression up to her made her back up. She continued to observe, her expression not faultering much. 

She may have accidentally pushed too hard, but she couldn't make it obvious. 

The child started to shout out his thoughts, and feelings. His reasons. 

"Stop it! Stop assuming that! I don't give a crap about myself! I don't tell others I have problems, because MY problems don't matter! I am NOTHING! I am NOTHING without them, and THEY come first!" 

Gingerbrave started to bang his fist on the bar again, shouting even louder. 

"I am a waste of space, and the only reason I have a purpose is because they believe in me! They NEED me, or WANT me around! I can't be around them, and be USELESS! I can't afford to be a FAILURE again! I can't afford to NOT BE THERE! I can't fucking afford to NEED help, when others need ME!" 

The child slammed both of his fists in the bar this time, the air around him was getting tense. 

Everything felt heavy emotionally. Even Dark Enchantress could feel just how hard it was to breathe, or move, or think with such thoughts. 

She almost wanted to just go sit in her study, and not move. 

By this point, the child was breaking down into tears, before starting to cough from all of the shouting, and now light sobbing he was doing. He lost any energy he had, before starting to sob more. 

Eventually, he dropped to his knees, and just turned his back to her, resting his back and head against the cell bars. 

"I don't need help, because I don't deserve it... I don't deserve all the amazing things I have. I have never done anything worthy of being called a good friend. A hero." he leans his head forward, bringing his knees to his chest. "I don't even want to be called a hero. I don't deserve such a title. My life is so short, but I have done nothing by make mistakes... let people down... let others die." 

He started to laugh a bit, before briging his hands to his head. 

"If I could just.. disappear. If I could VANISH and know that I woudn't be effecting anyone- I would. But I don't have it that easy. Because if I did disappear- I would only inconvenience others more. That would only make me selfish- on top of being a disappointment."

From that point on... both of them just stayed where they were in silence. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

// So, no head? **Slams phone into pavement, before decompressing the welfare of a skateboard..** //

-

Licorice was sitting in the near room, reading over one of the small pocket books he kept with himself from time to time. The words in it were written in a strange language he seemed to understand, but he refused to translate it for anyone else's usage. 

The black haired man had been the only one who lingered nearby- seeing as he was tasked with keeping an eye on him again. Until Red Velvet got back, at least. The hound friend was going to be out on some sort of patrol, as he almost always was.

He had overheard the conversation, and frankly, he knew how that felt most of the time. However, being the career path he chose, if it could so be called that, he had no room to express himself. There were other things they needed to do. More important things that needed to be accomplished. 

He would never share his own feelings, and when he 'did' it was a form of hiding. 

Despite these thoughts running through his head, the man was still surprised that a child this young had such a mindset. He wasn't even a teen yet, as far as he knew. However, he could be wrong. 

Maybe he was told the child's age at one point, and simply forgot it, because he didn't deem it important to remember. 

This lead the darkside to be thoughtful, reflecting back on what bit of information they had all gotten from their enemies clearly troubled mind. 

It seemed that Dark Enchantress was becoming more and mroe invested in Gingerbrave's plight. It wasn't the typical sort of investment that contributed toward blackmail, either. Which was most likely the strangest thing about this whole incident. 

The old, purple-skinned woman actually looked interested. Involved. 

Dare he say, it somewhat looked like she cared about the result, despite all of their past problems with the kid when he was playing his typical opposing role. 

Licorice remembered when he had encountered Gingerbrave before... sort of. It seemed their first meeting had also partially escaped him, somehow. Though, he could think back and remember the child calling his robes 'Old Rags'. Boy did Licorice remember being offended by that statement.

With a grunt, the man shook his head as he felt a small headache starting to form. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. 

After some moments of silence, he heard The Dark Enchantress start to speak from the cell she stood in front of. Her voice was low, and calm.

"For a child, your thoughts sure are a lot darker than they should be." the woman noted, before crossing her hands over the front of her legs, tapping her fingers together in a thoughtful manner. "Either way it goes, I have managed to surpress that presence that keeps plaguing you. It won't last long, I am sure." 

Gingerbrave settled down, wiping at his eyes, before looking up to the woman. 

"Why...?" the question seemed a bit hesitant. Certainly apprehensive. 

"Why, you ask?" she leans forward, her face getting darker as she started to the boy. "Because I don't want to have to deal with messes back and forth just to keep you here. That's why. You caused enough trouble when you weren't even conscious." 

The blue eyed child looked up and into her eyes before seeming to process the information, and let out a small sigh, likely in annoyance at himself. The stare he gave her was a silent message for her to continue talking. It's not like he was able to go anywhere anyways.

"I honestly don't know how you intended to hide it. One of my followers walks into a room, and finds you dazed in a pool of your own blood. Turns out whatever happened was contagious enough to effect him." she brought one of her hands to her face, before tapping a finger across her chin. "Static, and screaming."

With that information, the boy tensed. 

"Ah, so that was what happened to you. It wasn't just a side effect on him." the woman grunted, before pulling up one of her gloves, which was beginning to wrinkle up on her arm. "Regardless, we don't need that happening again. Don't consider this charity, either. I am only helping you, so you stop causing so much trouble."

After that statement, the child looked up at her, a defeated expression crossing his face. 

"If you don't want to be bothered with me, then why not just knock me out, and drop me off in the middle of the forest?" his voice was tired. It was clear he was still exhausted. 

The woman was silent, before huffing, and standing back up at her full height. 

"It is bold of you to assume that I would let you live if I decided not to keep you here." she rolled her eyes, before shaking her head a bit. "Or are you just overly hopeful that I wouldn't?" 

Gingerbrave locked eyes with the leader of the Darkside group, before leaning his body forward, resting his chin on his knees. He contemplated his next words, before breaking eye contact with the woman, and looking off to his left. There was another brief pause, before he actually said anything. 

"I am not sure you wouldn't kill me... but... I am confident that you wouldn't. After all, you have had many opportunities to kill me in the past, and... you haven't." he looked right back up her, but still avoided eye contact. "I believe, that if you REALLY wanted me dead... you would have found a way to make that happen a long time ago." 

The Dark Enchantress was at a loss for words. She didn't say anything to either confirm, or deny what the child had just stated to her. She just stopped talking for a few moments. 

"I will be taking my leave. Don't cause trouble for anyone sent in to watch you, or I might not be as charitable." the woman muttered, before turning, and going to walk in the direction of the staircase. 

Gingerbrave contemplated not saying anything to her, but he couldn't help it. 

"For whatever it is worth, whether or not it matter to you- or not- thank you for helping me. For now." 

With that, the exhausted child crawled across the cell floor, and curled up on the mattress. He didn't bother grabbing the blanket, he was far too tired for that. Instead, he just pulled his arms into his shirt, and wrapped them around his body, choosing to ignore his feet. 

Just as he was closing his eyes, feeling himself passing out again- he felt less cold. He could feel the blanket being placed over him, though he didn't know how it happened. He was far too tired to question it. 

However... he felt safe enough to sleep, for the first time in ages. No scary thoughts, or memories. Just- sleep. 

Within seconds, his world turns dark, and he is pulled into the pleasant, non-threatening void of sleep.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

// I call this next dance move- .``~*Vehicular Manslaughter*~``. //

-

Dark Enchantress walked past Licorice, letting her magic slowly die down back into her hand, before shaking her head, not completely knowing why she bothered covering the child in the cell. It only frustrated the woman, causing her to grunt, roll her eyes, and dismiss the action. 

"Keep an eye on him, until Velvet gets back." 

After the brief instructions, she walks up the staircase. and turns the corner, walking in the direction of the room that could be considered her own personal study. Or office. 

In turn, the black haired man stood up, walking into the room where the boy was being contained. It would likely be a while, before Gingberbrave woke up, so he just sat on the floor, one of his small, estranged Licorice Minions following him all the way there. 

Of course, the amber eyed man made sure to keep his eyes off to the side, entertaining one of the small Licorice Minions that was nearby. 

As he was eavesdropping a little while ago, he still had the thoughts fresh in his mind of what their prisoner, and his leader were talking about. He wondered just how bad it would have been for a child to be in such a state of mind. Though he tried to brush it off as him getting soft, or not being in his right mind, it didn't seem to quiet these troubling notions down in his head. 

That child that was with Gingerbrave in his mind. Just what kind of tie did he have? Didn't that little... freak... say something about being 'Brothers' or something along those lines? Just how were they related though? Was this cookie baked in relation to GIngerbrave? Same cookie sheet, maybe?

It all made Licorice's head hurt. He hated that he had to think about this shit, but he couldn't blame the kid that lie under the blanket a mere two yards away. 

The other similar cookies to the child... it was strange. 

Now that Licorice thought about it, even when he was baked, he didn't remember having so many cookies that looked like him. Maybe one or two, but he definitely lost track of them soon after he went out into the world. That was a long time before he had encountered Dark Enchantress, of course. 

In comparison to what he was working with Dark Enchantress for, he and many other cookies he knew were released into the world, willingly. 

He used to Repsect the witches... until Dark Enchantress revealed the truth to him, much, much later. 

Flopping his head back against the wall very lightly, the man tried to think about something else. ANYTHING else- because all of this theorizing wasn't going to do him any good. He wasn't going to talk to Gingerbrave about it, either, beacuse for all he knew, it would trigger something else unpleasant that they would all need to deal with. 

Nearby, the child seemed to shift in his sleep, breathing in and out lightly as he seemed mostly at ease. 

Laying his head in a more comfortable position against the wall, Licorice felt something hit his lap, before looking down and seeing Chiffon leaning his muzzle over his leg. 

Normally, Licorice would have tried to shoo the dog away. He was not a hound person, but he didn't hate them. He often acted like he did, though- just because he didn't want anyone else seeing him acting like a fool with the baby-voice thing he did from time to time. 

Chiffon whined a little bit, but it seemed the hound was also at ease, wagging his tail a bit. 

"Don't get too used to this... you know I won't do this a lot." Licorice said to the hound, before bringing up one of his hands, and petting the hound on the head, right between his ears. "Don't tell anyone, either, got it?" he chuckled. 

Chiffon, in response, licked the man's hand, and wagged his tail the slightest bit harder. The dog soon calmed himself, though, making sure not to press too many of Licorice cookie's buttons. 

Licorice closed his eyes, before thinking back to how he was in the past, and hell, even how he was now. There were not too many differences, he was mainly just more ambitious, and less ... nervously excentric? He didn't know how to word it. 

Tapping his unoccupied hand on his free knee, the man continued to ponder on his common thoughts. Self depreciating, and often masked as jokes. He used to make such comments freely thinking that no one around him would really care about what he thought of himself. He easily called himself an idiot, and a dumbass. Talentless, too. 

He even recalled one time he had freely said that 'If I go in there first, and something goes wrong, it won't be too much of a loss anyhow. After all, if I die, there won't be much of a difference. I don't do much.' He laughed at his own comment, at first, all that time ago. 

However, the others didn't like what he had said. 

Dark Enchantress made sure that Licorice was WITH someone when they went into the location they were headed, and Pomegranate scolded him for saying such things about himself. 

Of course, being who she is, Pomegranate did agree that he was an idiot. In spire of that, she made it clear that she cared... sort of. More than likely a little more or less than Licorice would openly give her credit for. It really was a moving day for him, back then. It made him realize a few things... 

Of course- it would never stop the thoughts that often plague his mind. Perhaps, maybe nothing ever would. 

Those subtle, and dare he say- awkward- interactions gave him more of a sense of identity. More of a sense of presence. It made him feel like more than nothing. 

He hadn't thought about those emotions this hard until now. 

All because of this damned kid, and troubles that clearly underline everything he does. 

Had he really cared enough to, Licorice could have drawn these similarities a long time ago, if he tried. 

The Darksides have faced the Kingdom Dwelling Citizens before. They knew how a lot of them worked, and it lead to several advantages, and leads in confrontations that they all have had. Battles, Verbal Exchanges, and merely crossing paths. 

Licorice figured he understood just why Gingerbrave was always in the front of the other cookies in battle. He knew the kid had no special powers. Sure, he was strong, that was undenyable. He was resourceful too, and smart. 

Those weren't the reasons Gingerbrave always carried the front lines of the Kingdom Dwellers though. 

Licorice just knew it. 

The real reason that this kid would always be in front of everyone else... was because of the same thing that Licorice used to think, say and do. 

He viewed himself as a means to and end. He was ecpendable. He was the dummy that tested out the waters, so all of the important players could succeed. 

The black haired , dark-magic user laughed under his breath, and shook his head a little more, before letting out a prolonged sigh. 

"You aren't even awake, and you are giving me a headache, kid.... haha..." 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

// Hit or miss? I guess they never miss, huh? Got a girlfriend, I bet she doesn't kiss ya- **Intense booing from the crowd** //

-

Almond Cookie was pacing around in a large dining hall that rested somewhere toward the center of the kingdom. He had been there for a long while, looking over his stenograph, attempting to figure out a way to talk to everyone else. In relativity, it would seem simple. 

Though, if anyone were in his position, they could likely better understand his ailments. It was much like taving to tell the family of a murder victim that their kid, or mother, or sibling had died. He was used to the way investigations like this worked. However, that never made it any easier. This only caused the older man to lean on one of the supporting pillars that decorated the room. He was tired, and sore, but he wouldn't be getting rest for a long while. He knew that much. 

Knight Cookie and Princess Cookie made the announcement that they would be bringing the cookies of the kingdom to the dining hall at around 7:00 pm, a couple hours before it would get dark, that way they all could find their way home easier after it was over. 

With a sigh, Almond set his stenograph down on the nearby counter ledge, which could pass as a bar counter. He leans into it right after, feeling drained. He could feel slight bags forming under his eyes, though he was positive that he was simply more tired, due to the stress. 

Just as he felt himself slightly nodding off, he jolted back to the world of the aware, and leans back forward, deciding that keeping his back a bit sore might be a better option, as it could help him stay awake. 

Luckily, not too long after that, the other cookies were starting to file in, talking to each other amidst the tense energy in the room. It was nearlly calming, yet static at the same time. Almond caught himself looking to the door several times- sort of out of habit. 

When Kingdom Meetings, or other events were hosted, the child would nearly always keep himself near the door, with the intention of greeting everyone who was coming to the event. 

Taking in some air, and exhaling, Almond walked to the center of the spacious room, readying himself to make the brief speech. Princess Cookie looked over to Knight Cookie, who had not cheered up since the news that he had gotten earlier. Herb and Sparkling were with Vampire cookie- Alchemist Cookie talking with them briefly. 

Sparkling, in particular, looked troubled. He constantly looked around, and seemed to be hoping or wishing to see something, or someone. 

Of course, within an understandble stent of time,  the room was filled, and all of the clamouring cookies had come to a silence, Knight Cookie first getting their attention with a loud shout to the crowd. 

"Alright, I am sure many of you are confused as to why we are all here. I assure you that your time is not being wasted. Amond has some things to share with us! Almond, can you please come up and tell the others what was going on? It do believe you have quite a few things you want to get out before everyone leaves here tonight."

Almond nodded to Knight Cookie, making his way to where the light shown into the room from one of the many large windows. He thinks to himself about what he was going to say when he did get up there. He needed to be sure he didn't waste much time. 

"In regards to the news you are all likely looking for, I would first prefer to make it clear that this is mostly unpleasant news. I might as well get that out now." immediately, the early elder man saw a lot of faces in the crowd drop from slightly hopeful to downright defeated. 

Avocado Cookie shifted uncomfortably on her leg, holding one of her crutches as she kept herself from sitting down. She was clearly worried, and on top of that, she was very much frustrated. She would be out there doing more, but the others were on top of her to keep her from moving too much. Otherwise, she very well would only mess up her leg even more. 

Angel and Devil were both in a different corner, talking to each other. It was a little surprising, but it seemed they were getting along enough. They certainly didn't seem to in public any other time. 

"To put it simply, I do not know where Gingerbrave is, as of right now. I went to go and look around in the forest, and I found something rather troubling." The Olden Detective pulled out his stenograph, before adjusting his necktie again, remembering the scene he had come across just before he came back to the kingdom to relay the information. 

The crowd of worried cookies all looked to him expectantly. 

"When I went out into the forest, I found the field that he had brought up with Sparkling, Herb, and a few more of us. However, at the time, none of us could find it when he was brought back to the kingdom after being mysteriously injured." 

Herb raised his hand, and looked to the detective, that way he wasn't interrupting what the older man was saying. 

Spotting the hand in the crowd, Almond nodded over to Herb, giving him permission to speak. 

The leaf haired man brought his succulent plant closer to himself, before pondering for a few seconds. "Was the field in the same directions that Chili, Strawberry and I described when we found him injured sometime back? If it was, how is there a field there, when there wasn't when we first found him?"

Almond Cookie brought his hand through his hair, knowing well that Herb had asked a very understandable question. The only problem was that he, himself, didn't have a good answer for it, as it seemed that every piece of information he had gotten was mysterrious, ominous, or or mobid. Maybe all three. 

"It is in the same direction that you guys described, Herb. I don't know how anyone might have missed it the first time, but it is definitely there now. Other than that, any other news I have on it will be even worse from this point forward." the detective's jaw tightened, before he shook his head. 

Chili Pepper looked up to him, tapping her fingers on the handle of the blade that rested in their belt. She looked perturbed, and tried to think on any possible ideas but she was admittedly not too much of a thinker in situations. She was the active person that would likely jump forward after formulating a plan that would help her not get kiilled or injured, depending on the situation. Nothing more.

Almond was trying to talk around the evidence he found, and he disliked that he was doing it. After clearing his mind, the man coughed a bit, to clear his throat. It was now or never. 

"Anyways, the news I have is unpleasant. I have not found Gingerbrave, but I found the field. It looks like a warzone there, and I found blood. I won't know for certain that it is his- but I am nearly positive it could be. I also found the pedestal that he mentioned to us, from after the time he got injured, and told us about it in the Hospital."

Sparkling and Herb started to whisper to each other, Vampire walking over to join them with a drowsy, but still concerned look of his own, before he too- started to talk. Maybe browsing ideas with them. Who knew. 

Almond cleared his throat as soon as chatter got too loud, getting the attention of all the clamouring cookies in the crowd. 

"I still need to examine the scene. However, I need my tools, before I head out. As of now, Gingerbrave will be considered a missing persosns case, until otherwise proven to be alright, or..." Almond stopped, seeing Strawberry cookie seeming to get nervous, Wizard keeping his somewhat unphased expression- though he was also unnerved. "Let's not explore those other ideas yet. To put it simple- I will need all of your help. If he is missing, we don't know what condition he is in." 

Princess Cookie stepped forward, Knight Cookie following right behind her. The pink haired woman nodded, before taking in a breath, and raising her sceptre into the air. 

"What Almond has told is is a little vague, but what we all do know is that Gingerbrave is missing, and we don't know IF he is in danger. All things considered, I say we all form groups, get some rest, and then start to persue looking for him after we all get some sleep, so we have daylight, and rest on our side. Time waits for no cookie!" she tapped the long sceptre on the ground, before nodding to Knight Cookie. "Let's say we find our friend, and bring him back home!" 

The group of cookies all start to let out loud calls of approval, before many of them started to get into groups, anywhere from 4-6. Even cookies that didn't seem to care for the child too much agreed to join in, talking to each other. 

With a deep sigh, Almond stood back up, before turning to the door, and walking in it's direction. He didn't have time to waste. He needed to reexamine the crime scene, after he got all the proper materials. 

Just before he could get there, the man felt a hand on his shoulder, before looking over and seeing Herb, Sparkling, and Vampire, Alchemist cookie standing right alongside them. 

Sparkling still carried an intense look of guilt with him, but he looked more determined now. 

Knowing well what the group of four behind him intended on asking, the detective tiredly nodded, before turning back around, and beginning to walk again, the other four following right behind him. 

They all would have a long night of preparation ahead of them, after all. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

"La-la la-la ; La-la la-la- Elmo's wor- Hello Darkness my old friend"

-

Half an hour. 

The older man was followed by the four volunteer companions, who trailed long, keeping themselves close as a means to make sure not to lose track of him. They packed along a few bags as well, some things that Almond said he wanted to use on the crime scene. That way he could hopefully get more evidence or clues as to who or what could have caused so much damage. 

For the most part, the walk was quiet.

While they were walking, though, Herb took notice of the somewhat far-off expression Sparkling still held. He seemed to be latching on to some kind of guilt, and wouldn't say what it was, even over the last few days. 

This expression seemed to become the new norm for him, really. It was disheartening. 

"Sparkling, what is the matter? You have been silent, and avoiding eye contact..." Herb made a firm glance with Sparkling, who only shook his head, and looked in the opposing direction. However, despite being one of the most respectful of boundaries, the blant haired man wasn't going to let it rest. 

Alchemist Cookie kept her mouth shut, as did Vampire. Vampired started to walk ahead a bit more, and the younger, braided girl took the hint, and moved forward, right alongside him. 

She was somewhat surprised to see him as non-tipsey as he was. Though, she wasn't complaining, on that same note. 

"Sparkling, you can't just keep it all in forever. You are frustrated, and that is only going to affect how everyone interacts with each other. Especially if we end up needing your help. Please tell me. I am your friend- right?" the brown eyed plant enthusiast looked bck forward at the ground, upon being greeted with even more silence from Sparkling. 

He was about to make his move to walk forward, and get closer to Vampire and Alchemist, before the blonde haired man started to speak. 

"I still feel really, really bad about what I said to him a while back... that's the main thing that is bugging me." the blinde haired bartender admitted. "I didn't mean it. I don't know what came over me that evening." he brought up his fingers, and pinched between his brows as he furrowed them together. 

Herb took a moment to process what the other had said, before sighing, and nodding to the statement. 

He seemed to somewhat understand, at least. Though it wasn't likely that he completely understood where Sparkling was coming from. 

"I remember. I take it the main reason you feel so bad about ti now, is because you never managed to get yourself to say sorry soon after it happened, did you?" Herb brought his hands up to the sash of his apron, before looping his thumbs through the straps, and resting his hands on his hips. 

The blonde attendant of the people took in another stiff breath, before exhaling, and shaking his own head. It seemed to be a bit of a gesture of defeat. 

"No. I didn't. I'm still confused about what happened in the first place. I mean-!" Sparkling brought his hands out to the front of him, before starting to make a few frustrated gestures as he spoke with Herb. He didn't raise his voice much, but it was clear he wanted to yell- likely so he could release some pent up emotions. "I mean-! I even admire the kid.. I have never had those thoughts in my head before...!" 

Herb watched as Sparkling continued to make frustrated gestures with his arms. He didn't mind it, of course. Sparkling likely did it, because he was so used to shaking his beverages at the bar. He practically spoke with his hands, if they were not occupied with something. 

After some more frustrated speech, mainly the blonde talking in circles, and frustrating himself more than be was before- Herb stopped him by gently placing his hand on the other's shoulder. 

"Sparkling. You're starting to get yourself upset again. Please take a breath, and calm down." 

The bartender looked up into the soft brown eyes of the plant loving man, before taking a strained breath, and nodding in compliance. 

"Yeah.. I-... I'm sorry." he wiped at his nose, before adjusting the bow on his shirt out of stress. A couple minutes passed in tense silence. Nobody speaking to each other, as Almond continued to lead the way to the crime-scene; assuming he was going in the right direction. 

Vampire and Alchemist cookie were just looking at each other from time to time, making sure that they didn't intervene in the conversation. 

Sparkling regained his already teetering composure before putting his hands into his pockets, as a means to fiddle with his fingers, without being too disruptive. He then began to speak again, closing his eyes. 

"I never thought anything of Gingerbrave before. If anything, the only thing I feel for the kid is some admiration. He is 12, Herb. He goes out on all of these dangerous missions with us- all the time. He doesn't even let his friends come out with us that much." 

The green haired man knew well that it was true. Wizard, and Strawberry often tried to come on dangerous missions, as Gingerbrave was going- but the white haired child usually asked other things from them, especially if he seemed to think it was risky. 

All of them knew well why Gingerbrave was that way. 

Gingerbrave was always on the front lines. He always made sure that he was there, and ready to protect anyone that went out to go on some kind of battle. Anyway, and anywhere, he would also be putting himself between danger, and the rest of the team. 

Sparkling looked to the side. "I haven't even talked to him about that incident from about 2 months ago... don't you remember it?" the bartender looked down to the plant loving man. Herb didn't need time to remember. He knew exactly what Sparkling was talking about. He had to agree... to some extent. 

"Sparkling... I know you are worried for him. We all are. I also know you feel bad about what you said, and you constantly feel bad about it, no matter what you do. You didn't want to try to talk to him right away, because you felt as if you crossed a line that is almost impossible to cross with him. To answer your question though- yes. I do remember the incident you are talking about." 

Her sighs, before shaking his head, and thinking about the incident on it's own, outside of his current conversation. 

Gingerbrave was a Brave child. That was his default. That is what he was known for. He ran headfirst into danger, with no sense of self-preservation. That scared almost everyone who was old enough to recognize it. 

Sparkling closed his eyes, and thought back tot he recent past. He remembered one of the missions he went on with the others. Specifically, on their way back home- they were ambushed by a group of mysterious cookies.

Sparkling remembered being taken down fast, during that fight with their strange enemies. However, the real one taking the brunt of the damage was Gingerbrave. He was leading the front, as he always did. 

Gingerbrave had saved him from being stabbed in the chest. During the fight, though, Gingerbrave was knocked down, and the enemy held up the boy's weapon of choice- the red and white candycane. Within seconds, the candycane was embedded into the ground- mere inches away from Gingerbrave's hand- which only happened, because the boy managed to move in the knick of time. 

He nearly died. 

Sparkling was relieved the boy was okay. However, from time to time... one cannot help but wonder... 

What would have happened... if the enemy didn't miss Gingerbrave that day..?

The batender eventually fell to silence, looking down at the ground as his guilt started to consume him again. Herb also went silent, not knowing what to say- to comfort the other.

Letting out a shaking sigh, he closed his eyes. 

He can just hope that he even will have the opportunity to properly apologize to him. 

Only time will tell.. and time may have run out already. 

They couldn't afford to waste any more of it. 

"Let's just keep going. We need to find him as soon as possible Who know's what all has happened..."

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((The Best Part of Waking Uuuuup~ . . . Is not giving a fuck! *slams door closed and jumps into trashcan*))

-

It's funny how time seems to pass at different rates every day. At first.. time seems insignificant. It seems like time is a mere afterthought, and it passes seamlessly, like fine sand. 

Other times, it feels like time is tar. Time is ALL that there is to truth. Everything crawls to a slow, and it feels as though there was no progress made from the starting point. The crept at such a slow speed, it often felt as thought the world was in slow motion. Or maybe it even felt as though it was holding still. 

The perception of it was always something that affected on's own iterations. 

Gingerbrave sat in his cell. That's all he could do. His legs were sore, and he nearly felt like jelly every single time he went to stand up. He needed to stand up, though, because continuing to sit was only hurting him. It was making him anxious as well as slow. 

Currently, Dark Enchantress cookie was standing in the corner of the room, reading one of her books, as she took a sip of her desired drink that pomegranate had brought to her earlier that hour. 

Gingerbrave was a bit thirsty... 

However, he wasn't going to ask for anything. He didn't want to get in trouble, or overstep boundaries. He didn't want to disrupt them, as they were keeping him here, and not trying to harm him. 

He had been too tired to try and figure out ways to escape, as he couldn't ask to just be let go. 

The child couldn't tell if it was just him being a pansy, or him not wanting step on the wrong lines, and get bitten by the hand that was feeding him. It's not like he would stand a chance anyways. 

Gingerbrave swallowed a bit, his throat feeling more and more dry as the seconds passed. This prompted him to let out a sigh, in hopes of getting the tension in the back of his dry mouth to stop feeling so uncomfortable. He closed his eyes, and leans his head back against the bars of the cell. 

Dark Enchantress cookie set down the book she was reading, before setting a feather down to make sure the page was marked. 

The book had been folded back shut, and placed face-down on the table near the stairs that went back up to the main floor of the darksides base. Her red eyes were skeptical, but not malicious, by any means. 

Recently, she had been thinking back on the events in which she had first met the child that now sat prisoner in what she could consider her own home. 

Back when she shielded her current state with a past reflection of herself. 

((I am trying not to be too specific, as I do not know ALL of the lore, and I do not want to spoil something that is pariticularly canon that I think a lot of people want to find out on their own. If you know, you know.))

She had used her past form to trick Gingerbrave into helping her with something that she needed to accomplish. He had been happy to help her, as he seemed to be when it came to helping most anyone. After the tasks were completed, she had revealed her true form, and goals, and she remembered the look of absolute defeat that he had. 

The purple skinned woman could only wonder what was running though his head at the time. 

After getting right in front of the bars of the cell that the pre-teen was locked up behind- Dark Enchantress let out a small grunt of light disapproval. Namely to his state. 

Based on how he was leaning his head forward, and swallowing from time to time, he must have been thirsty. 

"Here." she tapped on the bars, before using a small napkin to wipe off the straw of the drink she had- that way she could get most of her germs off of the object. After it was cleaned off, she held the drink down, and extended her arm through the bar barely a couple innches, so he could see it. 

Her expression didn't change- it was mostly unreadable, and grumpy. Her usual smirk was gone, replaced with an expression of pensiveness. 

Gingerbrave looked up to the woman. His eyes were a bit dark at first, from a the lack of interest he had. However, light soon came back to them. 

He dind't move for it, at first. He looked at it, then her. Then back to the cup, and back to her again, before lightly pulling his body of the blankets and pillows on the floor to get close enough to grab the cup from her. 

He put his hand around it, and waits a moment, before trying to pull it back- just to make sure that she knew that he had ahold of it. 

Sure enough, the woman let go of the drink, before letting out a small sigh, and lookig away, toward a wall on the opposing end of the room. 

The Brave Child pulled the drink closer to himself before taking a couple small drinks of what he was provided. He was careful not to drink too much at a time, it might make him look greed, or sloppy or even stupid- 

Letting go of the straw, he closed his eyes, trying to flush the negative thoughts from his mind- as they were slowly making their way back to the fore-front of his psyche. His hand trembled the slightest bit, which made him scrunch his brows together in a bit of disdain. 

Finally, within a few seconds, he had himself back under control. His lips and throat were still dry, but he handed the drink back to the woman, avoiding eye contact. 

"Thank you... I... I really appreciate it." he whispered out. 

His voice was still a bit hoarse, but it seemed like it might have been better than it would have been if he tried to speak earlier.

Dark Enchantress looked away again, before standing back up, and dusting her dress off. "Take it. You still need it. Just don't make a mess, alright? That drink.. it stains easily." she then went to walk away, going back to read the book she had before. 

Getting a closer look at the title, it seemed to say something about mysterious objects and locations. There was some smaller text on the book that Gingerbrave could hardly make out from his somewhat blurred eyesight. It pertained to magic- that he was certain of. 

After the brief silence, he thanked her again, and started to slowly drink the liquid that the woman had given him. It was sweet, but he couldn't really tell what it was. It was a calming taste- something refreshing, and not too sugary or tarte. 

After smiling the slightest bit, he leans back against the bars, and brings his knees to his chest, getting comfortable- to the best of his ability. 

He would enjoy what he was given. 

He really was thankful, after all. 

However, the negative thoughts were still prodding at the back of his mind. They would likely be there for a long time to come. The least he can do is enjoy the slight moment of borderline tranquility, right?

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//I'm John Cenaaa- *Pulls recorders up to nostrils and plays megalovania*//

-

Tracing his fingers along the lip of the cup he had recieved a couple hours ago, the boy continued to stare at the wall, contemplating yet more unpleasant thougths from the past. He couldn't seem to rid himself of them, and it was clearly stressing him out. 

The need to look around was continuing to become more and more prevelent. He showed his nervousness on his sleeve, which was not always a good practice to have. 

He, himself, knew that much. 

Letting his guard down in an area he was unfamiliar with usually lead him to come out of a situation at least a bit hurt. Though, he was sure that he could have suffered much worse fates if it were not for his astoundingly stupid luck, some of the time. 

His thoughts turned and turned in his head. Unwelcome thoughts that kept him from getting a good nights rest, or at least being able to take in the silence of his situations. He always felt as if someone or something was looming over him, and likely- there was. 

He hadn't heard the voice in a long time. 

Only a couple, maybe a few days, but in comparison to how long it had been mocking him, talking down to him, and generally making him feel worse about himself- it felt like ages. 

He didn't miss it. It was just concerning. 

What if it was already back? What if it was just sitting there in silence this entire time, to try and get more of a feel for what everyone was like, so it could strike again the second it had the chance? What if it really was just trapped, but by the time it came back- it was going to be seeking blood? 

There were just so many things that can go wrong at any given moment. 

Every darkened corner felt like an enemy. Like someone or something watching him, and making fun of him as he continued to struggle with his emotional pit, and his physical predicaments. 

He can't be this way. He can't afford to be a coward.. can he? He was supposed to be BRAVE. He was supposed to be helping others, not locked in a cell where he can't do anything. 

He didn't hold it against the Darksides. In fact, he was thankful to them, enemies or not. Whether or not they liked him, or not. He wouldn't say it out loud- but he was thankful to them. He probably would be for a long time to come, depending on what happens. 

With a bit of a deflated sigh, Gingerbrave leans his head forward onto his knees again, and he wiped at his eyes. The stress of his pent up emotions, and the general weariness made him tired. His legs were getting sore again, and he couldn't keep them up for too long. He let them back down, so he could stretch them out a little. 

They were tense, and for a few moments, they were numb. 

It wasn't the funny numb, where if you moved them, they would tingle, or feel like static was travelling through them. It was an unpleasant, sore numb. One that made you want to go back to not moving at all. 

On the other side of the room, Dark Enchantress had grown a bit frustrated, seeming to put down the book again, after not finding any of the information she was looking for. This time, she didn't bother putting the feather back into the pages, to hold the place she was at. She was nearly sure she would need to find another book outright. 

Searching for any kind of mental distraction from the let-down, the woman's eyes landed on Gingerbrave again, who was moving his legs, though they seemed to be very wobbly indeed. 

There was a glint of pensiveness behind her eyes. She didn't move, for a few seconds as she considered the next thing she was going to do with careful contemplation. She knew what she could be risking, but- by this point in time- there were several things she didn't want happening. 

She slightly envied the time, barely even a few days ago, when she knew she didn't really care about what the child endured. 

It was too late for that. 

She had already become to inadvertantly invested, and it was clearly emotional, on top of that. 

Tapping her staff on the ground, the gray haired woman stood back up, and dusted her lap off, before walking over to the front of the cell that Gingerbrave was sitting in. She didn't say anything to him, for a brief time. The older lady just looked. Observed more. 

Eventually, the child took notice, and he stopped moving, before apologizing to her for making noise, and looking back down at his legs. He slowly lie them back down, and folded them to where he was sitting criss-cross again. 

With a small sigh, the purple-skinned leader of the dark cookies used her magic to open the door to the cell, and she stepped back, her red eyes carefully scanning the 'prisoner' she had kept. 

Gingerbrave jolted a bit at the door moving, and he easily grew anxious, though he still tried to mask it behind the more calm wall he built around himself. 

Dark Enchantress could tell, though. His breathing was a bit faster, and his fingers were clenching a bit. He didn't look angry, or like he was on the verge of fleeing. From what she could tell, it was nearly instinctual fright. Part of her wondered if it was because of her, herself. 

Despite that other looming thought, she was nearly positive that it was general fear. Not just of her, but of confrontation in general. He likely thought he did something wrong, right? 

The boy bring his knees closer to himself, before shivering a bit, and whispering sorry a couple more times, and falling into silence. 

His eyes glazed over a little bit, and he started to lightly stare off into space, his lower lip quivering. 

Dark Enchantres's eyes softened a little bit. She let out a brief, slow exhale. After backing up a bit more, she leans the door of the cell against the bars of a cell that was right next to it, that way there was as much walk room as possible. Then, she leans her staff against the nearby wall. 

"I've given some thought to this, and you better not make me regret my decision." she started, getting the child's attention again. She waits a couple of seconds, before continuing. "I am going to let you out of your cell, so you can wander around. Depending on how it goes... I will consider setting up a room for you." 

For a moment, some bits of life, or interest seemed to spark in Gingerbrave. The child seemed interested, if one might interpret excited, then he was definitely excited as well.

Dark Enchantress stood back up, before a slightly stern expression crossed her features. "However, be warned- if you attempt escaping, you will be brought right back here. Don't make me regret my decision, understood?" 

After a few seconds, Gingerbrave looked directly into the woman's eyes, and nodded. A gesture that seemed to imply one of uptmost sincerety. 

After a moment, the woman stepped off to the side. "Now.. let's get you standing again... hold onto the bars if you must." 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

This chapter itself will be deleted shortly, However, I do have an honest question for my audience.

So, I posted todays chapter earlier, and about maybe half an hour after posting it, I recieved a DM that told me that I completely ruined Dark Enchantres's character, and I made her soft.

Said person who messaged me in a DM/PM (I will not disclose which site) and told me that I made all of the darksides soft, and unlikeable. Basically non-canon, and heavily babified, if you will. (In their words, in short terms)

I am willing to take criticism, but I will be honest when I say they were a bit of a dick about it.

I want to hear from the rest of my readers, please answer my question-

-

Did I ruin Dark Enchantress and the Darksides? Did I make them soft, and unlikeable? If so, I am sorry, and that was not my intention. I wanted to have a wholesome connection between an enemy/former enemy, and the main character. I also thought it would be an interesting take in comparison to a lot of other Cookie Run fanfics I have seen.

I didn't try to make the Darksides soft, or untrue to their own nature. I tried to make them more like themselves, while also slowly having them form connections with Gingerbrave- not all at one time, and not all together.

I tried to keep Dark Enchantress's feeling of control, and stand-offish nature. Pomegranate's cold, semi-manipulative attitude, Licorice's somewhat nervous and snippy nature. ect.

So, I guess my question is, really- should I stop what I am doing? Is it annoying or unpleasant to the majority of you?

Chapter Text

(Do u kno da wae?)

-

||NOTE: Before we start, I would like to say that I have read through all of the comments that the readers had left me on the question post. As of the posting of this chapter, the question post will be deleted on Wattpad and Quotev. (However, it will remain on A03) , just so this book does not get cluttered. Before that happens though- I would like to say thank you.||

||I loved hearing all of your points of view, and I appreciate your sharing your thoughts with me, positive, negative, or something in between. I appreciate the other perspectives- and I despite me not intending to change my writing style, regardless of opinion- I wanted all of you to know that you have a voice, and I hear you- even if I don't always have time to reply- or if my comment section isn't working right. Thank you for your patience, and staying with the fic for so long. Let's move on to the chapter's contents, folks!||

-

For a few moments, Gingerbrave continued to struggle. He used all of the muscle he could in his upper body, mainly his arms. He eventually pulled himself to stand, but didn't move. The second he adjusted one of his legs, he felt the tingling sensation of them waking back up. 

Due to constant wobbling, he had almost fallen dow about four times, and the only thing keeping him up was the willingness to continue grasping the bars as if there was no other option on planet Earth. 

After catching his breath, the child stood back up to his full height, before facing the woman who had given him permission to roam. He knew the rules, and stipulations. It's not like he would try to run back to the kingdom right now anyway. The darksides already knew more about what was going on with him, than the other kingdom dwellers did. 

He didn't know if he had succeeded when he took out the pedestal with Red Velvet. He just hoped it didn't get worse. 

Part of him felt bad for not trying harder to escape, to go and see for himself how things were going. What if he were to take the voice back to the kingdom? What if he made things start again? What if it was still bad, and he only made it worse? 

The brave child felt a chill running down his back as he clenched his eyes closed and let out a sharp exhale. He couldn't help but think that he was being watched, and ridiculed in a manner. He was sure it wasn't Dark Enchantress. Her expression was still plain, and observant. 

"I will show you around. Now that you know the stipulations, I would hope that you do not try to do something that makes me regret this decision. The others do not know about this yet, so if they see you wandering around alone, they will likely try to re-detain you." the purple skinned woman used her cane to start walking up the stairs. 

Gingerbrave, who still had mostly numb limbs, leans onto the railing for support. He made sure to try and move quickly, as a means to keep up with the leader of the darkside cookies. 

Reaching the top of the staircase almost felt like a blessing. No sooner than he did, Chiffon came trotting by in front of the room that the staircase was connected to. The cakehound sniffed the ground, and upon seeing the child- he started wagging his tail. 

The hound wasted no time, trotting over, and giving the boy's knees a few licks in greeting, as he picked up on the child being tipsy.

Dark Enchantress stepped off to the side, before closing the bookshelf that hid the stairwell. She was hoping she wouldn't have to use it again- so there was no NEED to keep it open. "Chiffon, heel." she gently commanded to the hound, which made him back away from Gingerbrave, and planting his bum to the ground. 

"This is an unused study. We only use it for the purpose of the stairs to get down to the cell room. With confidence, I would hope I don't need to drag you back to that space again. We still have a medical ward up here after all." Dark enchantress tilted her head in the direction of the door, before starting to walk. "Come along. I will show you everywhere you are allowed to go." 

Without a word, Gingerbrave just nodded when he knew she was looking. 

Then, they were both on their way.

-

One concise tour later, both Dark Enchantress and Gingerbrave were sitting in a dining room, that seemed to be shared by all of the darksides. Gingerbrave was getting tired from using his legs so much after he had been using them rather minimally in the previous days. 

They had run across none of the darksides during the tour. They very well might have been busy, or outright absent. At the moment, Dark Enchantress was reading another unlabeled book. She had set a notebook down in front of Gingerbrave, so he could do something in the mean time. 

At the moment, she didn't have any idea what to talk about. She didn't feel the need or want to press him for information. Not yet, anyhow. 

So, Gingerbrave was drawing. 

Using a pen, and the paper he was provided, Gingerbrave had doodled out Dark Enchantresses staff. It seemed to be standing in a pond, of sorts. Around it were some doodled brushes of leaves, a few lillypads, and in the center of the peace, there was a lovely black swan next to the sceptre that Dark Enchantress used. 

The part that stood out the most were the light colored lillies that covered the black swan's form. Elegant, and decoratively placed. 

Gingerbrave saw many vases around the darksides base with soft white lillies in them. They were placed in complimentary corners of the rooms they rested in. Proud, but modest in presence. Such a lovely flower indeed, white lillies were. 

After Gingerbrave was done, he did what most kids would. He didn't try to get Dark Enchantress's attention, but he did write down who the art was for, before sliding over the drawing. He just let it rest on the table in front of the woman, and he looked away. 

Maybe him making her a drawing was weird. Maybe she would think it was suspicious. Was he trying to butter her up? Was he- 

It was those doubtful thoughts again. 

Closing his eyes, and exhaling a bit, the boy calmed himself down, so he didn't work himself up any more than he had. 

He felt his nervousness get a bit higher again when he saw the woman movinig from just in his periferal vision. She seemed to have put the book down, and picked up the paper- based on how he heard it shifting. He closed his eyes, and clenched his fingers around his seat, before looking away more. 

He was nervous. 

Just what would she think about it? Would she hate it? 

"Gingerbrave..."

He grew even more tense, and hesitantly looked over to her.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

(( *Agressively stomps toward child* - The child: "Daddy??" - "dO I LoOk LikE-" ))

-

The boy was tense. He looked away, to the point where his neck was starting to hurt from turning it so far. He didn't want to act as though he heard the woman say his name. However, upon hearing it again, in a slightly more serious tone, he looks up to her nervously. 

"What is this?" she asked, before pointing to the picture she was now holding. 

The boy started to sweat, getting slightly worked up. 

"I just... I... I'm sorry it was a stupid thing I did- I-" the first thing he started to do, instinctively, was defend himself. He dind't know what he did wrong. He didn't know why he was so nervous all of a sudden. Maybe he was just being overjudgemental. He didn't want to do that-

Dark Enchantress put up her hand, so she could silently let the child know to quiet down. Gingerbrave took the hint, and quieted himself immediately. 

"I am not upset. I want you.. to explain this to me. I want to know what it is about, and why you gave it to me. That's all." she stated. She leans back in her chair, before crossing her left leg over her right, and setting the paper down on the table again. She then places her hands in her lap, folding them neatly. 

Taking in a deep breath, Gingerbrave nodded, and grabbed the picture from the table, before setting it down in front of himself. 

"I'm not good at art. I never really tried to do it before, except a few times. I drew your staff, because it seems to be one of the things the most important to you. The swamp is because of how scary this place feels sometimes... but it's not scary ALL the time. That's why there are also some lillypads and other plants in there too." he paused for a moment, and shuffled his feet a bit in front of his seat. 

The gray/white haired woman nodded as the child continued to talk to her. She made sure not to interrupt, so he didn't lose what bit of confidence he convinced himself to have for explaining his art. 

"The White Lillies in here were because.. when you were giving me the tour earlier, I saw a lot of them in the corners of the room. In vases, and such. They were really pretty. I just assumed they were your favorite flower... and for the Black Swan- I drew that because..." he started to get flustered a bit in embarrassment. 

((Just because some people see cringe stuff on the internet, I will say the next part is NOT meant to imply a ship, or a possibiliy of a ship. Kids can think of adults as pretty, or 'handsome' or 'cool' and not be attracted to them. Gingerbrave is just blushing because it is an awkward thing to say to an enemy/former enemy))

"Swans are pretty. It's awkward to say, but I think you have pretty hair. The swan is black, because it reminded me more of you, than a white swan would have. That's all..." he leans his head down on the table a bit, before looking away, clearly still apprehensive. 

Dark Enchantress took the time to process everything he had said before nodding, and taking the drawing back. Picking it up, and looking it over, she sighs, hiding her face behind the paper as she looked over more of the details. Gingerbrave was not a bad artist, in fact, he seemed pretty good at it. Not the best, by any means. Certainly better than he seemed to give himself credit for. 

She didn't let the child see, but she did smile a little bit. 

Standing up, she went, and placed the drawing on the counter, keeping her back turned to him, and she tried to get the smile off of her face a bit. "It looks really well done. I-" 

Just as she was about to compliment something specifically, Licorice walked into the room. The gray skinned man looked between the two, taking a bite out of an unnamed fruit that he had in his hand. Before he could even open his mouth, the Dark Enchantress turned to him, before fixing a few wrinkles in her dress, from sitting down not too long ago.

"Licorice, you are back early." she noted to the man, who nodded in response.

He didn't bother speaking yet, though. She would likely start to explain what was going on, so, instead, he walks over, and sits down in his chair, which was on the opposing end of where the child was currently resting. 

"I decided to give our ... guest- a chance to be outside of the cell. The lack of movement is affecting him, and if there is a case of a problem that we cannot control, him not being able to move properly is only going to inconvenience us. He knows the rules already. Including the rules on everyone's rooms." 

After small chit-chat back and forth about what had been said to the child, Gingerbrave mainly just sitting there, and nodding every once and a while- the conversation concluded and Dark Enchantress looked at the clock. 

"I have to go and do some things in my study. YOU will look after him until dinner is ready to be served. Do so wherever you wish, as long as you pay attention to him, got it?" the leader of the Darkside cookies gave Licorice a look that seemed to call out one of his lest appricable traits. 

With a small sigh, the golden eyed dark-magic user grunted, and nodded to the woman's request. Giving things a couple minutes to slow down, he made a gesture over to Gingerbrave to let the kid know to follow him. 

Not needing to be verbally beckoned, the child got up from his chair, and walks over to the man, staying a respectful distance from him- as to not get too close. 

Turning without saying a word, the pale man was off, guiding Gingerbrave to the room he, himself resided in. Naturally, the child followed, avoiding questioning anything, despite having several in mind. 

As the two males vacated the room, Dark Enchantress turns and readies herself to head in the direction of her preferred study, before spotting the drawing Gingerbrave made her on the counter, where she had set it, as Licorice entered the room just shortly before. 

Contemplating what she as going to do next, she smiled the slightest bit, before picking up the drawing, and walking over to the fridge. Carefully, she grabbed one of the small clip-magnets from the top of the door, before securing the drawing to the fridge. 

Sighing to herself, she turns, and leaves the room, walking to her office, for even more work. 

She had a lot of reading to do, after all. 

((to be continued))

Chapter Text

// Blow on it till it's cool, just cool, into the mouth- schhhummptk- n o i c e. //

-

The gray skinned man had been turning the knob on his door for a minute or two, now. He seemed a little frustrated with himself for not being able to open it right the first time, but eventually, Gingerbrave was brought into Licorice's room. The room looked nice, despite the lack of colors. It was well put together. It even looked like there was traces of the dark-magic weilder having more hobbies than just standing around a couldron all the time. 

"Sit down over there. You can ask questions, but only ask them if I am NOT measuring something, got it?" the man slightly demanded over to the child, who went and sat on a grayish-purple beanbag chair. 

Because he was less lanky than Licorice was, Gingerbrave leans back in the chair, just to someone be eaten by the resting seat. He flopped his legs around a little bit, before crawling his way back out, and looking to the man of whom he had followed. 

Re-processing the question, he nodded to Licorice, before sitting up, and putting his hands under his bum, as a means to keep himself from being tempted to touch anything that he saw nearby. 

He had to admit, there were a lot of cool objects in the room, though he needed to respect that this was someone else's space. He had no right to just go and touch something that wasn't a seat of some kind. 

Noting the child being comfortable, and sitting down away from the cauldron set-up, Licorice nodded, before walking over to a large closet, and pulling out several items. Many of the things he had were from questionable looking plants, condensed minerals, candies, and some dried-out animals such as frog legs and a couple insects. 

Not sure if he should talk or not, Gingerbrave continued to stare at them. He tilted his head, a few questions running through his mind, for sure. However, he kept them to himself. 

Licorice, though he was a little bit zealous, and a bit awkward, did take notice of the itnerest in the objects that he had put down near the cauldron he was using. So, after he finished putting a couple pinches of a ground-up mineral into the liquid of the large pot- he stirred it and waits for it to turn color,  before setting the object he was using to stir the cauldron with down. 

"By the expression on your face, I would assume you are interested in what I have over here." the man gestured his head toward the pot, before pulling down the sleeves of his cloak. 

Gingerbrave felt himself get a bit embarrassed, from being that easy to read. Though, knowing he was caught, he nodded to Licorice, before looking the man in his eyes. 

There was silence between the two, before the black haired child-sitter nodded back. He went over, and scooped up a few of the jars, before walking over to Gingerbrave. Being careful, the man kneeled in front of the borderline enemy, before presenting one of the jars he had. 

Inside, there was a fine powder. Not quite the grainular structure of powdered sugar, or flour- but it was certainly close. The powder itself was a red color, in hue. 

((OMG GLOWSTONE THAT U? /j))

"This right here, is fine-ground and treated Red Beryl." he opened it, before pulling an almost comically small spoon out of his pocket, and scooping a modest amount out of the jar. "Don't touch it with your fingers, it may taint the powder- but this is what it looks like up close." he brought the red powder over to the child. 

Gingerbrave brought his shirt over his nose, so he could avoid breathing too hard, and sending the beryl flying off anywhere. He nodded, though, so the wizard knew he was paying attention. 

A few seconds of close observation, and the Red-Hued Beryl powder was gently put back into the cork-capped jar. Another thing Gingerbrave took notice of- was the fact that Licorice used a napkin to clean the small spoon off. 

"A..." Gingerbrave was starting to speak, but he stopped, thinking maybe he would be annoying, if he started to ask too many questions. He looked away, and fell silent, before hearing the black haired man look over to him. 

"Go on. I'm listening." 

'Might as well talk now. If you say nevermind, that will be even more of a waste of his time. I shouldn't have opened my mouth-' Gingerbrave scolded himself for a couple seconds, before nodding and sitting back up in the beanbag chair he had chosen. "Yeah... I was going to ask if the reason you were cleaning the spoon off was because you were trying to avoid contaminating other stuff that you were using..." 

Licorice seemed a little bit surprised, but he just let out the smallest laugh, before setting the jar of powdered beryl down on the small counter-like space he set up next to the cauldron. 

"Yes, actually. You're pretty smart, kid." the black haired man admitted, before dusting off his cloak. "Cross contamination for things in a cauldron work area can lead to a lot of problems. Sometimes even deadly ones, if you are not careful." the gray skinned male admitted. "Everything is a matter of precision, patience, and endless attempts at trying. You can never start working with such tools, unless you have had good training beforehand."

For a moment, Gingerbrave had forgotten his negative thoughts. He was more invested in what Licorice had to say. He leans his head forward, before putting his chin into his palms and resting his elbows on his legs, which were criss-crossed at the moment. 

They were starting to tingle again, because of how little they were mobile, in comparison to being in the cell earlier- but that was okay. 

The child continued to listen to Licorice speaking, fully invested in what the dark-magic wielding wizard had to say. He was happy, it seemed- talking about his passion. Despite them being associated with the dark arts, there was a lot of care that seeemed to be put into the proceedure. A lot of thought, and precision. 

Something he didn't see with quite a few of the cauldron-magic users in the kingdom. In fact, some of them were quite careless, sometimes... 

As for Licorice... he was... happy? Excited? 

He had a small blush on his face from smiling so much. He noticed he had become more animated while talking to the guest he had welcomed into his chambers. Unlike most anyone else he had met, Gingerbrave was invested in what he had to say. He was listening, and seemed to share some thoughts about the process. 

It was a first, honestly. 

Licorice wasn't going to complain, but Poison Mushroom wasn't really interested in watching him, whenever they were in the room. They listened, sure, but there was no actual interest in what the magic enthusiast was talking about. 

It felt nice, sharing thoughts with someone who was invested in what he had to say. Someone who wanted to learn, or hear about things. 

It was like a breath of fresh air. 

Calming himself down a bit, so he can get his smile back under control, the black haired man shook his head, before grabbing the Beryl again, and walking over to Gingerbrave. "Do you want to know what Beryl often Symbolizes?" he offered, before pulling the cork-topper back off of the small jar. 

Without hesitation, Gingerbrave nodded, and looked down at the fine red powder again. 

Licroice gently swished the jar around, and some of the powdered beryl moved around in messy clumps. Much of the powdered granules stuck to the side of the jar, leaving a small red misting over the otherwise clear glass. 

"According to a gemstone encyclopedia I read, it is said that Beryl possesses the capability to keep demons away. It is also said to aide in producing happiness and marital love. Comically enough, it is also said to cure laziness, protect travelers from danger, and maintain youthfulness. Sometimes, it can also be used to help aid in curing ailments, or diseases associated with the spine, the heart, and the eyes." 

Licorice continued to ramble on about his fine collection of powders, herbs, plants, and minerals. 

Gingerbrave listened to it all. He didn't forget a single thing.

He too, was smiling uncontrollably- happy to see the otherwise somewhat nervous and slightly angry man enjoying hismelf- happy to talk about his passion and share his knowledge on the subject. 

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

((I'm not like other girls..... I got SNAKE ARMS))

-

After a while of chatting together about some of the stuff that Licorice kept in his alchemists cabinet, both the gray skinned man, and polite- but spirited child were in silence. Gingerbrave have dragged the beanbag chair closer to the pot, so he could see better, and Licoirce set up several other ingredients as he waited. 

The more jars or miniature bottles he brought out- the more Gingerbrave could see a theme. 

Licorice seemed to really like granulated or powdered minerals. Powders and salts of many kinds associated with crushed gemstones, rocks, and metals. Other things that were common among his collection were curshed, dried flowers. 

Watching in intent silence, the brave child observed as the gray-skinned magic-enthusiast was hard at work. Measuring out several gemstone powders, and also putting them into the pot. The liquid within it flashed in different colors, the feeling of the room progressively got colder, the more he put into the cauldron.

It was fun, strangely. Small ramblings, and a lot of movement. The colors were alluring, in a way. 

Within an unknown amount of time, Licorice stepped back from the used cauldron, which was now starting to overflow with a strange weighted mist- that sunk to the floor, as if it were water. 

Gingerbrave didn't touch it, but he was sure, if he had- it would feel like air.

The black haired man seemed enthralled, he kept ahold of his scythe, and walked in the general direction of the child- placing himself between the slightly shaded figure that was starting to rise from the pot- and his 'audience'. 

Of course, the curious boy peered around Licorice, still curious, and astounded. However, he made sure not to make himself too visible, just in case there was a reason the older man had put himself there. 

The figure rising from the pot was made of bones, of some kind- and bore a lanky-ish body. It remembered Gingerbrave of the few snakes he had seen from time to time- constructed of taffy, and malluble sour candies. 

Both the Dark Magic Artist and his adolescent audience spectated in interest, and amazement. 

The skeletal form that was still slowly rising from the pot was thin, and after it had stopped moving in it's slow, nearly graceful ascending motion- it quickly turned it's head toward the creator, and the spectator. 

Instantly, Licorice was on guard. After all, it was still black magic he was working with- he needed to be sure to keep himself safe, in case it showed any signs of open hostility. So far, it appeared more curious than anything- but the intelligence of strange forms created synthetically are never to be underestimated. 

The serpent-like skeleton's empty eyes, and crimson stained bones made it appear ominous- even in such a state of wonder. 

Licorice made no sudden movements. Moving suddenly is a big mistake a lot of people make when encountering animals of that sort. Though the biological composition may be different, they still often share similar means of survival, communication, and general existence. 

The gray skinned man could only hope it would be somewhat similar for an artificial existence. 

The serpent slithered over the edge of the cauldron, revealing it's body to be quite long. If Licorice could estimate, it would have been about 4 meters in length, but it was partially dark, and he wasn't always the best with measurements. 

After most of it was resting on the cold floor, the serpent slowly rose and rested it's head above the two cookies that were there observing it. It seemed more interested, then angered. It wasn't ready to strike. 

One could only wish to know what was going on in it's head if it was consciously thinking anything at all. It was assumable that the estranged creature had a strain of thought, considering just how it was looking at them alone. Intrigued, much like they were.

The Crimson-Stained Serpent-like skeleton made a small move to make a rattling slither toward both the man and the child. Licorice instantly made a move to get closer to Gingerbrave, that way he could protect the child more quickly, if need-be. 

Gingerbrave oddly didn't feel a need to be afraid. He just continued to look up at the odd, glimmering serpent. 

Despite the feeling of coolness from the heavy mist in the room, the snake emitted a feeling of warmth- in a way? The feeling was hard to describe. It was like an emotional warmth. The feeling of appreciation towards a fond memory. 

Something like a sensatio of sitting near a fire, and talking with friends. Sharing laughs, and enjoying the warmth, where surely everywhere else but that fire was colder, and less welcoming. It was an odd warmth that could only be felt on the grounds of fondess. Happiness. 

Maybe he could describe the snake's presence like 'feeling like home'. 

Licorice went to move his arm, as the serpent was getting closer, and closer to himself and the child. He didn't know how to feel about the estranged creature himself. It was clear that he had other sensations. Other perceptions. 

He likely was going to try and ward the serpent back into the cauldron, so it can return from the planes of which it had been produced. Sent back to where it would natrually be- if there was such a place. 

Just as his long fingers wrapped around the stick of his scythe the slightest bit tighter, Gingerbrave gently grabbed the man's sleeve, and tugged it, in hopes of getting his attention. A couple tries, and he had succeeded. The black haired magician was now looking down at him, clearly a little on edge. 

The blue eyed child shook his head no, though it was a bit hesitant. He didn't want to tell Licorice what to do in his own room? What if it was offensive, or-

With a small sigh, the amber eyed man nodded, before letting go of the scythe again. 

The Crimson Serpentine Skeleton made it's creaking slither forward, approaching nearer and nearer. Soon, it was right in front of Gingerbrave's face. It stared at him, tilting it's head a couple times, before retracting it's face from the observers own. 

The whole experience was somewhat like a trance. 

The doorknob started to turn, and the snake started to make a small rattling noise- the bones that made up the surplus of it's body shook in the slightest bit, which gave a feeling of warning, or apprehension. 

The door to Licorice's room then opened, and light flooded into the room- beyond the darkness of the room, holding the handle to the intrusion of light- was Pomegranate. 

Her expression was generally unreadable- but it seemed to be a bit perturbed. 

"I have been knocking for over five minutes. I do not know what you were doing, but supper is ready. Open your ears, and get out there. Dark Enchantress is waiting." the cold woman tucked her hands together under her sleeves- and huffed, before turning on her heels, and walking back down the hallway- in the direction of the kitchen. 

Licorice was about to object, but he decided against it- so he turns his head, concocting ways to get the estranged serpent back into the cauldron where it had come from. However- it seemed to have retreated back into the cauldron, as a couple of the small vials near the object were knocked over- 

Vials of which were not knocked over on the creatures grand voyage from the cauldron in the first place. 

"We better get going... please close and lock the door behind you. I have the key in my pocket." the man sighs, before gesturing his head toward the door of the room. He walked ahead of the child, who soon got up, and followed behind. 

He didn't give Gingerbrave a chance to respond, he was fairly sure that he could understand simple instructions. He has proven that already. 

Just as the brave boy reached the door, he turned his head, to see the skeleton serpentine summons head peering up from the dimmed- but still glowing substances of the cauldron. Then- it retreats back inside. 

Shaking his head a bit, the blue eyed boy locked the door, and closed it right behind him, as he was instructed to do. 

Without a word, he ran a little bit, catching up to Licorice who was walking ahead of him in the hall- he was tempted to grab the man's hand, but he kept it to himself, and interlocked the fingers of his hands together behind his own back instead. 

Within seconds, they were sitting down at the table, which was silent. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

"I can break these cuffs!" - "You can't break those cuffs." -> "Rrrruaaahhhh!!!" *Struggles with Cuffs TM*
- - - - -

Finally seated at the Dinner Table- Gingerbrave looks around at all of the surrounding party that were at table- seated in what could be considered arguable awkward silence. Dark Enchantress was at the end of the table, using a knife to cut into the biggest portion of her meal. The silence was oddly deafening- it made the child feel as though he was asleep all over again. Asleep in the manner of which he was so tired he didn't process anything else. 

Licorice had fallen into silence, and he just poked at his food, while tapping on the table here and there. Dark Enchantress was reading over several of her papers, but avoided touching them, unless she had wiped her strangely un-gloved hand free of any food that had attached to it. 

Dark Enchantresses arms were strange, but in the Brave Child's opinion it was a good thing. Her arms were normal, in their typical purple skin-tone on the shoulder, but as you moved down her arm, and got closer to the hand and fingers- you could see that her skin got darker, and darker- before reaching a state of being completely black at her fingertips. She also seemed to have long claws where her nails should be. Despite it being a simple state of mind to think of it as cat claws- for some reason- bird talons came more to mind. Long and dangerous nails. Perfect for grabbing, and defending. The child barely had time to catch himself, and make himself stop staring- as it was rude. 

Just as he went to look away, Red Velvet came walking into the room, Chiffon resting in his arms. The dog was wagging his tail seeming confident and content. Upon seeing Gingerbrave though, the dog became excited, and was somewhat struggling a bit to get out of the man's arms and to the youth that he sought to greet. 

Noticing the dogs struggles, Red Velvet set Chiffon down on the ground, and the dog ran around the table, before coming to a scuffling stop in front of Gingerbrave, where he continued to wag his tail. 

Pomegranate was eating her food in silence, not looking away from her plate. Although, based on her tense posture, she seemed a bit perturbed. The child took notice of this, and as soon as the excited hound got to him, he worked on settling him down, as to make sure to avoid trouble, or annoyances, if they could be avoided. He got down from the chair, and kneels in front of the exited quadruped, gently patting his head, and giving small scratches behind the ears. 

It was at this time that Dark Enchantress decided to speak up. 

"Licorice, I have a task for you after we have finished with our meal. There is a suspicious glowing coming from the forest. I am tasking you with going, and investigating it. Is that understood?" the woman set down her fork, and her knife, before looking up to the man. In turn, the gray skinned male set down his own silverware,  before looking over at her. He was silent, and the silence was demanding an answer. Respectfully, of course. 

There was more silence around the table. The near-prisoner looks over to the adults, and the only other near-child that was going to be found in this place. 

Poison Mushroom was sitting in their own seat, eating on what looked like a truffle, of some kind. They were content, and joying their meal- the commonly wide, and darkened eyes of the older-youngster were not too expressive, and a bit hard to read. 

Gingerbrave could only assume that they were in a good mood. 

"I need YOU to specifically go and investigate the forest- because you will have the ability to mask your presence, and avoid detection. Pomegranate cannot spy on them, unless she has either interacted or has owned something with a reflective surface nearby. Conveniently- none of the hidden mirrors she set up in the forest working- implying they are broken. As for Dark Choco and Red Velvet- they are unable to attend to this- as they are more based in combat, than intel gathering. If need-be, you can bring Poison Mushroom with you. They could prove helpful, anyhow- especially if it is someone or something that needs to be temporarily stopped before damage is done in the forest." the purple skinned woman stood, before grabbing all of the stuff she was eating with- and walking to the kitchen. 

Deciding it was now a good time to get up off of the floor, and eat the food he was provided, Gingerbrave sat back down on the chair, before taking his tableware, and thanking all of them audibly before digging into the food provided to him. He didn't say anything else, as he was mostly at a loss for words. He didn't want to say anything dumb, or offensive- small talk or not. What if he offended them? What if he made himself look like more of an idiot than he already has so far? What if- 

"You really seem to like staring off into space, don't you...?" Licorice asked the child as he walked behind him- setting a cold gray-skinned palm over the youth's shoulder. 

Naturally, being taken of guard, the blue-eyed boy jumped with  a start, and nearly ducked down to avoid being touched anymore out of immediate fright. Seeing who it was though, he calmed down, and let out a long sigh. The boy shook his head in a motion that indicated disagreement, before exhaling, and looking back down at the table. He tapped his fork on the corner of the plate, his appetite suddenly starting to slowly dwindle. 

There was a feeling of awkwardness falling over the room. This made the brave child look away, and favor keeping his glance pointed at his feet- which he started to swing from where they dangled over the floor. 

A small exhale escaped Licorice's lips, before he brought his hand up to Gingerbrave's head- patting it a couple times. "It's Understandable. Don't sweat it- alright?" Leaning forward, the man then whispers in a hushed tone. "If they are troubling thoughts, don't worry. I have them too. Just try to find something to distract yourself, alright?" 

With that- Licorice was walking away. 

"Gingerbrave- you will be going with Pomegranate for the time being. I have more stuff to attend to, and the other two are going to be busy. Make sure to not do anything that could get you into trouble. I am sure that is in your hands." 

Dark Enchantress spoke with a breath of confidence in the child's capabilities to keep himself from having issues. Then, with a small glance, the woman made a small glaring expression toward Pomegranate, who just sighs, but said nothing. 

The feeling of tension was in the air again, and it was making Gingerbrave apprehensive. However, keeping to himself was more favorable, in comparison to actually speaking up, and potentially provoking more issues within the already questionable situation. 

Taking another bite of the meal he had been served, he closed his eyes, and let his breathing slow down- so he could control his slightly ragged breath. With luck, this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it could be...

Chapter Text

//"Freeze! Is that fucking FISH JANGA?!!" - "Uh.. Uhh…! NO!"//

Within the quiet walls of the kingdom, most of the Kingdom Dwelling Folk  were with each other in various places. Trying to gather up search-parties. The only ones who were not with any other cookies were ones that were unable to get search-parties together. Either that, or they were tasked with trying to get something else done. 

Avocado cookie was an exception. She was stuck remaining near her home because of her healing, but still damaged leg. She couldn't afford to go off into the forest- where they might encounter dangers. Especially at night- when the sun could not protect their vision from the creatures that preferred the cloak of the moon to do their deeds. The forest was a scary place at night, and even Tigerlily knew better than to be isolated when it was completely dark. If someone as experienced as she was in the wild was wary, then everyone else should be as well. 

The worker woman was turned down from joining about three other searching groups- before giving up on going WITH anyone. Despite that, she was not driven away from walking into that forest all by herself, if she must. She wanted to find her little pal, just as much as others did. If not more- because she felt really close to him. She would do anything and everything she could to try and bring him home. To find him- and try to make things right after everything that had happened. The more time passed, the more guilty she felt. It was a constant nagging feeling that would sparsely leave her mind, and grant her opportunity to rest. 

Even with her bound determination, and a firm resolve, she was stopped before she could even reach the kingdom gates- after most of the other night-travelling groups had left. A lot of them were going to go searching in the morning- while only about three groups walked out into the night. Almond's group went to go and survey the crime scene that he had spoken of finding. A group that went along with Tigerlily Cookie likely ventured further into the jungle, as they were more experienced in fighting. The last group was lead by Adventurer Cookies, who was leading a group along the outer-edge of the jungle. Likely travelling along a river-bank. 

Princess Cookie was the one to stop the blacksmith. Of course, it wasn't with the intention to make the green haired woman feel bad- but in all honesty- there would only be so much Avocado was going to be able to accomplish by herself. There was also another concern of worsening the injury, or getting stuck somewhere. 

As it is said- 'The Bigger they are, the harder they fall.' With Avocado's added weight, concerning her body type, she would near-surely damage her leg all over again if she tripped over something, or stepped wrong without someone else at least in a close proximity to help

The plus-sized woman was more than tempted to argue, but she knew better. 

Eventually, she was simply sent back home. 

Now, the worried woman paced her shop, her leg aching, but she ignored it. She didn't want to just sit here and do nothing. She felt useless, and like a burden to the others- as she couldn't actually be useful to bring back one of her closest friends. A kid, to boot. 

No one knew what was going on... no one knew if he was actually in danger, or okay. No one even knew if he was even ALIVE. They were all just running on the assumption that he was. High hopes and the lack of a body were the only things keeping everyone going. He surely had to be out there somewhere. There was so much that Gingerbrave had survived in this harsh world. So many things that others have only heard about encountering. 

With no options, and pent up frustration, the usually jubilant woman slammed her gloved fist into the wall of her shop, before huffing, and straightening out her ponytail. 

"I can't just sit here and go to sleep...." the stated to herself with a begrudging expression crossing her eyes. 

With that, she grabbed the cane issued to her to assist her in walking, before leaving her shop, and making her way to Gingerbrave's house, which was nearby. It took no effort to open his door, and enter the small home. In all honesty, it looked more... large from the outside. On the inside, however, there was minimal furnishings, or décor to even look at. Everything was practically one room- save for a single door that was presumably to the bathroom. 

There was a small bed, drawer, and end table with a lamp near the door- accompanied with now-stagnant class of water that rested on the same end-table that the lamp did. Off on the other side of the small room, there was a stove, of sorts. It seemed to be a mix between a heater and a stove- anyways. While it was open flame, there were a lot of metal rods or poles wedged between the ground, and the overhanging lip of the heating source. It seemed as though Gingerbrave didn't want anything to catch on fire, or get burned- which was understandable. 

Avocado couldn't shake the feeling that there was a deeper meaning behind it though. That the bars there were not just because he was being cautious- but because he was outright afraid. 

Then, in another corner of the room, there was a small chest-box, and a shelf that held several things. Most of this was random thigs that Gingerbrave seemed to express liking. Such as small pieces of rare candies, cool wrappers, a single plushy, and a few pictures of himself- with the original crew that he arrived to the area with- before the Kingdom was started. 

Gingerbrave, Custard, Strawberry, Wizard and Chili Pepper were all posed in one of the pictures that was on the middle-part of the shelf. Though, in other pictures- there were images of him, Strawberry and Wizard with a cookie that held much resemblance to a Zombie, and one that looked like they enjoyed skateboarding. There was also the image of a female cookie who sported an upright-brown hairdo- a simple dress, and a lollipop in her hands. She and Gingerbrave seemed to be close. 

Growing more and more curious, Avocado carefully grabbed the picture, before putting it back on the shelf. Then, her attention went over to something else she saw on the surface. It seemed to be a broken candy cane staff. Much like Gingerbrave's red and white one- but this staff in particular was green and white. It was also a lesser-surplus of the object, as it seemed that it was only the curved part of the cane, plus some of the handle- but not much. 

Near as she could remember, Gingerbrave always used and white and red candy cane. This green and white one was throwing her in for a loop. 

Perhaps it belonged to the brown haired girl in that picture with him? 

Setting it back down, the blacksmith picked up a different object- which was the singular plushy she saw a while before. The plushy was- of course- a bear. However- this bear looked a bit sleepy- and seemed to be holding a small blanket. There was a nightcap on the bear, as well as pajamas. Normally, Avocado wouldn't have thought much about the design choice of a stuffed animal- but she noticed that the bear- too- had a white and green candy cane object sewn to it's hand. 

".... Strange...." it was the only thing she could convince herself to think. The wheels I her mind were turning at a mile a minute. She lost interest in looking over the rest of the house, as the shelf was just something that she didn't expect. It seemed like a trove of memories. New, old, and fond. Despite that all- there seemed to be a thick air of sadness around it. No matter what, when she looked at the stuff on the higher shelf, she couldn't help but feel strikes of sadness or stress pulling at her mind. Even if she could not understand it, she knew well that it was likely the same feeling her friend got whenever he also looked at the same things. That only made her more concerned. 

With a disgruntled sigh, Avocado backed up a bit, and found herself bumping into the shelf that she had seen near the bed earlier. It seems the drawers were loose, and a couple of the top ones came sliding out a bit. Of course, the woman had went to close them, as to not snoop in a place where clothing is usually kept- but after glancing down; namely as a means of making sure that she was shutting the drawer properly) , she noticed that there was nothing but papers, drawing utensils, and a couple erasers. 

Naturally, curiosity got the better of her. Seeing as there didn't seem to be any clothing in the drawer- she opened it a little more- and saw several drawings. They were really well drawn- that was for sure. While it was no world recognized image- there was surely time, effort and skill. 

The drawing she noticed was a drawing of Gingerbrave sitting down- and there was another person next to him. Sporting teal-green and yellow pajamas- plus a coinciding cap- then- there it was. The same Green and White Candy Cane. Avocado squinted at the picture, before tilting her head, and feeling even more of an air of sadness around it. She would have just put it back down in the drawer, if it weren't for something else that she noticed about the artistic expression. 

The other cookie with the pajamas and night-cap didn't have a clear face. It looked as thought Gingerbrave had struggled and struggled with the face- and erased it every single time. Now- though- rather than a face- there was a scribble with messy lines that lead to a feeling of confusion and it was disheartening. 

She had seen enough- and invaded his space too long already. Avocado gently set the picture back into the drawer, before closing it, and leaving Gingerbrave's house. She didn't lock the door back, but she made sure that she closed the door up tight. Then, without much more time spent, she walked back home- the lingering questions in her mind about who the other cookie that looked a little like him was- the constant green candy cane... the still overwhelming question on whether or not he was okay, or alive. 

The stress was making her feel tired. 

Despite not wanting to sleep, she went back home, and closed the doors to her workshop- before walking to the back, and going to her room. She sits down on the mattress, before leaning back, and not bothering to fully get on the structure. Within seconds, she was sleeping. 

Even so, she never stopped asking herself the constant questions she had been going over for hours and hours on this point. 

Perhaps, she would never know....

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//"When you wish upon a staaaaar-~!" - "Nothing Happens." - " :') "//

-

From the event of dinner taking place, there was still relative silence through the rooms of the base. Gingerbrave sat alone in the corner of the room, looking toward the door that he and Pomegranate had entered just moments beforehand. 

The dinner was almost enviable to this, at least he wasn't alone with someone that seemed to be annoyed with his presence. Much like most of the time he had spent in this base with the Cookies of Darkness- as he was still apprehensive about growing overconfident and saying something foolish. 

The red haired woman sat on her knees on the side of the room that she chose to occupy, fiddling with several glass ornaments. They glimmered under the light that filtered in from the window- making them look alluring, despite them seeming so simple. 

"So... you managed to get on good enough terms to be let out of your cage... how interesting." the woman sighs, before fiddling around with even more of the small, fragile ornaments. "You really seem to have a way around us. It's almost alarming." the voice of the redhead was cold. Compiled, and contemplating. "You made my master show some of her first more 'soft' sides of affection that I didn't know about. You even brought a wreck of a recluse out of his shell a bit more. So many changes, so little time." 

The blue eyed child watched the woman as she stood up, and swung around a mirror, turning it a couple times. 

"I don't trust you... then again, by now, I would assume that is obvious." she got even closer, her usually neutral expression was one of clear annoyance and skepticism. "You are playing us for fools, aren't you? I don't know what your game is, and I don't know what supernatural problems hitched a ride on your shoulder, but I have my eyes on you." 

A swift movement and Pomegranate slammed the mirror into the wall, before bringing the now dangerous weapon back in Gingerbrave's direction- her expression falling back to plain, and unmoved. 

Growing more and more tense by the second, the child jumped a bit at the sound of smashing glass. He nearly wanted to panic, but he calmed himself down- before he could get worked up. 

The second the now-smashed mirror was brought in his direction, though, he turned his head, instinctively moving it down to cover his neck, which the glass from the shattered object was nearly pressing against. 

"One wrong move, and once I get the permission from Dark Enchantress, everything about you will be history." the sharpened edge of the glass was getting closer to Gingerbrave's face, casuing his breath to hitch as he closed his eyes, and nodded slowly. 

He was starting to tear up. 

Heart racing, and breath hitching- the child's arms and hands started to tremble, which made him sit on them, as a means of keeping from jolting around too much. He kept his eyes closed, bottom lip quivering as the top teeth bit down on it, to keep from making any noise. 

He felt so pathetic. 

He was supposed to be brave, and here he was, getting worked up over a mirror being pointed at him. 

Simply hearing about it, it was comical, if it weren't for the lack of context. 

All the same, here he was, frightened. On the edge of his seat, and as he looks down, into the glass- he instantly looked away. He didn't want to look at himself, he hated it. He felt crawling on his back- as newer, more troubling thoughts were starting to clamber their way up into his mind. 

The voice in his head was silent, for now... but... it was clear that they were not gone. For all they knew, the voice had yet to even display all of its full abilities. What if this was just a calm before the storm? 

Was there something else planned? Something worse? 

"Actually, how about I just take care of you now.." the voice of Pomegranate went from indifferent, to menacing. Something about it was now icy, and surprisingly colder than her normal tone. Even the tone that she was using with him mere moments ago. 

Looking up in frightened curiosity, the child locked eyed with Pomegranate cookie, who's face seemed to have contorted into something that of a smile. It was wicked, and it mde him feel sick. 

"I may get in trouble for doing this without permission from Dark Enchantress- but I am doing a good thing- you are a weasel, and I have no doubts that you will be a bigger thorn in the side. With you gone, we can go back to our masters ultimate objective. I am sure you understand." 

Without a warning, the red-haired woman drew her arm holding the mirror back, before quickly swiping it back forward. The child barely even took notice of the fact that she had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Situating her hand to have a more firm grasp over the previously unassuming, and arguably pretty weapon. 

Just as quickly, the weapon was jammed forward and down. Gingerbrave's reflexes were not always the best, and the brief warmth on his neck, accompanied by searing pain and the lack of oxygen brought him out of a state of ponderance, and one of panic. 

Breathing. He needed to breathe, but the air had been ripped from him, and the cause behind it was sitting there, grinning sickly at him as it let go of his shirt and let gravity take it's own toll.

The child collapsed to the ground, barely able to wrythe as he continued to struggle for the oxygen he had lost. 

The world around him was getting blurrier and blurrier. All of the colors were blending together, and he felt as though was seeing in all directions at once, while not seeing at all. 

A voice was calling him. Slithery, and raspy. 

"You didn't think I was going to be letting you go, now did you?" it laughed, before grabbing him by his shoulders. 

A huge dark mass of mist forms over him, bringing down it's shaded, clawed hands to his bleeding neck before tightening it's grasp, digging it's nails in and chortling at the pain that it was inflicting on the child. 

"Answer me, Gingerbrave. No one is going to help you. Gingerbrave-" 

His name kept being repeated. Over and over again. Just as the world around the child was getting darker, due to the lack of air- he felt himself quickly being pulled up, and out of the coldeness that he had just been overcome by- and with a firm shake of the shoulders, he snapped back into reality. 

"Are you done staring off into space yet?"

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//"Room Service! <3" -> "You didn't even knock??!" -> "Oh I don't work here! *Questionable Laughter* -> *Terrified Screech*//

-

((Authors Note: Fragments is now in the process of being moved to Fanfiction . net and DeviantArt for those people to read. So, if anyone sees it posted, and is unsure, yes- it is my work. The user on Fanfiction .net is HeidenShayde, and the user on DeviantArt is ZibijilPtelemiu. Thanks for your patience!))

-

"Three whole hours spent spacing out on a wall." Pomegranate scoffed, before turning around and walking over to her door, sensing that someone was standing outside of it. "Both a waste of my time, and yours. You really should have that checked." the woman stated, before turning the handle. 

The door swung open slowly, revealing Dark Choco standing there, with his sword in his hands, blade resting on the ground. He didn't even look like he was about to knock. He likely had to do this before, and was used to Pomegranate knowing when someone was there. 

"It's your turn to take the space cadet here. He probably won't do much, but he will continue to be wierd. That appears to be a given." Pomegranate folded her hands over each otherr, hiding them within her almost comically large sleeves. One could laugh, though it might be disrespectful. The large sleeves on such clothing she was clad seemed to be common- 

The child got up from where he was sitting and automatically walked over, not needing to be prompted. he stayed silent though, his hand continuing to tremble a bit from the dream he had just been snapped out of. 

He brought his hand up to his neck, feeling it a bit, nearly feeling phantom pains of cuts within his throat. He was nearly convinced that there was blood rolling from the non-existant wounds- fingers quivering as he leans forward. 

It was like the air was being taken away from him all over again. 

With only a grunt, and a small sigh, Dark Choco brought his gloved hand down to Gingerbrave's shoulder, which made the boy jump as the sensations left him. 

Seeing the sudden alarm, the man immediately retracted his hand from the frightened child's shoulder, and continued to look down at him. He could see that Gingerbrave was nervous, but he couldn't tell why, even if he wanted to. 

The blue eyed boy looks up to him, and then just nodded, and walked toward the door, waiting. He didn't need to stay in Pomegranate's room longer than he already had. She made it amply clear that he was not welcome within the room of which she had for herself. Invading her space, even if it were on the commands of someone who is of higher authority than she was. 

Closing the door behind them, Dark Choco gestured his head a bit, guiding the 'guest' to the next room he would be staying in for the next unidentifyable amount of time. 

There was no struggling from the white haired boy- he just continued to walk, though it was clearly a tense stride. There was certainly something wrong, but how would he go about trying to ask what the problem was? Dark Choco usually confided to silence, and didn't need to provide a voice in emotional stabalization. 

The Darksides almost never helped each other with problems. Emotional, or Physical. They were grown-ups after all. That and emotional support was something that was viewed as soft.

He wouldn't be sure about how it would be viewed now... a lot happened in the last few days that set some things into perspective- even if they were yet to be completely understood. 

Dark Choco didn't know what to think about the child. He was never one for kids, but- out of everyone with Dark Enchantress- for the longest amount of time, he was the least involved with her purpose. He had tried to be a hero in his own story, and that same story ended with tradgedy, because he did everything wrong. 

Witnissing the inside of Gingerbrave's mind somewhat felt chillingly nostalgic, though different, of course. 

Overwhelming pressure, and the feeling of insufficiency. Failure being a leading feeling that bore the presence of any other unpleasant thoughts.  

He wasn't sure if failure was the biggest thing that the child felt, but he caught nothing but the sense of failure, in his messed up mindscape. Every emotional barrier collapsing and breaking down from it's core, leaving or dissipating into feelings that can usually be considered numbness or emptiness. 

The walk to the man's room was silent, deafening. Their footsteps echoed in the hallway, and the wind outside was the only other source of obvious noise. 

Gingerbrave got cold, bringing his hands up to his shoulders as he shivered- the thought of the blood dripping down his neck still fresh in his mind- it made him get goosebumps- a feeling of claminess falling under his hands as he felt cold, and frigid sweat beaded off of him- as if he was being rained on. 

The red eyed man continued to observe the child, still not fully knowing what to do. You cover people, when they get cold, right? Cover them... get them warm... comfort them....

He could cover Gingerbrave, and help the child stay warmer- it was something he could do easily.... 

It had been so long since he had taken his cloak off... he hardly even takes it off when he has free time, as he was nearly always on the move. Sitting down, he was always alert. Sleeping- he was nearly always half awake. 

With a deep sigh, and ample confusion, the man took his cloak off, and set it down on the child's shoulder. It was much bigger than Gingerbrave was- as Dark Choco had a huge frame.

"You're cold." the man blatantly stated, before continuing to walk. "I'm not going to sit here and let you continue to be cold." 

Gingerbrave looked up to the man- the cloak was a little heavy, but he nodded, saying thank you- lightly under his breath, and continuing to follow. He slightly waddled behind the man, pulling the cloak over his shoulders, and then grabbing the bottom of the cape, and pulling it up, to keep it from dragging all over the ground- where there was some dirt, or the ability to be stepped on. 

They kept walking and walking, eventually making it to a door.

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//"You can't sit with us." -> "Actually, Megan- I can't sit anywhere. .''~*Heteroids*~''."

-

The door was soon opened. Behind it seemed to be another bedroom- there was almost nothing in it. Only a bed, a couple windows with dark drapes, a table with an alarm clock and lamp and a fireplace nearby- on the opposing end of the space.

It was dark, and empty- almost completely quiet. There was nothing to be heard, save for a couple movements outside- likely from the wildlife. Gingerbrave was gestured to go into the room first- to which the child complied, and walked in straight away. Dark Choco followed right after, leaving the door open for some light to make it's way to the colden space.

"You can sit down anywhere... I won't mind. I don't have much in here... " the statement was blunt- as to be expected. So, with a small gesture, he went to start the fireplace, while Gingerbrave sat on the floor. The child wrapped the cloak around himself tighter, as the chilliness of the room started to get a bit bitter.

As soon as the fireplace was lit, Dark Choco walked back, and he glanced down to the boy. Gingerbrave just sat there, staring at his feet- his blue eyes travelling to the fire on the other end of the room every little bit. He shifted in discomfort- and the sound of the fire seemed to start to exist on it's own- blocking out every other noise in the room. The sound of wind blowing outside... the creaking of the floor boards under Dark Choco's feet.

Dark Choco simply stood near the door of his room, observing the child. His expression didn't waver. He constantly studied Gingerbrave's face. The expression was just lost, and it seemed to be pinging between confusion, and sadness.

The man recegnized those looks. Maybe he was wrong about them- but.. it seemed that there was hints of the possibility of flashbacks. Fear or pain or emptiness. Eyes could say so much about someone, and unless you knew how to read them- you could miss so much that wasn't being said.

The tall, stalky man knew this well- as he had endured almost nothing but suffering at one point in his life- until he fell into a slight ring of mediocrity. He believed in Dark Enchantres's goal. He wanted to rid the world of the witches that made cookies to be consumed.

However, his outlook on life had changed after his own world fell. He strode to be a hero, and a figure worthy of respect- and he had taken out everyone in his path unintentionally- in the long run. He had failed before, and he had failed since then. He hadn't even grown, as an individual- he just stayed the way he was ever since.

"You are thinking about someone or something." The man stated bluntly, before walking toward the child- who continued to stare off into the fire that flickered nearby. Mere steps away, the boy was startled out of his train of thought, before jolting to look up at the man. There was a glance of frantic worry.

After settling, the guest just looked a bit embarrassed, before quickly looking away and mumbling 'sorry' to the older individual.

Dark Choco sighs, before sitting down on the bed. He sat in silence for a bit longer, before the child brought his arms over his face- hiding his gaze behind his limbs as he curls toward his knees.

"It really hurts, doesn't it? I don't know what you are thinking about- but it looks like you are carrying a lot of emotional stress. By the looks of it... it is based off of personal failures. Am I wrong?" the dark haired placed his hand on his knee, before leaning forward.

Gingerbrave looked up to the man, before glancing down and shifting his legs a bit- not sure of what he should say. Is there anything he could say?

There were a million things on his mind... and the current problem was his memories- plaguing him, and always creeping along his back. The flames of the fire in the side of the room always reminded him of his failures of the past. The day he was brought into this world, and the day he learned that- as he was- he would always have to fight.

The incident in Pomegranate's room earlier was a cruel reality that he hoped would have been over. He had to face the facts though. That voice- the entity that had been the cause of this whole mess was still around. There was no doubt about it. Gingerbrave could only rest for so long.

He didn't know The Darksides. While he was becoming acquainted- he was still a stranger. Even so, strains of the past would not effect one of the things lingering in his mind. A constant question that he let gnaw at his psyche and send chills up his spine.

Should he tell them? Should he avoid telling them?

The entity was smart, and evil. It was outright awful- and it knew how to use it's smarts to get around everything that was thrown at it. They had dealt with the entity once- the same thing would never happen again.

Who knew when it would come back?

What if it came back with the intention to finish what it started tomorrow?

Then there was the feelings of guilt he always had. The pain, and the fear. The world-ending sadness that followed the inevitable failures he endured. He could have done so much more. He could have saved them. He was scared and it kept him from being a good hero. A good brother.

The child didn't notice that he was tearing up. He sniffled, bringing his arm up to his face, before rubbing at his nose and sucking in a quick- uneven breath.

He couldn't help it.

The memories were flooding back- plaguing him and prying- trying to claw their way in and eliminate his confidence. What little of it he had left. He grit his teeth, before pulling his hands over his head, and covering his ears a little bit- the sound of sobbing and pained grunts and phantom heat of flames were overwhelming.

He almost felt as though he was suffocating.

A small hiccup escaped him. Then another, and another- followed by a heavy sob.

He couldn't hear anything. He felt as though he couldn't breathe. What was going on?

Gingerbrave brought his hands down to his throat, and started to panic, trying to retreat back into the cloak that was given he hid himself. Embarrassed, and scared. Confused- of course. Regret and anger pooled off of him in floods. The room was heavy, and so was his heart.

Dark Choco took notice of the child struggling to breathe and immediately took action, kneeling in front of him quickly, before gently grabbing his shoulders.

"Breathe. In and out. You need to slow down your breathing, and try to calm down. You are going to get hurt." he leans forward a little- locking calm darkened eyes with frantic blue ones.

Eventually- Gingerbrave took in a deep breath and his breathing started to slow.

((To be Continued))

Chapter Text

//"When will you learn... When will you learn..! That your actions have concequences?!!"//

-

The child struggled to calm down, even with the help of Dark Choco there to guide him through it. Whimpering, and the sound of raspy breaths and light crying didn't stop for at least ten minutes, and that was at best. The tall man cou;d only sit there and watch as the child regained his composure with little to no quickness, and ample confusion.

Eventually, though, the guest slumped forward, worn out. Exhausted from the day, and the overwhelming emotions that had taken him by storm, not even a minute ago. 

The semi-stoic man let out a pondering sigh, before he looked off to the side- contemplating his next actions. With careful consideration, and generosity- he decided that he would rather move Gingerbrave to the bed rather than make him sleep slumped over himself on hard, chilly wooden floor from the exhaustion he had just succombed to.

Shifting his weight to his right leg, and pushing the rest of his body to stand- dark choco gently moved his arm under Gingerbrave's knees and behind his back- before picking up the child in what would have been considered a 'Bridal Hold'. However, the man would rather think of it as cradling.

Within a couple steps, the adolescent was gently set down on the bed, and covered with the warm blanket left flolded at the foot of the structure. The cloak was not taken away from him though. It just remained there- hopefully providing comfort. Or, at least, that is what the man would like to convince himself it was doing. 

Making sure the child would assumably be comfortable at the least, the man walks over to the nearby wall- which was merely open space between the nightstand and the windowsill. Gentle breezes waft in through the small crack beteen the window and the sill. Short, dark curtains flutter along the small but generous breeze- gently wafting along without a major care in the world. The soldier grunted, closing his eyes and relaxing. 

He was a very, very light sleeper. For a long time, after one of the darkest moments of his past, he couldn't sleep at all. He used to use coffee- but caffiene long since lost it's effect on him. He had grown too used to it. 

Battling with constant fear, and even occasional denial did it to him a lot. The inability to get himself together was something he had to overcome quickly- especially if he wanted to be of service to Dark Enchantres's cause. One could say, that at this point, he mainly just slept with one eye open at all times. If something happened, he would be back awake in the matter of seconds to see what was wrong. 

With that, dark eyes closed, and the man leans against the wall, keeping himself leaned back the slightest bit- he managed to sleep standing up, locking his legs to where he wouldn't fall. 

The room fell quickly to silence. There was nothing but the sound of the breeze from the window- and the light crackling of the fire that still burned on the other end of the room. Noises fading out with his conscious- a pit of darkness was reached. One that Dark Choco had come to know quite well while he was asleep. 

Just then- though- he felt as though he was falling. 

The falling didn't feel like pressure- or wind. Wherever he was falling from- was just as unkown as where he going. The darkness was inpenetrable. Though some may even dub it strange- the man couldn't even tell if he was falling up or down. Maybe he was even going to the side for all he knew. 

Just as he figured he would wait out the strange semi-conscious absurdity- he felt himself crashing to the ground- or more like- something metal. 

Opening his eyes- he looked around. Even devoid of his cape, sword, and some of the over-worn attire he usually sported, the space he had fallen into was blistering hot. Instinctively, the first thing he did was pull his arm over his face, and cough into his elbow. It felt dry- wherever he was. Dry, and awful. 

Getting a closer look at the area around himself, Dark Choco processed that he was laying on his back. The feeling of blistering pain rushed through his shoulders, and lower back. It almost hurt to move. Eventually, though, he pried himself free of where he had landed in this unpleasant dream. 

It took a lot of self-pressuring to even get himself to move. All of that effort made it hard to breathe in this air-deprived environment. Every inhale was hell as it made him feel like he was being fried from the inside out. Throat aflame, and melting together- keeping him from speaking- even if he really wanted to. 

Standing up, the heat only felt worse- which he should have thought about. 

Heat rises. 

After finally clearing his mind, and managing to get a good control over his breathing in this torturous dream he was enduring- he looked around again, and finally got to see everything more clearly. He was on a metal pan of sorts, rectangular, in shape. The pan was being heated by fire that was barging at him from all sides and angles. 

Off toward the front of the space, where his feet had been pointed before he stood- there was an arched doorway of sorts- sealed and made of what was metal- assumably. 

He heard a wheezing cough- and despite not wanting to look down- he did. 

There cookies all arond him- and all of them bore some resemblance to Gingerbrave. Be it looking extremely identical, or simply sporting a lot of similar features. Most of the cookies around him had white hair- skull buttons on their clothing, and it seemed most of them weren't moving. 

Dark Choco had seen the faces of death all over his previous home. He knew what death looked like when it had claimed the life of someone. These cookies. These CHILDREN... most of the ones he was looking at were dead. 

"C-Come one... we have to ... get out...!" there was coughing and wheezing heard from off to the left of the tall, dark haired man. "We need... to... bust.. out of here..!" the voice of the child was desperate, and pleading. 

He even sounded as though he might be on the brink of sobbing. 

He knew exactly who it was. 

Before he could turn around, and look at Gingerbrave, though- the dream ended. 

Dark Choco snapped back to reality, waking up with a start as he jolted forward, the feeling of heat, and the suffocating feeling still lingered in his mind. With that- the man looked over to the fire on the opposing end of his rom, and he shivered a bit, but kept his nerves down to where they wouldn't be see. 

He, too- didn't want to go anywhere near the flames. At least for now. 

Looking back to Ginerbrave, who was sleeping, curled up on the bed that Dark Choco had provided to him, the man's gaze softened more than it already had. He just sighs, looking back down to the floor of his room. He wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep that night. 

"... Is that... what is always on your mind..? No wonder you always look lost..."

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//"Road work ahead? Ugh- yeah- I sure hope it does."//

-

The Jelly Forest was quiet as it always had been. The limbs of the trees wafted along in the breeze, rustling of leaves and branches heard from all directions. Licorice knew this forest well. He often scoured it for more organic resources- stuff that he couldn't gain from minerals. 

So far, nothing had been out of the ordinary. Everything was as nature-tranquil as it usually was. The small noises of animals hiding in trees- the rustling of grass under their feet and the unstopping breeze that produced the most noise, for one reason, or another. It really depended on where he was. That didn't seem to ease the man's mind though. 

Licorice kept his hand firmly grasped around his weapon of preferance as he steadily moved forward. 

Poison Mushroom walked along behind the taller man. The child seemed to be amusing themselves with a mushroom that they had summoned up from who knows where. 

Overall, Mushroom wasn't really all that noisy to begin with. They tended to keep to themselves, unless they were asking others if they wanted 'Shroomies'. Honestly, sometimes, Licorice wondered how he got saddled with the estranged, younger cookie most of the time. Despite that, he hasn't had a reason to complain. Not even once. 

"Have you seen anything yet?" he asked down to the younger companion, who, in turn, looked up to him with naturally wide eyes. 

Poison Mushroom simply shook their head 'no' before looking away from the purple capped mushroom they were carrying. They glanced from left to right- before suddenly stopping in their tracks. 

The child seemed to star off to the right for a moment before tugging on Licorice's robe. Once they had the older cookie's attention, they pointed in the directio they were looking. "I don't see anything. Doesn't feel right." they stated. 

Licorice, too, looked in the direction that the child had guide him to look at. With a nod, and the slightest sigh- the dark magic user walked ahead, casting an aura of magic over himself and the child who had come to help him. The magic barrier would help them keep from being detected. Much like being invisible.

"Come on, let's go." the man walked ahead, bringing his scythe down a bit, to ensure that he was ready, in case something went wrong. He quietly shifted his way through the grass and around the bushes that rested between the trees- Mushroom tailing right behind him. "Do you know exactly where you felt it from?" he questioned back to the companion. 

"No. Feeling was brief." Poison Mushroom muttered, before looking down. "Definintely this direction." they continued. 

Nodding, the older cookie held a long branch out of Poison Mushroom's way, before continuing ahead. They walked for a good 10 minutes, at least. At first, nothing seemed to be changing. However, the dark magic user didn't doubt Poison Mushroom's ability to sense something was wrong. The younger cookie was more aware than most thought they were. They could tell something was off in an atmosphere. Physically, or socially. 

Upon stumbling over a branch that suddenly sprouted up out of the ground, Licorice fell forward- struggling as he regained his balance. He blinked a couple times- and when he had- the entire world around him changed. 

There was a pink mist in the air, and the trees were all looming over the two cookies. 

Instinctively, Licorice moved back, and grit his teeth, aiming the blade of his weapon toward the trees defensively. Namely out of habit. 

Poison Mushroom didn't seem to understand the reason behind Licorice's movent. They looked up, with a curious, confused glint in their eye. They didn't seem bothered by anything around them. Not even the vines, that were crawling closer and closer from the ground. 

Instinctively, Licorice picked up the younger cookie, and looked down to the vines, stomping them out. It seemed the shielding spell either wasn't working- or it was malfunctioning. 

"What are you doing..?" Poison Mushroom asked, from where they were being held. "What are you stepping on?" the darkened eyes looked down to the ground, seeing nothing but the green foliage. 

"Do you not see that shit on the ground trying to grab you?" the dark haired male questioned to the child companion, who only shook his head no in response. Licorice's face went from partly incredulous to pensive. "... hm.. maybe..." he cut himself off, before setting Mushroom back down on the ground, when the ground looked safe enough for them. 

The wheels in his head were spinning, causing him to pace a little bit, looking up every couple seconds to make sure nothing was making it's way closer to them. 

After some thought, the man snapped his fingers, and walked back over to the tree root he had tripped over. Making a large stride- he quickly walks forward, before causing himself to trip over it again. As soon as he had- he blinked  couple times, like before. Upon opening his eyes, the world was back to normal. There was no dark pink smoke or mist- and the dark tinted trees, with moving vines were no longer around. It was as if they all disappeared. 

"Ah, that's it..!" he exclaimed aloud, which made Poison Mushroom only tilt their head in curiosity. The child walked forward, expecting Licorice to explain what happened- which surely would happen. 

"What's wrong?" they asked up to the man, who calmed himself, and cleared his throat, before looking dow to the purple clad child. 

"This root right here. I tripped over it, and everything changed. I am guessing you weren't seeing what I saw, because you didn't trip over it like I had. There is only one effective way to test out this theory though. I am guessing you know what I am talking about." An expecting gaze fell on Purple Mushroom, who, in turn, pondered for a moment, before nodding. 

"I need to help test it out..?" 

Licorice nodded, before stepping back a bit, and looking toward the root. 

Poison Mushroom walked over to where Licorice was, standing still, and waiting for some instructions from the older cookie. Licorice set himself up as well, before letting ot a sigh, and looking down to Poison Mushroom. "With luck this will work. We just may have the answer to our problems, for this obsticle. Are you ready?"

"I am." Poison Mushroom nodded their bead, before looking down to the same root that Licorice had tripped over in the frist place. 

With that, both of them started to quickly walk forward. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//"AA..... AAA......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"//

-

The small trek forward didn't last too long. As soon as both of them forced a tripping interaction over the root of the tree, they clipped ito the other version of the world that Licorice had first witnessed.

The black haired dark-magic user looks around as he attempted to contemplate the next best move. Meanwhile, he helped the child following him up off of their knees- the purple clad individual looking around in both curiosity, and an ample sense of discomfort. 

The wide eyes of the younger individual were almost different, in a way. However, now was not the time to think about that. This was the time to venture ahead, and gather as much information as they could. 

If it took them tripping over the root to see any of this, Licorice did wonder how Dark Encantress noticed any of it in the first place. 

Maybe it was because she has had such close contact with whatever was producing this odd-colored eerie fog. 

Something in the man told him that there was something beyond this that wasn't quite right. No matter how hard he shook his head, and rattled it around, it was falling on empty. 

"Come on. Stick close to me, and make sure not to wander too far. It would be best if we stay in the same general area, in case something happened." the gray skinned ma ventured off, knowing full well that Poison Mushroom was right behind him. 

They walked along a path of dead grass, and odiferous smog that nearly made it hard to breathe. It was an odd sensation, to say the least. Licorice knew that the fog had some sort of potency. An odiferous scent- yet he couldn't place a single smell he was familiar with in this derranged version of the woods. 

"It's like I can see everything around me, at the same time, I see absolutely nothing at all." the dark haired ma noted. 

"Do you think we are close?" the child asked from Licorice as they started to mess around with a small purple mushroom cap in their hands. "It feels like we are. It's difficult to walk." 

"i don't know." 

There was a silence between the two as Licorice forged ahead. He moved the larger vines out of the way, be it passively or by force. Poison Mushroom handled themselves well, they hardly needed any help. Which was good, on both ends. Eventually, they made it to a small patch, where a clearing would have been seen out ahead. 

Was this where Red Velvet got Gingerbrave from in the first place? There was a broken and cracked structure out in the center of a field of dead grass and gloomy flora. 

The structure had several pink shards of something floating above it, all of the shards of whatever they were formally a part of were levitating in an odd disarray.

Whatever it was, made Licorice uneasy as he turned his head, and shook it a few times. There was a low buzzing rising in his temple. It made the room feel as though it was shaking. It was much like the feeling he had gotten when he had first contacted the troubled child that now resided in the base of the Cookies of Darkness. 

It was clear that Poison Mushroom was feeling the symptoms too. They brought their hand up to their head, and shook their nodding noggin a couple times. Already unfocused eyes were now struggling to stay in one place as the gaze of the child seemed to drift almost everywhere. 

"Come on. I don't think we should get any closer. If this is anything like what we encountered in our 'guest's mind, then we should wait until more of us are present. We shouldn't take any chances." The man put his hand out, gently shooing the child to move back toward where they had come from.

It didn't take long for the retreat. Licorice did not know if he was doing the right thing or not. Who the hell knows. Maybe Dark Enchantress would be pissed he didn't make any progress. In his own opinion, though, if the entity that was messing with Brave then was causing damage of that caliber- mentally. There was no way that they would hold back if it was just two of the 'interferences' alone in what looked to be it's own territory.

Before they went to turn, Licorice took notice of about 5 or so silhouettes running in their direction. All of them were stark of any major details. He couldn't tell if they were friend or foe. 

Based on this environment, though, it was better to be safe than sorry. Grabbing Poison Mushroom by their hand, he grunted, and narrowed his pastel amber eyes before darting off in the opposite direction. 

While both of the darksides were running, all they heard from the approaching figures was a bunch of garbled words. Ones they couldn't make sense of in the least. 

,,˙ǝʇʇǝlɯo uɐ ǝʞᴉl pǝploɟ ʇǝƃ oʎ ǝɹoɟǝq 'ƃƃǝ uɐ ǝʞᴉl ǝlqɯɐɹɔs ɐʇʇǝq,,

A couple minutes passed, and soon, the same root was seein just ahead of both of the retreating party. 

"Hurry up. You go first. Something's right behind us..!" Licorice turned around, swinging his scythe- the blade nearly missed the face of one of the near figures, which still looked like a black mass of energy with no definable form. 

Poison Mushroom quickly ran into the vine and tripped over it, sending them out of the rift in the space. 

The dark-magic user continued to swing his scythe as he backed up, looking back and forth at the five or so figures that loomed over him. Gritting his teeth, the gray skinned man was about to make a solid strike against the approaching figures. 

One of them spoke again. 

,,˙ǝɐƃ ɐɯɯoɯ o⅄,,

Swinging his weapon of choice just a little bit, the man lost his balance, and fell backwards as he effectively tripped over the vine. 

"Dammit..!" quickly looking back up, the black haired cookie of darkness paused right in his tracks, seeing unwelcome, but familiar faces where the masses of blackened energy were just a second ago. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Skidaddle, Skidoodle, yer dicc is now a noodle.))

-

Moderate fright shifted to ample annoyance as Licorice's view cleared. He blinked a couple of times, before pursing his lips a bit and stand up, holding his scythe out toward the unwelcomed guests.

"You. No wonder there was a disturbance. Damn."  The man swung his scythe around, aiming to embed it in the ground near one of the onlooking party. Standing right in front of him, Almond Cookie was joined by several others, who all were giving Licorice looks of skepticism. There was no doubt of the drace of judgement. 

"Tends to happen when you are sitting somewhere spying on someone." Alchemist piped up from where she stood next to the silent Vampire Cookie. 

Sparkling and Herb also stood there, but they sported looks of confusion and an unwelcomed glint. 

"Stop staring at me. I swear all of you kingdom dwelling rats have a damn problem. The hell is wrong with you?" The black magic user rolled his bright amber eyes before scoffing and standing up. He made sure he was close to the blank expressioned child that stood on the grass right behind him. 

"Tell us what you were doing near the crimescene." Almond stated to the man, bluntly. He pulled out a pair of cuffs, before narrowing his gaze. 

"Crimescene. What the hell are you talking about you old fart?" after dusting himself off, the man sighed, before shaking his head. "Nevermind don't tell me. I would fight with you, but you guys are already getting on my nerves and I'm not putting up with it." Licorice went to walk away, going in a direction that wasn't leading toward the hideout. 

"Not until you tell us what you were doing out here. What was the point of spying on us? We weren't doing anything that should warrant any... interest." Vampire crossed his arms, one of his fangs was exposed to the clean air- under a curled lip. 

"What a man can't enjoy a walk? It's not my fault you all were making so much noise." with a huff of annoyance, Licorice brought up his hand, thinking of a quick spell in his head. Maybe, with luck, he could get himself and Mushroom out of there before anything major happened. 

The black haired man had an inkling or two as to why these cookies were there. They were probably looking for Gingerbrave. However, he couldn't give away that he knew where the child was. They didn't need these intruders all over their turf. Let alone did they need to be found in the first place. 

"Wait a minute-" just as Almond went to try and stop them, Licorice snapped his fingers, and he and his child companion disappeared in a puff of smoke- leaving nothing but the memory of the confrontation in the kingdom-cookies wake.

"Damn it all." Almond cursed before couging a bit, and fanning some of the smoke away from himself. "That did us no good." 

Sparkling looked over to the detective, before letting out a sigh. He was clearly ready to move forward as well, maybe to help detain the darksides. However, he never got the chance. "What did you think they were really there for? It's awful shady that they were around where we were looking over the crimescene .." 

"I honestly don't know. I didn't expect them to say anything, but I forgot how many sleeves that shady magician has up his sleeves. More than likely more spells that we have never seem before. We know how the dark arts can be." Almond pulled his hand through his hair, before closing his eyes with a sigh. 

"We shouldn't run around aimlessly trying to find them. We don't know where they went, and we can't lave your stuff over in the crime scene with the possibility of it being touched. We don't know who all resides in this area." Vampire noted to the rest of the cookies. 

"Yeah... we should get going." Herb let out a small sigh, before gently playing around with a small plant he had in his hands. More or less a nervous habit when things around him were particularly tense. 

"I suppose we wouldn't have any other thing to do anyways..." the detective grunted. "We have already went back there three times. It is clear noting new has happened. Maybe we should just go back to looking over evidence that we have encountered so far." 

Affirmative nods from all of the other cookies that stood with the man. 

Soon enough, all of them were wandering off in the direction they had chased the two darksides from. Only pondering what it could have been that even spooked the gray-skinned man in the first place. 

"Something was definitely off about what happened, in my opinion." Alchemist noted. "The taller dude was acting like he was seeing something extremely off-setting. Especially considering how fast he was trying to get away from us." 

"I did see that. Didn't you all also catch onto the fact that he stared right at our faces several times while they were running off- but it was only after falling down and facing us that he did see who we were. It's a bit bright out here, I doubt he wouldn't have seen who we were with a problem." Vampire chimed in. 

"I agree with the both of you, but there are other variables to consider sometimes. It is a bit warm outside and the gray skinned dabbler of the dark arts seems to wear a lot of heavy, dark clothes. He was surely overheating." the detective put the handcuffs back into his pocket. 

"Yeah. I don't think I have ever seen him actively overheating before." Vampire brushed some of his long hair out of his face, his eyes focused on the ground. 

"Maybe it was the heat causing his vision to not focus, until he stopped, but even so- I don't think it would have been a reaction worth the fright he seemed to have there for a minute." Herb pet the leaves on the small sprout he was holding, his brown eyes holding a glint of curiousness.

"That doesn't explain how he didn't recognise our voices. We were telling him to stop running the entire time. We have fought him several times before. He has even recognized our voices before. Even if he doesn't seem to remember our names." Sparkling stated with a bit of a huff. 

"Something isn't adding up." Vampire concluded. 

"Well no shit, Sherlock." Alchemist shook her head. "Either way.. we can't do anything about it now. Let's just pick of the crime scene and get home. Hopefully we found something useful..."

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

// "Have you ever had a dreams. That. That you um you add you do what you could you do you it you want you you could do so you. So um, you can, you could do anything?"//

-

The doors to the Darkside Cookies base soon swung open as Licorice walked in, Poison Mushroom following shortly behind him. The child was looking around, making sure they were not followed by the snoopers they had run across a little while ago. 

The dark haired man let out a disgrunted huff as he swung his scythe up, resting the large weapon over his shoulder. "What a pain." he grit his teeth. 

"You seem pleased with your trip, Licorice." A voice stated from the nearby doorway. With a bit of a jolt, and a slight cringe, Licorice tensed a bit, shrinking in on himself. Within the moment, though, he regains the composure, straightened his posture, and looked over to the woman. 

Dark Enchantress was leaning into the nearby doorframe, her eyes seeming to look him over as she stood back up straight. Her staff was resting in her hands, ready to be used, if and when need-be. 

"Yeah, we went and looked into what was up. The pink fog in the forest is most likely whatever was keeping it's clutches over the kid when we first brought him in. However, we also had those kingdom cookies snooping in places they did not belong in." the golden eyes narrowed a bit. "They were near where Velvet first had the encounter with the kid, I believe."

The red eyes of the woman seemed to narrow as she concentrated. "I see... well this is quite the development. I would sure hope you ensured you were not followed." It was more of a stern statement than anything else. 

"Yes. I made sure we were not followed." Licorice sighed. "Either way, as I said, whatever that thing is- it is in the forest. It seems that tripping over a specific root makes us pass some sort of break in the reality. If we don't, we don't see what we are surrounded by. Vines will be sneaking in when they get the chance..." 

"Vines, you say?" The woman brought her dark gloves hand up to her face, before contemplating for a moment longer. "How interesting." she stated.

At this point, the dark magic user fell to silence. He only nodded, before locking the door to the base. "Anyways.. how is the kid doing?" the man questioned, just for the woman to turn her head. "He sat with Pomegranate for a while. She, of course, didn't appreciate it. However, she said he behaved himself, save for staring off into space the whole time. He is with Dark Choco at the moment." 

Poison Mushroom walked over to the nearby bench, before laying down on on it. That child could get comfortable just about anywhere. Within a meager few seconds, they had passed out, quickly falling asleep. 

"I'll go get them into bed..." Licorice mumbled before walking near the youngest darkside member. He picked them up before setting down his scythe, and walking down the left hallway connected to this rather small, underwhelming welcoming room. 

The only thing within the space worth nothing was a mirror, or two, a couple statues of estranged creatures, and several vases with white lillies gently placed on the inside. 

Watching the two retreat to the left of the room, Dark Enchanted closed her eyes, before shaking her head. Then, she turned on heel and started to walk down the other side of the hall, to the right. 

She was seeking a particular room. It would not be too hard to find. 

Within several paces and under a minute of travel, she stood outside of the room she had in mind- which was Dark Choco's Room. She didn't even knock. She knew damn well the man wasn't asleep. If he was getting dressed, or ready for the day, he would be in the bathroom, and the door to his room would have been open. 

She opened the door quietly though, as a means of making sure not to catch anyone off guard. Walking inside, she looks around, spotting Brave on the bed as he seemed to be fast asleep- though in clear disdain all the while. 

Standing near the window, Dark Choco was leaning against the wall, crossed arms and eyes closed. Certainly awake, and aware of the fact the leader of their group had stepped into the space. 

Without needing to be told, or prompted, the mann straightened his posture, before walking over to the barely taller woman. 

He didn't greet her verbally, but his expression held a solemn, and calm expression rather equivalent of the salutations. 

"How did it go, Choco?" she questioned, wasting no time with her gathering of situational info. 

"He is sleeping, but not soundly. I am sure you could tell that, by the way his face looks in his sleep." The man stated before sighing. "He fought sleep, a little. I don't think he will feel rested, even when he does wake up." 

"Fitful sleep. I suppose I should not be surprised." the woman muttered, before walking closer. "I wonder why he is a fitful sleeper. I don't think I recall ever seeing him tired when we encountered him in the past. It is likely the fault of that lingering menace." she let out a soft grunt of disapproval. 

"Some part of me slightly begs to differ, respectfully, of course." the man stated, before putting his arms down at his side. 

"What makes you say that, Choco?" the woman pondered the question aloud, leaving an opening for the man to continue with his train of thought. 

"I dozed off. When I did, I ended up in this place.. I think it was an oven. I fell down onto a flat surface, hot to the touch, I would imagine. I could hardly breathe, as it was sweltering hot. I looked around and saw the child there, as well as other children that looked like him..." Dark Choco paused, before closing his eyes. 

"I suspect there is something more you wish to tell me." the woman guessed. 

"Indeed there is." he replied to the woman. He regained his composure over the next minute or so, allowing a brief stent of tranquility. With a deeper sigh, and another shutting of his eues, the man looked toward the light being produced by the window again. "There was a bunch of dead children. They all looked similar to him. I would guess they were siblings, or made the same way he was." 

Another moment of silence between the two as Dark Enchantress soaked in all of the information. There was no way telling if this was true, false, or maybe the fabrications of a messed up dreamscape that had already endured much trauma. 

She doubted that though. 

Because she had seen a bunch of child like shadows in the boys head that looked similar to him from when she and the other darksides went in there before. There was no way they were a coincidence. 

Now.. she was stuck wondering what to do about the chid's clear trauma. 

"Wake him up in about an hour, if he is ot up already... I need to go start cooking. Bring him out when you hear the bell go off." 

Dark Choco nodded affirmatively, before turning his gave back to the sleeping child. Wordlessly, the woman left his room, closing the door behind herself. 

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

((Aaand I think to myself.... what the fuck-))

-

Waking up with a couple short blinks and foggy eyes trying to focus on the far wall, the child guest sat up and rubbed at his eyes. It was clear that he was still tired. He seemed to have barely rested at all, despite seeming to have been asleep this entire time. 

The red-eyed man standing near the window barely even moved when he made a glance in the childs direction, silently observing his awareness and depicting that he needed a little bit more time to fully wake up. 

The time passed slowly. Surely Gingerbrave had looked at him a couple more times, that was a given. 

With a small sigh, and a shake of his head, Dark Choco finally stood up completely and walked toward the area where the guest had slept. "You're awake." the man bluntly stated as he folded his arms behind his back in passive contemplation. 

On cue, the boy let himself produce a small nod, before he went to try and stand up. 

The youth was wobbling, clearing his fuzzy vision and relaxing tense muscles as he made the couple strides needed to hand the cape that Dark Choco always wore backt to the man. He had managed to stand still a few seconds, blinking harshly as he let out a small thank you. 

"Breakfast will be served soon." 

The rest of the time inside of the room seemed to be a bit of a blur. Gingerbrave knew he was getting ready for the day, very briefly, of course. He simply used the bathroom, and washed his face- ensuring to clean up any messes he made along the way. 

He was in and out. 

Once he was done, Dark Choco made a gesture with his head and signalled for the other to follow him- to which the child replied to with a nod. Gingerbave walked right behind the tall man, and kept his mouth shut. 

"By the look on Dark Enchantress's face earlier, I would say she has something to talk about . You might what to try and keep your ears open this morning alright?" The hall soon turned into what seemed to be the living room and kitchen area. 

The two separated, and went to sit down at the table. Dark Choco went this his typical seat of choice, which was anywhere on a corner- as it made it easier to getout,  if need be. It was also closer to the exits of the kitchen, he needed to go and do something in a short amount of time. 

Breakfast was eaten in reletive silence. Gingerbrave thanked them for the food, before slowly starting to eat- Pomegranate drank a morning tea and Licorice ate his breakfast as he looked through a small, dark-covered book of sorts. 

At the moment, Poison Mushroom was not in the room, and it seemed that Red Velvet was once again out doing something with Chiffon. Guarding, perhaps.

To silence the tension of the room, Dark Enchantress started to speak first. The woman folded her hands over her lap as she let out a deep sigh. "Gingerbrave, a word?" 

Hesitantly, the child guest looked to the side, glancing to the floor for a moment before nodding in affirmation. With a small push, Gingerbrave slid the mostly empty plate forward, and backed himself away from the table.

Before long, he was standing in the near hallway with Dark Enchantress, the tall woman looking down at him with a bit of a contemplating, and somewhat troubled gleam behind her normally wicked eyes. It seemed she was a little lost for words, and was struggling to find the right thing to say. 

"I have been alerted about some of your spacing out that has been going on. Such as at the table last night, and in Pomegranate's room last night." better to start off with something relative to what she had to make a point out of right? 

At the news of that, the child tensed, seeming to grow un-eased as he looked down. There were no words for him, he simply nodded, at least telling her that they were true. 

What was she going to do? Was it something inconvenient? Maybe he shouldn't have left the jail cell- maybe-

"I am not really worried about you..." she started to say- before letting out a small huff, looking away from the child. "But you understand that we can't have you having these episodes, especially if something does happen, correct?" 

More silence. 

Gingerbrave shakily nodded as he looked away, seeming disappointed, but he said nothing. 

"Don't look more discouraged. Your face is going to become as wrinkled as mine." Dark Enchantress let out a small tease, though it was a little on the intimidating side. The child knew though, and he smiled a bit, despite his sad expression. 

"Haha... it's not a bad thing, is it?" the quiet question was proposed, leaving both of them in silence. 

"I suppose not, child." Dark Enchantress walked closer to Gingerbrave, before tapping her scepter on the ground twice. "Now, I suppose I should ask you the real question. Dark Choco saw something he found concerning in what can be considered a vision last night. Something to do with you."

Gingerbrave tensed at this, and then swallowed down any building fear as he nodded for the woman to continue with whatever point she was intending to make in this conversation. 

"Yeah...?"

"To put it short, I wish to explore your psyche again, if you will allow us. Perhaps we can find a way to subdue that entity that was messing with your mind a little while back. However, this time, we only will go in if permission is granted from you."

For a moment, the white haired youths face seemed to darken at the thought. Not in disgust, but in a way that seemed to eminate a feeling the opposite to fondness. 

For a moment, the matriarch pillar of the darksides thought she would be denied her request. However, in an act of trust, or maybe even desperation, the child waited a couple moments, before hesitantly nodding his head. 

"Y-yeah. Okay. I agree. Maybe this will help, with putting whatever that thing was out of it's reign. If it is messing with me again, it's sure to cause trouble elsewhere... it might have already." with a small hitched exhale, the guest prisoner seemed to strighten his posture. 

Without a word, the woman of base nodded and gestured her hand with the sceptre toward the near door, and started walking. Brave followed right behid her, a small look of light determination spreading over his face as he did his best to swallow down whatever nerves he had. 

He needed to start getting back on his own two feet, and accepting this help would hopefully be the first step...

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

((Neeeeaaar, Faaaaaarrrrr, It's my ✨Chocolate Baaar✨)

-

The events proceeding the talk between Dark Enchantress and Gingerbrave after that point was a bit of a blur. Everyone finished eating their food, and cleaning the kitchen. There was hardly any communication past that with each other as they were all distracted. 

Briefly, Dark Enchantress held conference with Red Velvet, based on what little bit Gingerbrave had seen, he would say that they were talking to each other about something important. Instrucions, maybe. 

A small nod of the womans head told Gingerbrave that it was time to follow her, and he complied, walking along until they reached a room that looked like it had a medical table in it. 

From this point, the child already knew where he was supposed to go. He crawled up on the table, but didn't lie down- not yet- at least. All of the darksides made their way into the room, Red Vel was standing by the door, with an assortment of cakehounds, all sitting nearby and guarding with wagging tails. 

"Alright. We are going to attempt to enter your psyche." Enchantress wasted no time, crossing her hands over her lap as she stood near the table. "With luck, we will be able to find part of what is ailing you. With even more luck, we will find more info on how to take down whatever was plaguing you when you were first brought here." 

With a stiff sigh Gingerbrave felt his bit of bravery starting to crumble, but he closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before nodding again. He needed to ensure that he took the help while it was offered, and didn't screw it up. 

The child couldn't help but think of everything that could and would go wrong though. What if they were hurt or that thing knew they were there? What would he do then? 

He could be the reason they got hurt, or killed, and he wouldn't even know it, would he? What if-

"Are you ready?" Dark Enchantress cut through his train of thought, tapping her skull-topped staff on the ground with a firm grasp. 

"Yeah." 

Gingerbrave leans back on the table, closing his eyes after biting his lip, and dismissing the thoughts he had started to let swarm his mind. He didn't know what happened after that, but he soon drifted off, and the world around him faded into darkness. 

-

"Alright. This will go the same as it did last time. I will see all of you in his mind. I do not know if he will be consciously aware of us this time, but he should be. We should attempt to be discreet, if that entity attached to Gingerbrave is aware we are here right now, we could be walking into a trap. Be vigilant." 

All of the Darksides nodded, closing their eyes as they felt themselves starting to fall. Dark Choco was calm, seeing as he endured this phase before. The man simply closed his eyes, and let the path take him whichever way it was going to. 

Licorice held onto his weapon, seeming to not enjoy the feeling falling, but he didn't start a commotion. 

Poison Mushroom sat there holding a small purple-capped bulb to entertain themselves as they fell, their expression still mostly unreadable. 

Pomegranate and Dark Encahntress simply looked like they were sitting. Not talking to each other, but they were still near one another. The silence was not comforting, quite an odd feeling on the contrary. It was much like the feeling of expecting something to happen, but nothing ever did. 

Nerves are in overdrive, but nothing ever comes of them, and by the time the event is over, you are nothing more than an overwhelved, over-worrying beacon of stress. 

Dark Enchantress caught hereslelf looking around the darkened area. She couldn't see anything, even if she really wanted to. 

However, soon, an all too familiar feeling washed over Dark Choco, and he knew that they would hit the floor. 

Impact was then made. They all came crashing down to the ground- closing their eyes instinctively. A couple seconds passed, and the feeling of free falling and a strange darkened abyss that was arguably peaceful turned into sweltering heat and the sound of crackling flames. 

Opening her eyes, Dark Enchantress sat up from where she landed. 

Looking around, she observed the surrounding area. There was a large metal door, intimidating fire, and the suffocating feeling of heat. All of the Darksides stood up, looking around themselves as they tried to observe where they had landed. 

Save for Dark Choco, the man simply sighs, before closing his eyes, and looking away from what he knew was going to come into view. 

Gingerbrave stood nearby, looking around his memory as he tears up. He didn't make a sound, and it seems that the Darksides didn't see him yet. He bit back making noise as he spotted himself in this memory. 

"Is this his memory?" Dark Enchantress looks around, her question was a bit cut off as she finally could see more of the world around her. She couldn't tell if she could before. 

The rest of the memory faded into existence- and all of the Darksides spotted 15 bodies on a large metal sheet- lying on their back. All of the bodies were small, very much child sized. 

Within the memory, coughing was heard, and a small cry of pain. 

Gingerbrave walks over to Dark Enchantress, not wanding to stand all alone as he closed his eyes, unable to look at all of the bodies he knew the fate of. He couldn't help but feel overwhelming guilt. He wanted to disappear, and forget. Because he didn't do enough. He couldn't have done more and it's all his fault. 

Dark Enchantress looked around in an array of macabre awe. They could smell burning. The smell of burnt dough was always nauseating. 

Several of the forms around them were coughing, now, talking to each other, and a couple of them crying. As for more of them- the darksides could tell that they had already perished. More than likely for the better, rather for suffering longer getting burns and struggling to breathe. 

She couldn't bring herself to speak- and as soon as she went to move forward- she felt a smaller hand grab her hand, shaking violently. 

Gingerbrave stood there, tears overflowing as he just continued to look down, a haunted, but somewhat blank expression on his face as he seemed to be dazed. He couldn't hold his hand still, in an attempt to be less annoying. No matter how hard he tried. 

With a small, disturbed sigh, the woman let him hold her hand, securing the gloved limb around his shaking, scarred fingers and palm. Without a word, she pulled the child closer. 

All of the Darksides, save for Dark Choco stood there and took in the morbid scene, sickened. Some of them remembered coming out of ovens. However, when they were in ovens themselves, they never felt heat. They never felt the pain of burning, or smelled burning dough. 

None of them said a word, the memory just continued to play around them- and off to the side, near the center of the sheet- a small, very burnt form struggled, and rose from the cookie sheet, shaking as they tried to keep their balance on their reddened, nearly-burnt legs. 

There he was. 

That one standing child was Gingerbrave.

-

((HeadCanon: During Cookie Run- people often say that Gingerbright, and Strawberry Cookie were baked with Gingerbrave. I am not sure if that is canon or not, but I headcanon it not to be. 

I headcanon Gingerbave's batch to have been baked first, Gingerbright's Second, and Strawberry's Third. All three of them have burns on their backs, and legs, because of being baked, and their dough not being 'perfected'. All cookies after them were baked and made to not feel pain, to keep them from screaming around in the oven- whether they were meant to be consumed or not. 

It is also said that while Gingerbrave and Gingerbright were made from the same dough, they do not consider each other siblings, but rather maybe cousins or simply close friends. 

I headcanon them to have not all been baked together for ONE reason- and that is because it is very illogical to bake different kinds of cookies on one sheet- as they usually have different baking requirements.))

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

(("You have three wishes. There are three rules. No causing death, no falling in love, no extra wishes." - "I wish spiders had wings." - ". . .  There are four rules."))

-

Despite the overwhelming heat, the scene was as clear as it would be. The lone child sitting up with a slight peeling sound as some of his skin from his legs didn't want to leave the cookie sheet. It seemed he was underdone, despite still being burnt in many areas. 

Holding a damaged arm, and a frantic look in the boys face, he peered around as he called out names of the other GingerChildren. However, every name that the memory called out to started out with 'Ginger' then when the other half of the name would be called, it fell to rough static.

"What's up with the static... some something wrong in this memory, other what what is happening?" Licorice looked around, bringing his scythe to himself as he tried to hide his unnerved expression. 

"Perhaps we are losing connection to his mind?" Pomegranate offered, her red eyes were hiding hints of disturbance, occasionally looking back to the child near Dark Enchantress. He looked like he was on the verge of collapsing, not even noticing anything else around himself. "He looks worked up.. maybe he is trying to push us out of this memory and wake up?" 

"I don't think that is it." Dark Enchantress sighs, before looking around a bit more. "My magic has not faultered. If he was trying to take us out of here, we would have had to struggle to stay in the first place." 

"If that is the case, then what do you think the problem may be?" Red velvet asked as he brought his sword up over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed, not liking the sight of all these dead children near his feet. Another thing he noticed is that, save for the faces that belonged to the dead ones- their faces were all blurry. 

Unable to be seen. 

"I think I understand." Dark Choco sighs, before he oped his eyes, and looked around at the children lying at his feet. Able to see them, but them unable to see and feel the darksides looking down at them. Because they were no longer real.

They were mere figments. 

Fractals of a whole, pieces of a puzzle, long since left in the past, but still dwelled on, even to this day. They were fragments of a nightmarish memory. 

"What do you think it is then?" Dark Enchantress sighs as she tapped her staff on the ground with a small exhale as she tried to resume her train of thought. 

"I think that the names we heard called had static at the end of them, because he doensn't remember what those names are. He can't remember, and his psyche is trying to remind him that the names are still there, even if they are unknown. It's something I think I have felt before." the bulky man explained with a small tinge of contemplation on his tongue. "Some of these childrens faces are blurry. He probably doesn't remember their faces either..."

Within the memory- Gingerbrave started to wobble around, his feet burning as he teared up, fearful of what was happening. With a small cough, the child went to shake one of the blurry-faced chidren, being as gentle as he could. 

"H-Hey. Come on, get up. We need to get out of here...!" The memory version of the child prompted, attempting to hold the hand of the cookie he was talking to. In response, the other child turned their weary head toward Gingerbrave, and started tearing up more. 

"I can't move... my legs and tummy hurt too much..." the other child sounded a bit feminine, but the darksides observing the memory couldln't tell for sure if they were or not. A small squeaky sob escpaed the smaller child, though as they looked right over to Gingerbrave. "Please hold my hand... I'm scared..." they pleaded to him. 

Despite his pain, the memory of Gingerbrave nodded, coughing from the sizzing heat and strenuous movements. Bending down to sit on his knees, he hissed in pain, but bit it back, before gently placing his hands on top of the hands of the child that lie there- surely dying from the heat, and bodily damage. 

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I can't do more..." mere moments in the crazy world that they had just come to, and there was nothing but suffering, confusion, and death already. Because, in the end, that was what cookies were made to endure. 

"I'm sorry too... I can't stand..." the younger sounding cookie started to lightly sob- the burning of the liquid that made his tears was sealing his eyes shut due to the tears starting to sizzle on his face. "Please don't leave me here all alone. It's dark... everything hurts...." the weak sobbing continued, the ailing child too weak to move more. 

The memory of the younger Gingerbrave started to get anxious, desperate to find a way to calm his unknown, crying kin down. Instinctively, 'Brave started to hum- before painfully sliding forward, and cupping both of his hands over the smaller boys damage hand, to let him know that he was there. The tune was unknown, and due to the memory around it, some of the tune also fell to the circumstances of static. 

A memory vivid, yet plagued by loss. 

All of the darksides watched as the unknown cookie child stopped moving, and crying- their tightened, frightened lips eventually losing all of the muscle power behind them. 

The child's face fell slightly eased, but blank, as the sizzled shut eyes and now-sealed mouth would forever now hold it's silence among the hellscape that consumed it. 

Barely even alive for mere minutes, and already their life was cut short. 

Because the world is cruel. 

GingerBrave's brotherly instincts and caring nature was always a part of him. Even in this screwed up situation that, despite the cause, the darksides regret seeing. 

Dark Enchantress felt herself pulled from the memory, or concentration of the scene playing in front of her, and she looked down to the same child, standing by her right now. Tears were overflowing as he watched the scene with the haunted, somewhat blank expression. 

His hands still trembled, and he seemed to be bitting his lip to keep from making any noises. Whether or not that was intentional, she would not know. The only thing she did know that the moment was that- despite her pride- she wasn't going to avoid what she was going to do next. 

With a small, gentle movement of her arm, she turned the child around, before kneeling in front of him, and pulling him into a hug. The child did not return it, because he was still in shock. However, he subconsciously leaned into it, leaning his face down and closing his eyes, because he didn't want to see it anymore. 

His whole body shook with unheard sobs, and the sadness poured off of him like waterfalls. It would't stop. 

All of the Darksides took a moment of silence, closing their own eyes and bowing their heads as they acknowledged the dead and dying children in the memory. Because that is all they were now, a cruel, heart-breaking memory. 

It wouldn't fix anything, or help GIngerbrave. Even so, it gave all of the darksides some sort of inner comfort- because.. they were likely going to be the only ones who truly know what happened. At least for now. 

They had a lot more of the memory to go. It would be better to take comfort in the silence, and not mourn, but commemorate the fallen.

Time waits for no one, after all.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

(("Tonight we feast- JUAN! We don't use hot sauce!" - "... Just a lil bit."))

-

The Darksides watched as the memory around them seemed to speed up. It was gradual, but most of it was Gingerbrave trying to persuade the other baking cookie children to get up, and try to escape. 

Around half way through the memory, the cookies of darkness took notice of a very familiar form. A cookie child with sleepware- including a nightcap. This child looked so much like Gingerbrave, one could call them twins. Other than the clothing choice, they held the most similarity. 

Eventually, the memory of Gingerbrave had awaked the sleeping cookie, who seemed to be a bit out of it. The one and only cookie that the child had managed to get to stand, and move with him. 

Gingerbrave watched from where he stood next to Dark Enchantress, his expression resting in both sadness and defeat. Off in the distance, the memory played the two boys talking to each other, constantly shifting their feet to keep them from burning more. 

"C-come on. We have to try. There is no way out... we can do it... I promise...!" the ghost of the past placed his hand on the slightly slumpier cookie's shoulder with a gentle pat. A small smile formed, trying to be as comforting and helpful as possible. "What do you say... Dozer? Please. We gotta try...!"

With a nervous yawn, and a slight whine of discomfort from dozer, the shorter cookie nodded in compliance. It took him not long to look around, and try to piece some more stuff together mentally. 

"How are we going to get out?" it was interruped by pained coughing as the more drowsy child rubbed his eyes, trying to keep himself from crying. 

Gingerbrave brought the other close within the memory, and brought him into a hug. Currently, the wall they were standing near was the most painful thing.

" I think I saw something moving around out there... maybe if we make noise we can be let out...?" Gingerbrave offered as he too started to cough a little bit from the dryness of the oven. "We aren't anywhere near big enough to move that door..."

The other child seemed to stare for a moment, before shaking their head. "If there is something out there that is big enough to open that door, then it is likely that they are the reason we are in here to begin with..." 

A moment of silence ensued between the two in the memory as Gingerbrave considered the options and weighed them mentally. An exasperated sigh soon escapes him. 

They didn't have options. 

They needed to make the options for themselves. If they waited for opportunity to knock, it would be too late. 

"Maybe if we... throw stuff at the door, it will make enough noise?" Gingerbrave offered, as he looked around. They were surrounded by limited options. Other than their clothes, and some buttons, they didn't have any major accessories. 

Looking down at his shirt, the memory projection of Gingerbrave used his tembling arms to pull three buttons off of his shirt- leaving two left on the cream-colored garb. 

Dark Enchantress watched in interest, noticing how the boy she knew had only two buttons on his shirt. These two buttons were in different places now- mainly impying that they had been removed and resewn onto the shirt in places that would keep the shirt together correctly. 

Within the memory, Gingerbrave took a step forward, before chucking the object forward, right at the metal door of the oven. The sound it made when the two items met was louder than expected. Giving a solid dinging sound upon collision. Nothing seemed to happen after that, though. There was no movement, no questions, no pondering from the other side of the hell that Gingerbrave and Dozer were enduring. 

A frown on his face, and a small grunt of discomfort, he threw the next button at the door with more force, nearly slipping and falling forward, over the end of the cookie sheet and onto the bars that the flat metal torture device lied on. 

 Dozer started to lean forward, exhausted. With an air of slight panic, Gingerbrave leans down, and lets Dozer get on his back, before standing again. The painful sensation on his feet bleeding through his thin 'shoes'. With double the weight, and minimal movement- the bubbling on his limbs grew harsher. 

Deserpate, the memory of Gingerbrave threw the last button toward the door of the oven. His button bounced around a couple of the structures that held the oven, before falling inside of a hole. 

Wavering, frightened sighs escaped both of the boys as Gingerbrave shifted his feet again, and looked around for something else to use. Desperation was clear on his features. Despite the hot atmosphere, blistering cold sweat fell down his forehead. 

Just as he started to carry Dozer to look for more things to throw, there was a bunch of clanging heard. It sounded like something was bouncing around, though there was nothing else to be seen. 

Withina few seconds the door at the front of the oven suddenly lost all of it's stability, and it collapsed open, slamming the front and handledown on the floor. 

No time was going to be wasted. 

Not eve thinking twice, Gingerbrave started to make a mad dash toward the now opened door of the oven, securing his stinging arms around Dozer's legs as the other cookie did his best to hold on without tightening his grip to hard. 

More... just a little more. Keep running. Don't stop. 

Aching feet slammed down on the cookie sheet- before going to the bars that the sheet rested on top of. 

It was a clear struggle, Brave Cookie struggled to keep his balance as he traversed the thin, burning metal. However, if he held still, he could possibly find his feet baked to the bars, and unable to move. This all would have been for nothing. 

It was close now- the feeling of cooler air.

Both Gingebrave and Dozer could smell it. They could taste it. It relieved what little bit of their burnt skin as it reached, even if it was just temperary. 

It was a long jump they had to make. A large, dangerous leap to freedom. If they didn't go, it would be all for nothing. They would have wasted all of their efforts, and gained nothing. If they jumped and failed.. then- at least they tried...! Right...?

"B-Brave slow down- that's a big jump, we can't make it- we can try to find someway else down!" Dozer called, half awake, as he tried to bring himself to be more aware and alert. 

"We don't have time. Hold onto me, okay? I promise-" The brave child slowed down, taking a deep breath and he tried to bring moisture back to his mouth. He swalled hard, and blinks a couple times. "I will protect you. I promise. Hold on, and don't let go. Please, promise me you won't let go!" 

Dozer looked at him in silence, and closed his eyes as he shakily nodded to Gingerbrave. "I promise."

With that, Gingerbrave let go of one of Dozer's legs that were wrapped around him, and grabbed his hand. "Let's go.." 

Closing his eyes, and speeding up, 'Brave slammed his foot down on the front of the wire rack in the oven, and used all of the built of momentum to take the leap from the oven.

-

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//“Mother trucker dude, that hurt like a butt cheek on a stick.”//

-

It was almost as if they were flying, for a moment. The distance, the air- it was almost like the taste of freedom, in a way. It was so calming, and felt amazing- until they actually hit the ground. 

Brave landed on his legs wrong, and fell down immediately, doing his best to keep Dozer from flying forward, or getting his leg caugh anywhere. The child bit back a sharp cry of pain, before shaking his head and struggling to stand up. He stumbled, lightly pulling Dozer along as they scrambled to get under the table, and to the wall. 

Looking around, the frightened children noticed several things, including a pait of legs, that belonged to someone or something of garganuine size. There was also a sort of quadruped nearby, with a long tail, small ears. This animal trot to the oven, before sniffing, and quickly padding away. 

The taller figure saw that the oven was open, and let out an exclaimed remark. "How in blazes did this happen?" the woman looked around, taking note of the burnt smell. "It looks like I left these in here too long anyways..." Disappointment. That is what her voice was laced with. 

From the current time, the onlookers of the memory didn't need to run after Gingerbrave and Dozer when they leapt out of the oven- they simply were brought closer, if the child got too far away. Almost like phasing through time, if one could think of it that way. 

Within the memory, still, Gingerbrave and Dozer seemed to be out of breath. Maybe they had held their breaths in anticipation on their way downto the floor- or perhaps it was just because of all the random, new stresses that they would have to endure. 

Both of them watched the tall figure as they went to the ovenm and started trying to bring the door up, just for it to slam back down, due to the inner gears being broken. 

Gingerbrave kept Dozer tucked behind himself, despite being the one who had the injured leg. Be it the cruel nature of curiostiy, or maybe just bad timing, they watched as the woman sighed in frustration, before letting the door to the oven slam back open. 

She reaches over, grabbing cloth from the counter, before reaching into the oven, and pulling out the tray of cooking treats. 

Half-Tempted to look away, Gingerbrave at least got the sinking feeling in his gut that she should maybe cover Dozer's eyes. He knew something bad was coming next, and with the cripy bodies of the other ginger children already there- making them sick to their stomachs, it was bad enough. 

The woman counted the cookies, before looking around, and shouting accusedly at the small, black quadruped that sat on the floor. "Merlin, did you eat my cookies? Naughty, naughty kitty!" she was quick to assume that the cat had eaten the snacks. How silly indeed. 

The cat let out a small coo, before pawing off somewhere, seeming to not understand. 

"No matter, you've eaten worse things." the woman sighs to herself. Within seconds of the cookie sheet being set down on the counter, the crooked, boney fingers of the woman reach down, and grab one of the resting bodies that decorate the tray. 

There was a silence, as she looked it over. Then, without a second though, the woman brought up her other hand, ridding it of the cloth she used to grab the tray. Then- with little to no effort- she snapped the body of the cookie she was holding in two. 

A small squelching noise was heard, and the world seemed to freeze from Gingerbrave, and the intruders that were watching the scene from the future. 

Within the woman's hands, deep, reddened jelly started to ooze from the cookie, falling down, and back onto surface of a still-heated sheet. 

The past version of Gingerbrave's eyes seemed to lose focus for a second, as he lost his breath. Tears brimmed his eyes, as he watched one of his gingerkin's bodies be eaten- their innards falling down the witches face, and onto the very device that burned them to death. 

It was as though all of his limbs started to feel like static. Part of him grew petrified, to the point where he couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. His fingers, and aching legs were numb. Even so, there was notable trembling. 

Dark Enchantress watched as the past version of the child standing by her now choked back a sob, keeping his siblings face covered as he shook his head in terror. 

Was this really their purpose? To be eaten and not live a life at all? What was the point of being alive for mere minute? Hours? 

Life was precious, after all. How could it be thwarted, and taken away so easily? The worly surely must be cruel- or maybe- it was the witches intention all along. All to fulfil some sort of sick, twisted power dynamic. 

The only other truth that could be acknowledged was that life was not fair. It never will be, and likely has never been so in the first place. 

With a solemn glance, and a narrowing of her red eyes, the woman looked down at the current version of the boy from the memory. His face had fallen static, most likely trying to shut down from the reminder of past traumas, and unkind memories. He still tightly held onto her hand, fingers trembling. 

This was just another reminder about Dark Enchantress's real goal. Her words to the Ancient Cookies during one of their many battles rung through in her mind in that moment. 

"Us cookies were made to be eaten!" 

While Dark Enchantress never wanted to send the cookie world into shambles, she wanted to discourage those who stood by witches, and defended them. The witches were the ones who made them to be eaten. They were the ultimate problem, and they would need to be taken down. 

There was no other way. 

Sure, it would bring chaos to the worlds common order, but cookies would adapt, they always would. Change was in their nature, they were made to be versitile. When desperate enough, anyone can do nearly anything. The laws of nature have been broken before- inadvertantly or not. 

Surely it would not take much. 

Her eyes growing cold, the woman looked down to the child again, some more thoughts crossing her as she tried to figure something out. Scanning past encounters she had with the child before this whole ordeal. 

She recalled meeting him for the first time- using the facade of her past self to trick him into doing something that would release a sort of trigger that she couldn't do on her own. Though, now, she wasn't even sure if she could remember what all happened. 

Gingerbrave had an easier time acting eager, and cheerful. Within the recent weeks, she came to discover that he most likely was good at facades. Fabricating emotions and feelings to keep others away from who he really was. 

A scared, lonely child. Traumatized, and desperate. 

Constanly filling a void in his own soul with helping others, and finding use himself, because of his past failures. Because of what he couldn't do the first time. 

Hero Syndrome, based on his self-doubt and desperation. 

Dark Enchantress coudn't pretend to understand everything. She wasn't him, and he wasn't her. However, the one thing she realized now, that she doesn't recall understanding before is who that shrouded figure was. 

She wasn't positive by any means... but something tells her that she will have an inkling by the time this hellscape of a memory is done running it's course. 

She felt a tug on her dress, though it was very light. Gingerbrave, who was still staring off into space, was starting to pass out, his gaze was half lidded, and droopy. More unfocused than it was before. 

The child was likely exhaustes from all of the emotional trauma and pressure he was enduring, taking what bit of energy he had before this replay started. 

Knees buckling under himeself, the blue eyed boy started to collapse to the floor of the memory, before a large red and white, clawed arm grabbed him- pulling him closer before the other arm  went under the childs knees. Within seconds, Red Velvet was carrying him, not bothering to try and wake him up. 

Dark Enchantress just nodded to the man, before sighing, looking back to the scene that continued to play around them. 

Back in the memory, Gingerbrave shook violently as the woman started to eat on a third cookie that was on the sheet. She bit off their hair first, moving down the rest of the way. Jam leaked down, and onto the cookie sheet as she seemed satisfied with the taste. 

Brave couldn't take it anymore. 

He quickly stumbles to his face, bringing Dozer with him as he struggled to go in the opposite direction.

He wasn't going to let the same thing happen to Dozer. He just COULDN't. It was awful, and even if the other gingerkin were dead, they didn't deserve to be disrespected in such a way. 

It would forever haunt him.

He just can't afford to screw up this time. He needs to save Dozer, and get him out of here. To freedom. To happiness. They just had to survive. They didin't struggle this long for nothing..!

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//What da dog doin?//

-

An implication of hours, days.. maybe even weeks flew by in an instant. All of the outside observers within the memory were stuck watching as Gingerbrave and the cookie in the nightcap scavenged for food while the witch was sleeping. 

All of the Darksides payed close attention to the sibling in the nightclothes. They recognized him, and they knew exactly who he was, despite not liking that fact. They couldn't understand what got the child from his current, sleepy and sweet demeanor to such an evil, manipulative little psychopath- the one they saw lingering in Gingerbrave's mind. 

That also begged the question of how the forms of the other dead cookies also got there. They were all so young, and they didn't get the chance to live before they died. 

Maybe karma thought that it was doing Gingerbrave justice, but in this case scenario, it was hardly fair. 

Dark Enchantress was starting to firmly believe that the little kid in the Nightcap here was not the same as the one that they had encountered within Gingerbrave's troubled mental scape. There was no way it could be the same cookie. That idea was blasphemous. 

The mentally exhausted child that had come down memory lane with them was staring off into space. He kept looking at the floor and shaking. He refused to look at the scenes anymore. Eventually, he just passed out- he couldn't take it. The white haired boy outright collapsed. 

The Darksides didn't bother trying to wake him up. It might end up doing him more bad than good, at this point. Dark Enchantress carried brave around for a while, but she could only do that so long. He was light, and a little small for a pre-teen, but he still had a good amount of weight to him. 

Eventually, Dark Choco took the child from her, and started carrying him instead.

The memory around them continued to play. Days and nights almost seemed to bleed right into each other. Every event became more confused or blurred together. Finally, the fast-forwarding stopped. The sun shone brightly through the window that the witch had in the kitchen and some birds chirped away outside.

The younger version of Gingerbrave in the memory was still awake, watching over Dozer. The eyes of the phantom child drooped from the lack of sleep, his tired blue eyes barely holding themselves open in the attempt to stay aware and alert. 

Everything was shattered quickly. All of a sudden, there was humming and whistling as large footsteps started rapidly approaching. 

Startled into clumsy awareness, the momory version of 'Brave quickly crawled over toward the sleeping cookie child that leans against a wall of some sort- hidden behind a basket and a long curtain that just barely hung above the floor by a centimeter. He stumbled over himself before quickly shaking the resting child. 

"Dozer..! Dozer get up, now..!" the voice was a scared, harsh whisper. Urgent and hushed as the light came casting down on both of them from the now clear space above. The witch stared down to the cookie children, one barely even waking up, but amidst a fright. The other one clearly alert and terrified. At first the giant woman seemed baffled. Stumped, even. 

Cookies- alive and staring right at her? In her own kitchen?

The confusion was overrun with the urge to catch them. Quickly reaching her hands down toward the children, both of them jumped back before the memory version of Gingerbrave grabbed Dozer by the hand and quickly dragged him along, dashing across the floorboards. 

Red Velvet and Licorice instantly took their weapons out, but Pomegranate stopped them with a shake of her head, reminding them that they wouldn't be able to change anything anyhow- as it had already happened. 

The taller cookie child lead the way, bringing his smaller, sleepier brother along clumsily. They were persued for several minutes, running, hopping, and ducking under everything in their way as they tried to desperately make their escape. Gingerbrave kept a firm hand around Dozer's, swinging him ahead, if the witch got too close. However, Dozer would quickly fall behind again, because of him being tired, and not having much energy from the get-go. 

"Get back here!" the gargantuan woman called, grabbing a broom from right next to the oven the boys had originally escaped from. 

She was persistant. Perhaps it was an instinct to chase. Maybe it was something else. Either way it went, Gingerbrave knew he couldn't help Dozer continue running for long. They were both slowing down, and it showed. 

Peering around, the fleeing dessert child spotted another long object going up toward a table top. He recalled the woman slamming her arm down in an attempt to grab him and Dozer moments ago. Spotting a gleaming metal handle on the end of the table, barely hanging off, Brave formulated a plan. 

"Come on Dozer, just a little more...!" he grabbed the others hand firmer, before starning to run up the steep incline that he aimed to climb. He almost THREW Dozer to the top of the table, and leapt from the ledge, dangling near the silver handle that rest just barelt over the edge. 

"Brave...! Hold on..!" Dozer called out, quickly moving forward to help Gingerbrave up to his knees, at least- so he wasn't dangling anymore. 

"I got you now..!" the woman called, slamming her fist down near where Gingerbrave had been hanging from the edge of the table. 

That was all part of the plan. 

Finally pulling himself up at the last second- both intentionally, and otherwise because of genuine fear- the child cookie clambered back up to his feet just to hear a shrill, nasaly shriek. 

Looking back, he saw that his plan had worked, and that only made him take in a deep breath of air, mostly in guilt. However, it was them, or her. He knew that it had to be done... right? He shook his head, before going and trying to get Dozer moving again.

All of the Darksides closed their eyes and looked away. There was a tinge of pride and satisfaction within them, as they had been against witches for the longest time now. This was karma. This was giving them back what they deserved- even if it SHOULD have been worse. 

What about all those cookies who never stood a chance? What about all those cookies that never even got to taste freedom. 

A snarl of pain, and a sharp gasping brought them back from their moment of chilled satisfaction, and the darksides watched as the room around the memory just seeped into darkness as the angered witch stood at a better height. 

The witch had slammed her hand down on the fork whilst trying to catch Brave, and she ended up hitting the handle. Because of the sudden movement, and the leaning forward she did to try and see where the living food child was- she didn's consider what was nearby- and due to her reckless actions- the fork that hung not-so-haphazardly from the edge of the table was now embedded in her bleeding eye. 

Ripping it from herself, after her screaming subsided, the raged, pained woman looks to the cookie children before hissing as she got a closer look at Gingerbrave. 

"YOU..."

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//"I should have left you on the street corner where you were standing..."//

//"BuTCha DiNd'T"//

-

Gingerbrave felt anxiousness befall him the moment that the woman had said his name in such a menacing, angry tone. He shivered, before hurrying to pull Dozer along the table, scrambling in desperation to find freedom.

The boys weave themselves around obsticals, such as cans, cups, and other randomly placed silverware. Big bowls, and measuring cups. Brave still brought up the back, trying to make sure to push the smaller cookie ahead of himself to keep him moving. He hoped his own momentum made it easier for the other to move, but he would never know.

The sound of metal clanging on tile caught the fleeing boys attention, most likely it was the fork that had been used against the witch. A pained, angry cry rose from the woman behind them, and there was a large thump on the table as she had slammed her fists down away from the other things on the surface- and started to drag it toward herself. 

"Faster Dozer, come on, you can do this! Just a little more.. we can make it!" Looking up toward the window, Gingerbrave pointed, and pulled the other to the left, so they could make their way toward the curtain that rested draped behind the table- hung slightly above the way that very well might be their freedom.

Dozer was out of breath. Coughing a little bit as he ran ahead. The smaller child teared up from both the pain in his side from running, and the lack of a constant flow of oxygen.

"My... side really hurts.. I'm trying. I promise-" his words were stopped with a pained cough as he lurches forward a bit, barely stopping himself from falling forward.

Gingerbrave felt himself become torn. What if all of this running was going to hurt Dozer more than he realized? What if the other ended up getting hurt in a very bad way, because he fell down and landed too hard? 

He just had to think of something... 

Stopping for a moment, Gingerbrave quickly turned around and threw one of the nearby, smaller objects at the giant woman's face, hitting her right below where he bleeding eye was. 

There was a small hiss of discomfort, before the woman reaches forward, attempting to grab brave. The cookie child dodging her just to grab something else and throw it in her direction. This time, the witch was prepared. She had slapped the item away, before reaching for both of them again. 

Throwing the item back at the children, it crashed into a jar full of swirly lolipops, causing it to go crashing to the floor. The lolipops all spilled from the container, and scattered all over the floor. Both of the children had barely dodged it, hiding behind a box of some sort to try and keep themselves from being seen. 

However, that didn't prevent them from being heard. Dozer was starting to breathe heavily, no matter how hard he tried to keep himself from doing it. The quick, deep breathes made him cough and wheeze.

As much as Gingerbrave knew it would puth them both at risk, he comfort Dozer, knowing the other was suffering immensely. Dozer was silently crying from the amount of pain he was in, leaning forward as he tried to get himself back under control. 

The box was quickly moved from behind them, the bleeding eyed witch yelling as she spotted them. Gingerbrave pulled Dozer off to the side, nearling missing the palm of the woman's hand and some stuff near the edge of the surface ended up falling off the table. 

Not wasting any time, Brave started to throw any random items he could carry or hoist at the woman. Anything he could get his hands on. 

The witch grew more and more frustrated with the cookie child. Yelling at him, calling him obscene names, as she had still been fueled from the loss of the sight in her eye, and the bloody mess she should have to surely clean up. With a hard swipe across the table, the woman threw many of the things across the tiled floor- making even more of a mess out of it than it already was. 

Both Gingerbrave and Dozer were flung with any random food items and were sent crashing down toward the floor below. Out of instinct, Gingerbrave wrapped his arms around Dozer, who let out a short, scared scream. 

Brave was sent crashing to his back on the floor. He couldn't breathe. He tried and tried to, but it's as if his throat was trapped closed. He couldn't in or exhale. Everything around him was getting blurry. He couldn't see straight. He couldn't shake his head to clear his vision, or blink, to see if that would help.

Struggling for what felt like hours, the only thing that persuaded him to finally try and start to write free of his bodies shock was the shadow of the witch bending down over both of the cookies, a malicious look crossing her face. 

Gingerbrave hurried to try and move, spotting Dozer in the distance. Dozer was standing, his head directed down to the floor as he stood still. He wasn't having problems breathing anymore. He didn't even move. 

The scrawny hands of the witch started to go toward the transfixed child, Gingerbrave noting a glowing lolipop that rested on the floor. One of the many that was shoved off of the table. The witches hand was only growing closer and closer. 

"DOZER!! MOVE!!"

It was as if Dozer had heard nothing. 

The shorter cookie stood there, his head lulled to the side as he continued to stare at the lolipop, the swirly candy trapping him within whatever spell it had active over it's candy-coated surface. 

Seeing his brother was not going to be able to budge due to being under some sort of spell, Gingerbrave tried to persuade his strained body to move forward. So he can go and grab him, push him. Get him out of the way, or something. ANYTHING.

He wasn't moving. 

WHY WASN'T HE MOVING?!

Looking back in growing panic, and clear fear, Gingerbrave saw that he was halfway stuck under a book, a mixing bow on top of it. It was too heavy to let him move freely, or easily. He couldn't reach the edge of the tile to find something to grasp onto to pull himself forward. 

The witch had taken the time to quickly grab Dozer, as well as the lolipop on the ground that had transfixed the child. 

A wicked smirk crossed her lips as he looks over to the trapped Gingerbrave. It was as if everything started moving in slow motion. 

"No... nonononono... NO NO! Dozer! Dozer wake up! Please! Wake up and do something. ANYTHING! Fight it!" Gingerbrave squirmed and tried to throw his weight about under the book that kept his lower body trapped. The movement and pressure on his chest was making it impossible to breathe. 

Letting out a lout guteral cry of desperation, Gingerbrave sobbed as he yelled up to the witch. "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!! PUT HIM DOWN AND TAKE ME INSTEAD!" 

The woman seemed to ponder the offer, mostly in mocking. After a sly grin crossed her expression, she stepped closer to the trapped cookie, and squat down, getting closer to his level. 

"An eye for an eye is far too little of a payback for you..." the woman extended her and with Dozer and the Lolipop within it, holding it just mere inches away from Gingerbrave. 

"Tell you what, short bread. If you can wake him up. You can have him back and you two are free to go. If not..." the woman grinned maliciously. "I get to eat him. 

Panic spread through Gingerbrave's whole body. 

The child desperately reached his hand forward, calling out to his entranced sibling. "Dozer!! Please snap out of it! It's me! It's Gingerbrave, I'm right here! You can wake up now...! Wake up!"

Brave started to sob, large tears falling from his desperate blue eyes. His sobs clashed with each other, causing him to struggle to breathe as he kept calling Dozer's name. 

The smaller cookie never responded. There was not an inkling of recognition or awareness. Dozer's expression was unwavering, blank, but interested in the object that had stolen his attention. 

Gingerbrave slammed his hand down on the book, trying to stand back up as he reaches toward Dozer. He was still trapped under the books. They were still too heavy for him. 

The witch stood over Gingerbrave, amused. She got joy from watching all of this. A laugh soon escaped her, and she retracted Dozer- bringing him back toward her face as she chortled at Gingerbrave's emotional plight. 

"Oh you are bringing me to tears, child! But your time is up, and so his his..." the witch brough Dozer closer and closer to her face as she smirks. "It looks like you weren't even enough to save your own 'brother'. How pathetic is that?" 

"No! Nonononono! Please! Please put him down! Let him live! I'm the one who took your eye out! I'm the one who ended up harming you! He didn't do anything..!" Gignerbrave continued to writhe, calling out Dozer's name out of sheer desperation. 

This time, Dozer's attention on the lolipop started to waver. Head going forward a little, the smaller cookie started to quickly shake his nogin, coming back to the real world. 

He was confused at first, and upon seeing the situation he was in, he became terrified. "G-Ginger..!" He started to squirm, trying to get his arms free. "What's g-going on!!?" he looked up to the woman, letting out a small scream as he shook his head and looked away in terror. 

"Let him go..! He's awake..! You can let him go! Please!" Gingerbrave felt the slightest relief. Just for a second. However, surprise from the witch, and then her dark, evil laughter made any hope Gingerbrave had sink back into his stomach. A feeling of sickness befalling him.

"No, I don't think I will. After all... I still want to get back at you for all of this mess in my kitchen. Everything has a concequence, after all. Thank yourself for this mess, cookie." 

Raising the hand with the squiming cookie child in it, the witch looked Gingerbrave right in his eyes before smiling one more time.

Dozder didn't have a chance to react. 

The witch had leaned forward, and in a mere couple seconds, she bit down into  Dozer, biting off the top half of the cookie. 

There wasn't a chance to scream, Dozer only got to utter "Gingy...?" before letting out shrill, but short yelp as the top half of him was severed from the bottom half. 

Vibrant red-pink jam splattered to the ground, some hitting Gingerbrave's face as he stared in complete shock. 

The child shook to his core as his eyes slowly went to the jam that was now covering his hands, part of his face, and some areas on the floor. 

Trembling, he had trouble processing the information. He felt so out of breath again. He tried to scream, but he couldn't. All he could do was let out a pethetic squeak as he move his hand, his vision focusing on it. It was almost as if everything else had fallen to black and white, other than Dozer's blood. 

It was then, that the child had let out a loud, blood curtling shriek. He screamed his lungs out, sobbing and desperately trying to claw himself free of the book and bowl that kept him trapped. 

The only thing he would do was call his brothers name. The only sibling he had left, gone. All because he couldn't save him. Because he was useless. He screamed again, covering his ears as he squeezed his eyes shut. His body trembled and quivered, face flushed from the sudden overflow of emotions. 

He could finally form words, but words wouldn't do anything to help.

Taking in one more shaking breath, and with all his might, emotions spilling over the brim- he called his little brothers name- before choking into another sob.

"DOZER!!" 

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

// *Honk* *Honk* *Honk* *Honk*//

//"I've been feelin' fiiiiine//

-

The entire world was shaking. Everything felt as though it was going to crumble right under their feet. The observers- consisting of the Cookies of Darkness, and the restless Gingerbrave felt the rumblings. 

The child was sobbing into the arm of Dark Choco, who was still carrying him. His body shook and trembled with the world, unsteady. The man could tell that Gingerbrave was having a very hard time breathing. 

"Dark Enchantress, we need to get out of here, now." he simply stated, before bringing his cloak to the front of himself, and wrapping it around the child, in hopes that the feeling of pressure and warmth would bring a little comfort. "He is having a hard time breathing, he may be on the verge of hyperventilation."

The tall, purple skinned woman sighed, before she nodded. Holding up her sceptre, the woman slammed it onto the ground, before the 'memory' around them shattered, and they were all sent into another feeling of falling. 

It took mere miliseconds this time. After being released for the mess of a waking nightmare, the darksides all opened their eyes. Looking to Gingerbrave, who was on the table, they all walked closer and watched him for a second.

The child was starting to breathe fast, bringing his arms up to his face as he covered all of his features. He didn't look at them, and when he did start to cry, almost nothing escaped him. 

The child had been too emotionally taxed already. He didn't have the energy to cry, or sob. He didn't have anything left.

"He needs rest..." Dark Enchantress started to speak, before Pomegranate interjected. "I'll take him to the sofa. However, after that, I get the feeling we all need to talk. Do I just take him to the sofa in the meeting room?" The red haired woman walked toward Gingerbrave, before gently picking the child up. 

"Yes, that will be fine. Let us get going." the leader of the Cookies of Darkness had a million things running through her mind. There were tangs of guilt that she didn't know she would ever feel. There was anger, and disgust. She was repulsed and disturbed by everything she had just seen. 

Eyes going over to look at the child that rested in the arms of the other woman, Dark Enchantress found herself nothing short of pensive. 

A child, robbed of almost all of his siblings within a single hour of being alive. Burned, and half suffocated while that happened. Escaping with his last remaining sibling, just to watch a child, seen as younger than himself- getting bit in half by the one that had created them. 

She didn't understand it. 

Just how did this child manage to hide his trauma? His walls were crumbling fast, but before this unknown spiritual entity had caused him problems, they were made of steel. Unable to be taken down or collapsed by anyone or anything, it seemed. 

Somehow, this also made things make much more sense. 

Every confrontation that the Cookies of Darkness had with the Kingdom Dwelling Party, Gingerbrave was always in the lead. 

Always. 

She had recalled on numerous accounts that the other cookie children had shown up to battles, especially if they were not initially considered to be serious. However, whenever facing off against large hordes of enemies, or one of the Cookies of Darkness themselves, the other children were almost always pushed off to the side. 

All in the the name of keeping them safe. Away from danger. 

It took the woman a moment to realize that they had finally reached the meeting room. Brave was set down on the nearby sofa that was next to the door into the room. Pomegranate and the other Dark Sides were at their chairs, sitting in silence. 

They didn't seem to be interested in talking to each other. 

Glancing around the meeting table, it was clear to see that the fellow Cookies of Darkness were disturbed. Eventually, there was the sound of slight slamming. All eyes went over to Red Velvet, who's eyes were closed at the moment. However, the large white and red cake arm that the man sported had slammed into the nearby wall- leaving a big crack in the surface. 

"... Sorry. I'll fix it later..." the soldier muttered. 

Not bothering to be upset, Dark Enchantress nodded. Just as she was about to start talking there was the sound of scratching on the nearby door. Despite the door being open, the pawing at the doorframe was still present- along with the sound of whining. 

There was Chiffon, whining from the doorway as he tried to step into the room, but stopped himself.

That would imply that, normally, he was not allowed inside of that room, especially if it were being used. There was a couple silent glances around the room as the Dark Sides all looked at each other. The woman in charge onyl closed her eyes for a second. 

"Come in, Chiffon." she stated. 

Padding at the doorway a second more, the cake hound quickly trot into the room, making his way toward the sofa where Gingerbrave was resting. Letting out a gentle whimper, the hound brought his face closer, before curling up right under the child. 

"I think we all know why we are here." Dark Enchantress stated to her followers, before folding her hands over her lap. The chair behind her supporting her scepter as a looked of shaded disgust passed over her expression. 

Pomegranate looked away, folding her own hands over her lap as well. Red Velvet grit his teeth, and he slammed his arm down on his leg- to try and prevent causing more wall damages. Licorice was unnerved, and constantly avoided eye contact- in favor of looking down at one of his spell books that rest on the table in front of him.

Words had yet to be said by anyone. The awkwardness, or anger that seeped from them like water. One could hear a pin drop on a plush carpet, the room was so quiet.

Purple Mushroom gently traced their fingers over a purple-capped, spotted shroomy that rested on the table and Dark Choco simply kept his hands over his knees as he leaned off of his chair. 

The expression of Dark Choco was unreadable, trained into neutrality as he ignored some of the noises around himself. 

"I'm surprised he hasn't went off his rocker already..." Licorice stated as he looked to the side, letting the cover of a book that he was playing with fall back over the front page of the condensed literature. "Sometimes, it's easy to forget just how awful some of these events can be." 

There was more silence among them. They all seemed to be at a loss for words. 

With a firm sigh, Dark Choco eventually spoke up. 

"That child in the nightcap. He was the one that was lingering over Gingerbrave when we entered his mental scape the first time. I think we already know that this begs a single question...." The former son of Dark Cocao paused, knowing well someone was going to finish for him. 

"Why was that child the one that was tormenting him?"

((To Be Continued) 

Chapter Text

//A, B, C, D, E F U and your mom and your sister and your job, and your broke ass car, and that shit you call art. Fuck you and your friends that i'll never see again, everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off.//

-

All of the Cookies of Darkness sat around the table, holding light conversation with each other as they tried to conclude a solid reason why the child from the memory would be the one tormenting Gingerbrave. 

Something about the notion just didn't rest well with any of them. 

"It just isn't right. There is something wrong with the whole notion." Red Velvet finally interjected. "The child in that memory was tired, and meek. Not that it was a bad thing for the kid his age. I don't think that all of that rage would have come from no where. Even so... we could tell it was far in the past... why just start attacking him now?"

"You mentioned the child trying to destroy that Pedestal before right? Maybe this 'Dozer' has been following him around for a long time, unable to do anything until Gingerbrave made contact with it?" Pomegranate folder her hands over each other in her sleeves, before looking down to to the side. 

"I suppose that is a theory. It's not like cursed or magically-conduited objected haven't existed before.." Licorice stated, before tapping on the table in front of the seat he had favored. "Even so... that doesn't sit right either..." 

Poison Mushroom looked up from the table, where they were rolling around one of their purple shroomies. The child then raised their hand, waiting patiently for the opportunity to talk. 

While they waited, they wobbled back and forth, waving their body and arm together to entertain themselves. 

"Yes, Poison Mushroom?"  Dark Encantress directed her gaze to the child, before leaning back in the chair that she held at the meeting table. Her expression was somewhere between lost in thought and frustration. 

"When we were in the dream, something happened." not the best way to start out a statement, but they were trying. Really, they were. "The evil woman, she said- uh... she said 'How Pathetic is That?' while we were in there, right?" Poison Mushroom brought their hand up to their face. 

"Yes, she did, Mushroom. Why do you ask?" Licorice got up from his seat at the table, before walking over to the child and kneeling in front of them.

Poison Mushroom was started to get a little anxious. Something that happened to them a lot when they went to propose ideas at the meeting table. It's happened many times in the post, mainly because of a sudden mount of pressure being put of them that they were not used to. 

"Calm down. Close your eyes if you need to. We're still going to listen." Licorice brought Poison Mushroom's hands up to their eyes, hiding himself and the other Darksides from their sight. The child's breathing seemed to slow down, and they nodded before taking in a deep breath. 

"When we went into Gingerbrave's mindscape for the first time.. when he was ah... uh.. a prisoner." Poison Mushroom swallowed a tense lump in the back of their throat. "When we saw the Nightcap Boy in his mind..." 

The memory was starting to come back to them.

Dark Enchantress closed her eyes for a moment before leaning forward, reflecting back to that day when the instances started to peak forth in her own mind. 

During their time in the mindscape, shortly before they tried to leave- 'Dozer' tried to intimidate them. The child had said that Gingerbrave's mindscape was his. That he was the one that had power over that realm. 

Dark Enchantress stated that if she didn't have any power, she wouldn't have been able to get in at all. However, that was a bluff. That intimidation tactic worked though, because she recalled this 'Dozer' child losing his composure. Growing agitated at her every word. 

Then, what the child had said before vanishing had made it's way to her foremost memory. 

 (("I may just have a way to defeat you all yet. You darksides are all going soft. All of this for someone you don't know well, care about, and is an enemy. How pathetic is that?" the question rung out, as Dozer and the shaded duplicates started to sink into the darkness. "You will get tired of him, and give up. Don't be mad at me when all of your efforts have been wasted."))

(("How pathetic is that?))

That's it... that's what Poison Mushroom was getting at. 

They've heard that line before. 

"The Nightcap Boy said it too." Poison Mushroom finally stated, before calming down again. The child brought their hands down, before going and sitting at the table. Mushroom hugged their shroomy for comfort, hiding behind it a little bit with a far-off expression. 

Licorice stood back up from where he was crouched in front of the youngest Cookie of Darkness, before walking back over to his own preferred seat. 

The recognition of the line came back to the rest of the cookies that were under the purple-skinned woman's leadership. It settled in over them a little slowly, but it caused something to both make sense and bring forth more questions than answers. 

Dark Choco leans forward, beinging a hand to his face as the tried to think of a possible explanation. He may or may not even be correct in his theory, but having a theory was better than possibly having no clue at all as to what was going on. 

After clearing his troat, the red-eyed man stood up, looking around the table. Closing his eyes as he let out  brief, tense exhale- the man stood up straight, and proposed his mayber proposterous idea. 

"That alleged 'Dozer' child in Gingerbrave's mind .. it wasn't the real Dozer."

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

// "Do you see that vent over there on the floor Gregory? You- you need to vent. I know it will be hard, but- haha- you need to be SUS."//

//I love you all, so have a feel-good chapter.//

-

All of the Cookies that were sitting around the table fell into silence. Looking at each other, Dark Enchantress suddenly felt more angry than she was before. The woman dind't know how to put it. Maybe she was mad at herself for not noticing sooner.

Just as she was about to let out an angry command of some sort, there was movement heard from the nearby couch that Gingerbrave was sleeping on top of a short while ago.

Sitting up, the child rubbed at his eyes, before quickly seeming to fall into a negative emotional pit. After bringing his hands back down from his face, Gingerbrave brought his knees to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. It was then that Dark Enchantress came to the conclusion that her verbal tyrade could wait for now.

Standing up, and pushing her chair back, the woman walks over to the couch, before sitting down next to the child. She said nothing but took notice when dark, foggy eyes looked up to her.

The child was lost. She remembered being lost once. When she was her former self. She tried to see the good in everyone and everything. Even so, she found herself in constant bouts of misery, doubt, and any other mental struggle she could consider.

She knew well what her former self was like, even if it did feel like a memory. Because she had used to to manipulate Gingerbrave and his friends into helping her before.

She could remember that clearly.

Gingerbrave didn't really say anything, he just stared at her before starting to tear up. Bringing his arm up to his fcae, he wiped his tears before turning his head to his knees, and just rested his chin over his scarred arms.

The rest of the darksides eventually made their way over to the couch as well. Licorice sat on his knees on the floor, near Dark Enchantress's side. Poison Mushroom sat right below Gingerbrave, seated right next to Chiffon, who had his chin on the couch near Gingerbrave's knees.

Red Velvet stood behind the couch for a while, before just walking around to the front in favor of being behind it. Dark Choco sat on the other end of the couch, finding himself sore in the back from all of the standing and stress- which was uncommon for him. Otherwise the man would have likely been standing behind it instead.

Pomegranate just setteld with sitting on her knees on the floor, in front of the couch. She sat herself next to Licorice, and in front of dark Enchantress.

All of them were silent for a while, nothing was being said between them. Just just sat there and took in the atmosphere. They enjoyed the silence and took in each others company.

It was only after 10 minutes of cooperative silence that Dark Enchantress finally began to speak.

"Gingerbrave, you need to talk..." she started off the conversation. "Keeping all of it bottled up inside of you is not going to help you. It's also going to be hard for me to say 'it's fine, I will leave you alone' now that we all know what happened to you in your past." The red eyed woman closed her eyes, trying to consider what she would say.

She wanted to get him to open up, but how easily could she do that when the child had kept this shut down for years, before this even happened?

"It's not fair for me to expect others to deal with my problems, or listen to my every issue. Nothing can be changed, if it happened in the past. Why should I be a blight and force my problems on others that have their own problems to deal with?" Gingerbrave spoke out, before shaking his head.

"Normally, I wouldn't care about anyone's problems." Pomegranate sighs, before leaning her head to the side.

Everyone sitting on the couch that wasn't Gingerbrave went to give her a firm glare, before she put up her hand, signalling for them to wait for her to finish what she had to say.

"However, you have been here a little while. You have grown on me, a little bit. From experience, people who offer their help are more upset when they can't do anything to help you, than when someone explains their problems." she closed her eyes a bit.

Gingerbrave thought about the information, recalling having that train of thought before, when he was in Licorice's room with him.

'If they offer you something, it's better to take it, than reject it. Imagine how they would feel if you didn't.'

The child's train of thought was a mess. However, there was a point. If he did not take the help while it was being offered, he was being just as much of burden if he started venting out of the blue. He was trapped between a rock, and a hard place.

"I see that look on your face. You're thinking that you're a problem either way, don't you..?" Licorice sighed, looking the child in his eyes. His own yellow eyes were dark, lost in thought as he recalled his own, older state of mind. A state of mind he still possessed, but kept surprised better. "I know how that feels... but you're wrong.. you know?"

Gingerbrave started to tear up a bit more, biting his lip as he started to sniffle a little. He tensed, and dug his fingernails into his knees as he tried to curl into himself. Wanting more than all else to disappear. To vanish and not be seen or heard. However, he couldn't help himself. He really couldn't everything was starting to overflow.

It was already breaking him from the inside out. It was wearing on him, and dragging down every piece of him, and crumbling it. It was a slow, painfful process and still he didn't want help.

Every part of him screamed and said that he wanted to be left alone. Forgotten. He wanted to experience some kind of extent of Dozer's pain.

Finally, the child had stated to speak, gasping through silent sobs.

"It's not fair... this world will always be a messed up place. I should have done more. I should have tried harder. Because of me, my brother never got anything. He never got the chance." The child tighened the grip on himself, digging his nails into his knees hard enough to make them bleed.

Dark Enchantress brought her hand up, and gently brought down one of the child's hands, Dark Choco bringing down the other.

"My brother had nothing. He can't even be forgotten, because there is no one else to remember him but me. He was so young. He deserved better. He SHOULD have had better. I'm the reason he ended up dead. I wasn't strong enough. I never did enough. I should have done more..."

Poison Mushroom imitated Chiffon, sticking their own chin on the supporting front end of the couch, before tilting their head as they looked up to Gingerbrave. He only whispered 'Survivors Guilt' before leaning their head back down. However, they gently pat the top of Brave's hand, as a gesture of comfort.

After what felt like hours of venting, and just trying to get the pain to ease, maybe even if it were the slightest bit- Gingerbrave finally calmed down. The trauma-ridden youth had passed out from emotional exhaustion, which was not too surprising.

Everyone was tired.

Leaning into Dark Enchantress Cookie, Gingerbrave closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Not wanting to move, and disturb the child, Dark Enchantress just wrapped her gloved arm around the boy, and pat his back, before closing her own eyes and resigning herself to sleep.

All of the darksides did the same. Falling asleep where they had seated themselves on the couch or around it.

All had fallen silent in the room, giving room for moderate tranquility that was well deserved. No matter any of their sleeping patterns from the past, every one of them fell asleep feeling content and arguably... pleasant. At least at the moment.

They all napped together on that couch, letting all their cares and ailments subside. Taking comfort in each others company. That was all they needed right now.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//So let me beeee and I'll set you freeee- I am in misery- **Insert at least 3-5 more overlayed songs for max chaos here**//

-

Around a table, several cookies at idle. All of them held stuff close to themselves. Including books, papers, and occasionally a snack of any caliber. The cookies all looked tense as they glance down to wherver they stood at the table- to others around the table. 

Almond Cookie was standing near his chair, holding several objects as he pulled up a pair of reading glasses that he hardly ever used. However, due to the stress, it seemed that the lack of sleep and tension was causing him to feel more near-sighted than he usually would have been. Vampire Cookie was slowly drinking a glass of juice, looking around the table as he kept his mouth shut. 

Surprisingly, the red haired man was sober. When sober, Vampire Cookie seemed different in general as an individual. Calm, and cold. Quiet. Based on just how often he was moving in an awkward manner- it seemed that the lush also didn't like being without at least a pleasant buzz.

"Based on all of the information we have, we were unable to come up with anything concrete in nature. Examining the crime scene several times, and looking into small pieces of evidence left behind on what little we could fine, there was minimal conclusions we could come up with." Almond piped up over all of the cookies, who sat there in contemplative silence. 

This time, more cookies had joined them though. Cookies from other tribes or kingdoms that weren't commonly associated with the kingdom that most of the residents attending the meeting were associated with. 

Pure Vanilla Cookie sat at the end of the table, his eyes closed as he listened to several of the smaller conversations that had been happening around the meeting room. The Ancient had been silent this whole time- as had Dark Cocoa Cookie and Hollyberry Cookie. 

This kingdom was under Hollyberry's domain, ruled by Princess Cookie and furthermore supervised by unspecified individuals who reported back to Hollyberry every once in a while, due to the fact that Princess Cookie was still a learning ruler. She needed guidence, and when they were around- the mysterious cookies were there to provide it. 

Considering all things now, it only made it more strange that what happened, well- happened. 

"Can someone remind me what the means of matter is for this meeting?" the purple eyed ruler of the more frigid kingdom leans on his sword a little as he went to sit up in his chair. There was a cross expression sported on his brow, and his mouth formed a firm, narrow frown. It was clear that Dark Cocao was not pleased with the situation, despite having little to no information on it.

Princess Cookie cleared her throat before standing up, looking over to Almond Cookie. The tired detective gave a slight nod of his head, before letting out an exhausted exhale. With a bit of a flop, he sat down in his designated chair. 

Around the room, it was easy to note that the children were not present. While they did know about what was going on, one of the adults would most likely just full them in on the information later. 

Despite his better Judgement, Almond Cookie assigned Chili Pepper Cookie to look after the kids in the park. While Chili Pepper was a criminal, he knew that they had actually done well with kids before. Even being close to Gingerbrave and their team when they first met a while back. 

After the suddenly diverged train of thought has been ceased, the detective started to listen to what Princess Cookie was saying to the ancients. 

"Gingerbrave is missing." She didn't waste time getting to the point. There was no use in patsying around the objective, and the troublesome situation at hand. All of the cookies in the room went silent. There was a light shifting from some ends of the table, probably from someone moving their legs. "He's been missing for a while, and I apologize for not being able to get everyone together sooner."

"Gingerbrave? Are you talking about that simple little fellow who has been helping everyone around the kingdoms, dear?" Hollyberry Questioned to Princess; in which the younger cookie simply nodded her head, before looking off to the side. 

"Gingerbrave has been helping and servicing me in expanding my kingdom as well as others who live in the kingdom with us. I gathered everyone here that I knew of- because of all of us- Gingerbrave is probably the one we all collectively know." 

Everyone in the room nodded. They had been connected to Gingerbrave in some way or another. Be it friendly passer-by moments or those moments that mattered. 

Gingerbrave had been just about everywhere and did all he could to help out everyone. A majority of the cookies in the room knew of his services and how he helped in the past. Tension or not, the child always came through and made sure to do his best to assist and protect if necessary. 

"Almond Cookie found a crime scene a while back. Something we have been looking into for any sort of information- if at all possible." 

There was silence across the table as several of the cookies started to talk to each other in hushed tones. Throwing out ideas to each other on what may have happened. They were stopped by a grunt, and the sound of the end of a sword tapping on the ground as a sign for them to shut up. 

"Something about all of this seems to be a bit fishy. Why would it take you all so long to organize this meeting of the crime and crime scene were discovered a while back? How was he so far out of your sighs for something to happen?" Dark Cocao interjected with an ample skepticism. There was one narrowed brow over his dark purple eyes, as the other was raised in a bit of an accusatory manner. 

"We continued to look into the crime scene ever since it was discovered. However, there were other things we had to come to conclusions on, and eventually admit to ourselves before we could bring anyone else in. There are currently many thnigs we still don't understand about this situation ourselves..." the pink haired cookie sighs as she clutched her scepter and brought it closer to her chest. 

She looks down in thought, remembering just how long it took all of them to snap out of whatever had it's clutches over them to begin with. 

It was a lot like a bad dream. 

"Princess Cookie, Dear, what are you trying to imply here?" Hollyberry Cookie questioned as she grabbed her shield and leaned it toward the lip of the table with a slight hesitance in her posture. "It surely does not sound like anything uplifting."

"It isn't. I'm sorry." The younger cookie stated as she felt her chest tighten. Everyone that resided within Princess Cookie's kingdom grew tense. Either because of a slight fear, or because they were angry at something. This was noted by everyone who was not from the kingdom. Confusion amassing over all of them. 

"We don't have all day. If we were rallied together for this assignment, then we shouldn't waste time." Dark Cocao interjected, before lightly standing up from where he sat down at the table before. He looked around the table, amd folded his arms over his chest with an authoritative tone about his stature. "What happened here, and why wasn't it brought to us sooner?" 

Princess Cookie let out a deep sigh, before setting her scepter down on the community table. There was a darkness in her eyes, one keen with regret, and slight confusion. 

"We didn't tell anyone what happened right away.. because this crime is connected to all of us in some way. We may not be the root of it, but we played a major part in it. That's all I can say..." 

All of the cookies that came from other kingdoms or civilizations looked at the cookies of Princess's Kigndom. There was an expectancy. Some sort of demand for more information. 

Unable to take it anymore, Purple Yam stood up, clanging his Potato Mace on the ground with a solid slam. 

"What she is saying is that we're the reason Gingerbrave is mssing."

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//**Insert CPR song here, or something. IDK I'm not a doctor.**//

-

Note: My dumbass has to go through and correct 'Dark Cocao' to 'Dark Cacao'. I didn't realize how bad I butchered it until someone was laughing with me in the comment section on Wattpad. RIP.

Also, reminder: Both Cookie Run Ovenbreak and Cookie Run Kingdom are referenced in this fic, so if you see cookies from OB, don't be shocked. lol

-

The rest of the cookies around the table were all dumbfounded to say the least. A couple awkward coughs, and the sound of someone slamming their fist down on the table was heard. The generrous, but ever so slightly hot-headed Mala Sauce Cookie was standing up from her chair, a look of quick confusion splayed on her face. 

"What do you mean all of YOU are the reason he is missing? If you were the reason he was missing, wouldn't that imply you would also have known where he went?" the woman challanged. 

Purple Yam Cookie was never one for ample patience. He and Mala Sauce Cookie butted heads often enough. Part of it was because Yam disliked anything to do with spice or heat. Especially after being trapped in what would basically be considered hell, for him. 

Nothing but heat from all directions. Stifling, and constricting. He could barely breathe the entire time. 

However that was a story for a different day. They needed to concentrate on now. 

"Both of you please sit down. We will not solve anything any faster if we start to argue and go at someone's throats because of stress or confusion." Pure Vanilla stood up from where he had been sitting, his flowered staff looking around at the cookies present as his own remained closed in their typical manner. "Please explain more, Purple Yam Cookie. We need as much information as possible." 

Purple Yam leans forward, resting his chin on his sharp mace-like weapon before letting out a firm exhale. "I think Sparkling should tell you all about this part. He has experienced whatever happened at least ONE more time than any of us remember. Maybe Herb too, if I remember correctly..." 

Not having the energy to try and dispute or continue the argument, the conversation was passed off to Sparkling Cookie and Herb Cookie as the tough combatant man sat back down at his own seat. Mala Sauce having done so already.

Sparkling Cookie stood up alongside Herb Cookie, who was standing there silently. The botanist gently touched the leaves of the succulent that rested idle in the small pot it was based. All without a care in the world. 

The three Ancient Cookies looked at Sparkling and Herb expectantly. It was clear that Dark Cacao was on the edge of his seat, ready to interrogate at this point. The only one keeping him from interjecting at random times was Hollyberry, who, despite a boisterous attitude at times, was a good listener.

Pure Vanilla sat down in his own seat after order had been restored to the table, folding his hands in his lap as he waits with a notable patience. 

Sparkling Cookie Clears his throat, before thinking back to when he recalled this all starting. Even if all of the signs were not there at the time. 

"How are we supposed to trust you when you won't even trust us to know what is bothering you? It only makes you look like a fool."

All of the cookies were silent around the table. They were confused. What was he walking about? Who was he talking to?

 "You are a coward. There's nothing worth-while about you. Why do we even keep you around?" 

Sparkling Cookie looked off to the side, not even bothering to peer in Herb's Direction. The green haired man just looked down to the plant in his hands as he brought it closer to his chest. A firm line made up Herb's mouth, a cross and concerned expression being the main display that was openly observed. 

"What is the point of quoting stuff to us? That is helping absolutely none of us understand what you are trying to say." Lotus Dragon Cookie sat in the chair they were assigned, holding their instrument of choice off to the side. Their pet rested on the table beside them.

The dragon cookie was clearly unamused at the entire situation. However, until now, they had been listening very closely to what had been provided, vague and indescreet as it may be. 

"So far, what you have said has nothing to do with the dullard child that we are talking about. You might want to cut to the chase, so as to not confuse more of the over-thinkers at this table. Everyone thinks at their own speed, and you just may leave some of them in the dust. Plus, it is wasting time." 

The dragon cookie only recieved a couple warning glares from surrounding cookies, not that they minded much. 

Under the careless facade that the dragon cookie kept, they wanted Gingerbrave to be found about as much as everyone else did. The dragon though relatively little of the child, and even talked down to him on more than one occasion themselves. 

Even so, they had  a certain notch of respect for him, as annoying as it was. Meaning they would be invested in helping, no matter how much they denied it. 

Sparkling shook his head, before looking around and getting right to the point. 

"The point here is that, when all of this was starting out, we were being effected before anything major happened and we didn't even know it. Currently, I am the first one to have been effected by it, as far as we know." the bartender pulled his hands up to his hips. "I am usually not someone who talks down to others. I am almost always somewhat neutral in opinion and I don't really get upset easily. That stuff I said earlier- I said that to Gingerbrave shortly before more of us were starting to become effected by whatever had been happening in the kingdom." 

Herb nodded to confirm the statement of Sparkling, along with other cookies that communicated with Sparkling on a regular basis. As a Bartender, Sparkling was used to holding his own opinions and keeping his emotions to himself unless he was in the comfort of a familiar area and just had friends around. 

He wouldn't need or want to be in the habit of having a foul mouth in a place where cookies come to drink. That is almost just begging for something wrong to happen.

The rest of the cookies around the table al continued to talk to each other, seeming to offer varying ideas on the situation. Some found the information helpful. Other failed to see it's relevence. 

After the conversation had been passed around a couple times, the ancients were discussing several things with each other, such as their concerns. Both for the state of this 'meeting room' the the cookies inside of it. Then their worries shifted over to Gingerbrave. They all knew the child well and got along with him quite well too. They knowing he was missing was eating away at their confidence in him being alright. 

-

Vampire Cookie leans back in his seat, his expression unwavering as he just kept himself silent. However, as he brought his legs up and rested them over the surface of the table, much to disdain of Alchemist Cookie, a small smile played on his expression. 

Peering over to Alchemist, his smile only grew a little bit more broad as his eye color shifted to an intense pink rather than a deep purple that it always had been.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

//Reeses Puffs, Reeses Puffs; Eat Em Up, Eat Em Up, Eat Em Up-//

-

Alchemist Cookie looked at her adoptive sibling, feeling a chill crawling up her spine as she narrowed her eyes behind her broad framed glasses. ". . .  Who are you?" she stood up, before backing away from the red haired male. She only grew irked as soon as Vampire started to let out a shallow, dark laugh. 

All of the heads at the table started turning upon noticing the movement from the rather idle side. 

"What are you doing?" Vampire's eye color fell back to the normal, dark purple that they always were. He looked genuinely confused, but the younger cookie only narrowed her eyes, before getting closer to him.

"I don't know who you are, or what you are- but you sure as hell are not Vampire Cookie."  she grabbed the man by his collar, and narrowed her eyes as she leans in closer to the impostor. The hat over the younger cookie tilted, and Vampire smirks before grabbing the brims of it, pulling it down over the girls face with a firm snap as the brim tried to resume its regular shape.

"Clever child. I suppose I should be surprised that the kingdom lush would easily be picked out for not indulging in his 'enjoyments'. However, now that I have been sniffed out, I suppose I shouldn't hide it." the red haired man pat Alchemist on the head, before shoving the girl back. 

Alchemist fell back with a heavy thud, seeing as she was distracted with trying to get the tight brim of her hat off of her head with minimal luck. 

Almond Cookie reaches in toward his packets, silently pulling out some handcuffs before lifting his chair a bit, and nudging it back away from the table. Hopefully enough for a little bit of movement. 

Noticing the officer off to the side of himself, Sparkling looks over to the other side of the table, trying to make a gesture for someone to start talking, so the attention could be directed away from the detective that would surely be inching his way toward the supernatural based cookie within moments. 

"Well, this is quite the development." a statement roused from the other side of the table, a stern woman standing before adjusting her dress a little to be comfortable again. "I have not met you before, but it seems that we have a stranger amidst our ranks? Just who are you, and what brings you to spy on us?" 

Pinkish Red eyes behind a thick-framed monacle blink as long white eyelashes hide most of the woman's expression. Head tilting a bit to the left, she brought a hand to rest under her chin. 

Right next to her, a separate woman with green triped hair, and a bit of a cocky expression let one of the brows raise in question before adjusting the headband that held her hair back. "Well, you heard her, she asked a question."

The presence within Vampire couldn't help itself. It would take the chance to gloat whenever the opportunity presented itself. Now was the time. It could openly rub it's achievement's in their faces, right from behind it's drunkard of a host's lips. 

"Oh come now, don't go acting like me succeeding in infultrating on your little meeting was all that hard. After all, you all were in MY territory, you can consider this.. paying back the favor- as they say." Vampire cookie's face twisted into a mix between a snarl and a grin as he slammed his arms down on the table- the presence within him laughing at their concerned, or less specific expressions. "This just proves how easy you are to trust. Everything amidst you simple minded fools has been all for not." 

Pure Vanilla Cookie stood up at his chair, before before making a gesture to start speaking. 

In a quick fit of sudden annoyance, the entity controlling Vampire Cookie quickly moves his hand forward, before grabbing a nearly placed cup that rested on the table. Made of glass, the opportunity was taken to smash the liquid-bearing object. 

From the base of the cup, where the liquid rests- to the top; the cup had been shattered. However, the arguably long handle of the glass, as well as the base were still in good shape. There was no hesitation or fear  behind the next actions that were taken. Eyes aglow in a fiery pink, Vampire cookie aimed the sharpened handle of the former object in his hand before grabbing Sparkling's hair with his free hand. 

Sparkling had barely even any time to react, before his head was slammed down onto the table. Vampire's left hand was pinning the blonde's cranium to the coldened surface while the right hand held the sharpened glass a couple measley inches over the bartenders hair. 

""Ah ah ah. We don't want to get reckless now do we? After all, we all came here to chat and take in our lovely little situation. I think all of you should concentrate on that instead of me having fun and watching the show. We don't want blonde and beautiful's pretty little face to be turned into scratching post, now do we?" 

The viciousness carved into Vampire Cookie's face was alarming. Whoever or whatever this creature was, it wasn't joking. If there were any wrong moves made, there was sure to be reprecussions. 

Even Sparkling Cookie had made sure to barely move a muscle in this situation. The last thing he needed to do was get everyone going. 

Almond Cookie started to sweat a little bit. He was about to move when Sparkling made a gesture with his hands, silently telling Almond to Stop.

Taking in a bit of a deep breath, wavering in the slightest- Sparkling swallowed a little before shifting in discomfort. "You seem to be really proud of yourself..." he stated in a slightly quivering voice. "You must have a lot of be proud of if you are here in front of all of us now with such confidence."

A snarl emerged from Vampire before he started to let out a dark chuckle. "Of course I am." the man admitted as he gripped Sparklings hair with more force. "After all... I have been the source of all of your problems from the start, and yet.. here were months later."

Sparkling couldn't bite back his tongue anymore. He felt a tinge of quick annoyance, and resentment fuel it's way into his brain. The same feeling he felt when he had talked down to Gingerbrave that day. "You bastard-" he spat. 

"That would be me indeed, Sparkling." The possed man cooed before leaning toward the other more with a bit of a hiss. "Come on, I know you have that sweet little feeling of deja vu. You know it was me that made you say all those nasty things. How could you be so cruel to a child?" 

Vampire Cookie let out a feigned whine before snorting and starting to laugh again. After falling silent, seemingly breathless, Vampire seemed to cease moving. All of the other cookies in the room were tense, and there was not a word uttered between them. 

"Now that we gout that out of the way..." Vampire started with a small smirk "Let's see how well your local bartender can handle his on wears." Without another word, the possessed drunkard quickly raised the sharpened handle glass weapon over Sparkling's head, and slammed his hand down toward the startled blond. 

The room went cold as jam quickly splattered across the table and several gasps emerged from the surrounding cookies.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

// "No Meme, No Meme, No Meme, NO MEMES!!"

//"CONGRATULATIONS! Your meme was so freaking atrocious Knuckles banned the meme several times. Never fucking show your face here again."

-

Jolting hands slammed down into the table as Sparklings hand tightened. He didn't know what happened at first. Not completely. However, after trying to get his oxygen back, he found that it was extremely hard to breathe. He didn't feel pain, but his face was getting warm from a certain level of panic that was rising in his system. 

He tried to control his next actions, but it seemed impossible. He felt himself get nauseus and panicked both at the same time. He wanted to run, and get as far away from the danger as possible as much as he wanted to collapse and regain his bearings. 

Vampire Cookie snickered before feeling himself being pulled back. Growling, he tried to struggle, just to be held down by another 4 of the cookies from around the table at least. Almond cookie secured the mans arms and hands, quickly swiping any items that could be used as a weapon away from him. 

Herb cookie was standing near sparkling as he used what abilities he had to at least try and get the bleeding to stop and repair sparklings throat. He knew his healing would only really slow Sparkling from dying, and a fretting expression knit itself to his brow as he tried to find a way to make his magic stronger. Sparkling was still slightly struggling on the table, trying to at least get back up straight. 

More than likely, Sparkling was still confused as to what actually happened. He looked a little dazed now that he wasn't moving around so much. 

Pure Vanilla walked over to the cookies, as he was nearby. The man looked worried, before he too summoned forth his healing capabilities. His brows knit together in concern and apprehension in regards to the possed man that was was subdeed a couple feet away from them. He was laughing hysterically, bemused by all accounts, and maddened with glee. 

Vampire Cookie had thrashed around, before quickly growing tired. 

After some time of considerable silence, Vampire Cookie passed out, slumped over the table as Almond and Mint Choco finished cuffing him, and pulling hm out of the room.

Dark Cacao let out a deep sigh, before bringing his fingers up tp pinch the bridge of his nose that rested between his eyes. Frustration was obvious, but so was confusion. More minutes of silence passed before the man looked to the kingdom dwelling party. 

"I get the lingering suspicion that this is part of the problem that you all mentioned. Do you know who or what that ... thing inside of Vampire even was?" The ancient glanced over to Pure Vanilla, who was almost done healing the throat of the injured bartender. 

Sparkling had grown tired, because the healing of such damages required energy to try and undo just how much blood he actually lost. The cookies on the side that the injury took place moved back from the table, not in favor of seeing the sweetened jam that made up their bodies saturating the carpet and table of the meeting room. 

Out of all the things to be thinking, the only thing that Hollyberry could actively think about at the time was the fact that Dark Cacao was right. They really should have set up the meeting room within a hall that had a tile floor. Less of a chance for a mess. 

"On the worse side, it was made clear before that whoever or whatever that is, can effect way more than one person at a time." Herb sighs, before looking around the room. All of the cookies seemed normal, so far, but he couldn't be sure at this point. They never even considered just how strange Vampire was acting. There was no way that lush would go anywhere without the slightest buzz. 

Even if he was capable of functioning well under the influence of such juices, he often chose not to. 

Maybe this situation was the only reason they convinced themselves he had stopped. Something they should have considered more in skepticism, now that the event was over. 

"Is there any other substantial information that you can give at the moment? Perhase there is more notable areas to start looking around, or other places of interest." Hollyberry Cookie stood up, grasping the shield that she usually kept nearby. "It is going to be a troublesome experience, but frankly... there are two ways to go about this, and neither of them are ideal."

Alchemist cookie looked around at the table. Her adoptive brother was possessed not even 10 minutes ago, Detective Almond had taken her brother away because of that. Sparkling was unable to speak because of being unconscious and heavily damaged. Herb was the only other real person nearby that could report on what bit they actually knew. 

It was frustrating. 

Standing up, the younger cookie brought her glasses closer to her face. She raised her hand, trying to get the attention of everyone around the table. 

"There is only so much information I can actually give, but something that did happen when we were out looking around the crime scene- was the fact that we ran into a couple of the cookies of darkness nearby.." the younger girl brought a hand up to her hat, readjusting the brim as she thought about Vampire again. Mostly in worry. 

"The Cookies of Darkness? What would they be doing near the crimescene? That is quire suspicious indeed..." Dark Cacao sighs, before folding his arms over each other on the table. There was a pensive grunt as he looked around. "We have still yet to finnd the true base of these criminals, correct?" 

"That would be correct." Princess Cookie sighs. "We have found them on several occasions, but they were never near where they reside perminantly. From what we can tell, they just show up out of nowhere, and disappear all the same. On most occasions, they seem to not really come from anywhere particular." The pink haired female tapped her scepter on the table before sitting up straight. 

"If the Cookies of Darkness were near the crimescene, there is just as much of a chance that they have been exposed to the crime scene as not being exposed to it at all. We should work diligently to attempt to find more info and clues. 

"Where do we start?"

(To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

//Oh I wake up every morning at 7 A.M, to get up for work instead of staying in bed and I think to myself- AAAAAAEEUHH!//

-

Dark blue eyes woke up the the feeling of warmth. The feeling of scales wrapping around his leg was certainly not the ideal situation to wake up in, that was for sure. At first, the white haired child was just drowsy. His foggy orbs baredly shifted around the room as he tried to completely bring himself back to awareness. 

Gaining a better sense of his surroundings, and consciousness of the situation he was in, Gingerbrave stopped moving so much. Dark Enchantress and the other Cookies of Darkness were all still sleeping. Slightly snoring as they seemed to also be sunstantially exhausted. Bringing his leg up in the slightest, the boy had nearely jumped, seeing just what was slithering over his shoes. 

A serpentine shaped skeleton faced him. The empty sockets looking at him in interest and maybe even wonder. Despite that, it seemed that a couple things of this morbid snake was familiar. 

Closing his eyes, and trying to muster up his courage, GingerBrave thought back, as far as he could. Then, it struck him. The reason the snake looked familiar was because of Licorice. This was the same snake that had slithered it's way out of the magic enthusiast's cauldron after a spell was put together. What had happened to the snake after that had been a great mystery until now. A mystery that they had not even considered. 

The snake had changed, since the last time it had been seen. The crimson bones now float within a jelly like substance that somehow still had been akin to a snake's actual body. Scales and all. Perhaps this snake had magic of some kind as well. If not, it surely was resourceful.

Sucking in a deep breath, the brave child closed his eyes and very slightly wiggled himself free of the two Cookies of Darkness that were the closest to him. He was smaller than usual, most likely because he had not been feeding himself well. He felt his stomach starting to rumble a little at the thought of food. 

In all honesty, he questioned how smart the idea of going and making food for everyone would be. He was no chef by any means. Not in the least. However, he was good enough at cooking to make a decent meal when it was needed. He knew that from experience. He had survived out in the while for a long, long time- after all. he was almost as familiar with the wild as he was with his own skull shaped buttons on his shirt. Though, interally, he caught himself doubting the authenticity that note would provide anyone else. 

Closing his eyes, Gingerbrave pictured what bit of the Darksides base he had seen in his memory. 

The snake on the ground in front of the boy started to slither up his leg, eventually making it's way to his shoulder and arm. It's face seemed to be interested him him. 

The longer that the young teen stared at it, the cuter it looked. Even if it did have skeletal features, the only thing his brain seemed to comprehend was the fact that the passive face of the serpent monster on his arm looked a lot like a curious puppy.

Despite the cloud of despair that still loomed overhead, GingerBrave reaches his arm out slowly, gently allowing the snake to survey his hand so any movement did not alarm the thing. As soon as the synthetically created animal was settled, the boy nodded to himself, before he turned his head again. He walked toward the door, and looked both left and right as he slowly tracked down the kitchen area. 

The kitchen looked so much larger than he remembered it. Maybe it was because both times he ahd been there, there were others in the room with him. The height of the counters also helped him to realize just how short he really was. Especially in comparison to a lot of other cookies who have a very considerable height. Dark Enchantress being the tallest of all of them. 

Perhaps he should just get rid of the idea of making food for everyone. 

Letting out a deep sigh, he turned around, before noticing something on the fridge door. It was a somewhat fresh sheet of paper, decorated with a swan and lillies in his scribblings. 

Seeing it on the fridge made 'Brave feel some sort of odd pride within himself. Almost something like being pat on the back, or even outright congratulated after a job well done. Is this why Custard liked drawing stuff so often? Because he got to feel this sort of subtle acknowledgement when his own drawings were taken by the others and placed somewhere to be seen?

That same thought refueled GingerBrave with some sort of hope and determination. After a moment more of consideration, the boy took a deep breath, and walked over to the counter. He had noticed the small stool off to the side before, and grabbed it- testing the sturdyness before committing himself to using it. 

All systems were go. 

The child had started to wash his hands, and the space he was going to be using, before pulling several ingredients and tools from nearby shelves, cabinets and containment areas. Everything was relatively untouched- and shockingly clean and tidy. One of the core things about cooking that the child had learned when he was stuck cooking outside. 

Guiding his sight over to the nearby table, The Brave Boy looked to the snake that lie curled up in a docile, relaxed manner, staring at him from a pile of paper towels that it was placed on top of, in order to keep the table as clean as possible. 

The youth smiled to the strange creature, and turned back to his project, getting ready to put the best meal he can together for the Darksides. They had been helping him a lot. He didn't know if they still considered him an enemy, but the least he can do is take their kindness and pay it forward, like a good person would. 

"Time to get started..." he whispers to himself, before pulling out the nearest cutting board and knife. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((I'm waking up, to ash and dust- I wipe my ass and I slap my nuts.))

-

((Authors Notes: First, I want to say thank you to my Wattpad Community. The people who are almost always as happy or excited to see a chapter of this long-lasting fanfiction and I was to write them. They gave me some good advice, kind words and I thank all of them for sticking with this fanfiction for so long. This next chapter is being released 2 days early- because I want to get the ball rolling on this fanfiction again sooner rather than later. Bless you all.))

-

At first, everything seemed to be going well. After all- Gingerbrave had survived in the wild before. When he and the other friends he had at the beginning of his confusing life had finally escaped together- it was the first true sense of both freedom- and isolation. 

The world was a large, and scary place. It always would be. Part of the boy's mind spun, the first steps to making him more self reliant again- was learning to take care of himself and remembering how to survive without comfort from others when he needed it. Comfort from others was a lot like a poison. Despite well intention- it was easy to become reliant on being dependant on others. 

After nearly washing up some ingredients- he had started to cut and part them- surprisingly skilled in the craft of cooking for a youngter. It would be surprising to most who were not familiar with how his life had played out so far. 

Gingerbrave may not have been too sure on how to move things forward- and thank the darksides for everything they had done for him thus far. Closing his eyes, had had taken in a deep breath- before placing the ingredients together in the fashion they were meant to be placed- and he faced the stove. Internally- part of him quivered in apprehension. His fingers felt as though they suddenly were made of static. 

Small flashes would play themselves in his mind. His nightmares from the beginning of this whole mess... the memories as of not even 2 days ago. Without notcing- Gingerbrave's breathing had become slightly rapid, and unsteady. 

Calm down. Calm. 

Closing his eyes and letting his head fall forward the slightest bit- Gingerbrave squeezed his hand around the body of the spoon that was currently in his hands. The sensation was uncomfortable, but it was enough to make him stop concentrating on the bad memories so much. 

Caught up in the internalized confusion- he hardly noticed just how much time had passed. Four whole minutes of just sitting in front of the warming oven, and it felt like a mere couple seconds dedicated to getting himself mentally back in order. The concept of time was nearly as frightening as the realization of death. 

'Stop thinking about that. You're just going to make yourself paranoid again.' he mentally scolded himself. 

After taking in a deep breath, Gingerbrave grabbed an oven mitt from the nearby hook on the kitchen wall- and slid the food into the oven with a quickness- and retracting his hand immediately afterward. He didn't feel pain- but just the sensation of his whole arm being surrounded by heat nearly made his legs feel like jelly. The boy shut the oven, and placed the oven mitt back on the hook he had found it- before he turned to start washing up what little bit of a mess he made. 

The slithering friend that the brave child had made just a little while ago was still lying curled up on the paper towels that it had been placed on top of a short while ago. This provided the youth with some sort of ease- as he made his way over to sit down near the serpent. 

A small flick of the tongue indicated that the snake could smell him nearby. Closing it's eyes, the creature seemed to have a sleeping smile. It was a lot like a puppy, if it was looked at long enough. A tube-shaped, scaled puppy. 

Gingerbrave brought a finger out, and gently pressed it on the snakes nose- between the nostrils. This caused the creature to flick it's tongue again in greeting as it lifted it's head from the resting postion it had found, in order to wrap itself over 'Brave's hand. 

It tickled. Oddly enough, it gave the brave child a feeling of warmth. 

"Thank you..." the boy muttered to the estranged being, before looking back over to the oven. The oven continued to run- the feintest of sounds coming from it as it produced the heat required to cook the food. "I hope I did okay... I don't usually have to cook and for all I know I did something that may taste bad...." the bad thoughts were becoming intrusive again. 

Shaking his noggin, Gingerbrave smiled a little, despite it looking dry and tired. "No. I did fine. Right? I did fine?" He looked to the serpent, who flicked it's tongue in contemplation. After some seconds, it gently plopped the front of it's nose on the top of his hands a couple times. 

It was a lot like a dog gently nudging it's owner with it's nose.

A small laugh rose from the back of Gingerbrave's throat as he wiped at his eyes a little bit, and nodded. "Yeah. I did okay. I just know it." 

Some minutues of arguably awkward silence pass by- bleeding into about half an hour before anything else of substantiality took place. Somewhat in a daze, the child rests his chin in his hand as he focused on the glow coming from the window on the oven door. 

He had turned the light to the stove on- so he could see the inside of it. Part of him held onto the paranoia of the food that he made was going to be sentient, and he was really just hurting whoever or whatever it was. No screaming, no crying. No begging to be let out of the hellscape oven environmennt. 

"It's just... food..." he closed his eyes again, his right hand trembling as he sucked in a deeper breath. "Just food... just food. Not alive... you're not hurting it..." 

He bit his lip, before a queasy sigh made it's way from his lips. Eventually, his shoulders relaxed. 

"The food is indeed not alive." 

A voice from behind Gingerbrave caught the boy off guard, making him jump up a couple inches before whipping his head around to see the source. 

((To Be Continued)

Chapter Text

((Whoaaa-ooooh, we're half way thereeee, Whoa-oooh SQUIDWARD ON A CHAIR!!)

-

((Beginning Notes: Before we get started, I want to publically answer an inquiry from someone who wanted to make a slighty braizen comment in my DM's. Now- my DM's are open to everyone and always will be- but if you want to come in and chew me out for my content- or hate on it- just do it publically. You shouldn't have to hide your opinions on my fanfiction. If you don't like it, just say so in the comment section. I'll completely understand ; So in short terms, I was 'asked' WHY the fiction is so long. A reason that a lot of readers understood- versus other readers who didn't (no shade))

((There are several reasons this fic has lasted so long: 1 - For a better sense of topic separation and pacing between angst and breaks from angst.  2 - To establish understandable, believable relations ships between characters who are typically enemies. 3 - To establish a rate of whish the readers can explore notable trauma and the effects on someone who neglects to deal with their trauma.))

((I also think I have dragged it out long. Maybe even way longer than necessary- but even if it is not very well executed- the only plus side is that my intentions are clear. When dealing with topics like trauma, and establishing believable relationships- it is often overlooked and it goes without saying that more of the plot is dedicated to the destination- than how the character gets there- and it leaves readers wondering and thinking it's out of left field.))

-

Standing behind the boy, was the tall purple skinned woman. Of course, she was more straightened up now, her air tucked back into her headwear. She seemed to be watcing in slight interest, before standing up and walking away from the doorframe, to get closer to Gingerbrave, who was still leaning his head on the table. 

"You know, most cookies would have taken the chance to get away, while there was nothing to stop them. Yet, you stayed." the woman seemed to be the slightest bit baffled, if anything else. She sighs, before setting down her scepter, and closing her eyes- then pulled out a chair to take a seat herself. She folded one of her legs over the other, before looking back over to the boy. "... It's surprising, have this amount of trust for someone who ... has the title of my enemy." 

GingerBrave looked over to Dark Enchantress, whether it should have been taken as a compliment or an insult. However, he did what he usually would- and that waking ithe statement at face value. She basically outright stated that she trusted him. 

"I suppose I could have." GingerBrave muttered out, before looking down to the floor. "Maybe I would have, if I felt the need to run. I don't though, I don't want to leave..." the white haired child leans his head forward, before looking toward the wall on the opposite end of the room- adjacent from the stove. "I don't feel as afraid here. Not right now..."

Dark Enchantress seemed to ponder the statement, some sort of shadow falling over her face as she thought about the words a bit more. 

"What if you were in danger? What if all of this was a well constructed lie to get you to trust us, boy?" she tilted her head, some of her loose strands of hair slipping from behind her ears. "What if all of this is just trying to eploit you in any way possible, just so we can use your weaknesses against you for our own benefits?" 

GingerBrave blinked a couple times, before looking over to the woman again. He and her locked eyes- his more constant saddened expression made the woman looked away a bit, before pondering something mentally. After a small affirmation she made with herself, she looked back at the youngster.

"I suppose we will have to cross thhat bridge when we get there. Even if I am just an enemy in your home, I shouldn't doubt everything you've done for me. No matter how straining it has been... you said you trusted me... and I trust you." He let his eyes travel over to the picture of the swan on the fridge. The same drawing he had given Dark Enchantress a while back. "Maybe I am stupid for doing so. Maybe you do have alternative intentions. I don't believe it is so, because i would like to believe that the reason you can tolerate me so much... is because you have some place deep inside of you also hide away from everyone else." 

Dark Enchantress stopped for a second, her hand tifhtening on her scepter from the other end of her chair. The action was, of course, strained. However, she let out a quick sigh, and became less tense again. The feeling she had felt was not anger. Though- normally it might have been. 

The implication could have insinuated that she was 'two-faced'. She hated the idea of being called two-faced- depsite avoiding her slightly more compassionate nature. She was no where near her past self. All those glimpses of who she may have been, or used to be. 

All she knew, was her current goal, and this child had somehow interfered. A child she used to call a sworn enemy. Howeever, deeping looking into his mental state had only lead her to become soft. Part of her hated the softness she felt- and what caring she could feel for another cookie when her goal nearly always required her to be ruthless. Over this last stent of time, one of the few things she did manage to learn was just how messed up this child actually was. 

It was funny, how things looked on the other side of the mirror. 

A clever and carefully crafted facade had disintigrated from the child's face upon the confrontation of his emotions. children should not know how to hide severe depression. From what little she knew, the boy wasn't even a teenager yet, and still he had managed to mask what could be argued as PTSD, a severe case of depression, and critically low self-esteem. 

The thought of the boys' memories came slowly flooding back toward her psyche. Being inside of an oven where nearly everyone around himself died. Escaping with one sibling, and stuggling for some time- before losing the other sibling to one of those damned witches. Not only was the kin eaten- the kin was eaten in mockery. That witch enjoyed every minute of making him suffer. 

To some extent, the idea of suffering made her internally cringe. 

Namely because, as a chaser of what she viewed as 'The Greater Good' she had felt how she saw the witch act. She had often found herself enjoying inflicting pain, even if it was not what she wanted to do when her goal had become her only reason to existing. She closed her eyes, and let out a sigh, as she pictured the witche's twisted face, and she easily saw herself. 

Darkness only beign forth more and more darkness. Even so- it was too late to turn back now, she had commit too many crimes, and attacked too many cookies to consider anything else. Maybe one could consider her whole goal to be a mass of confused irony. Other viewed it to be justice. 

It was hard to sympathize with someone who would commit crime after crime to accomplish their goal. That's why she didn't try to appeal to anyone's better nature. Because appealing to someone's better nature wouldn't help them progress. It would just get them to agree with them- until they had to do something that they didn't like. Something that went agaisnt their moral code, no matter how much support they were willing to give. 

Lost in this trail of bemusing thoughts, Dark Enchantress snapper herself out of her confusing frame of mind, and looked back to the child, who was looking down at the table. Several questions pried at her, and she couldn't help but beg forth a question to the idle youth staring forthmost at the nearest wall. 

"... If you have been so wronged in the past by a witch- why do you still fight alongside those who defend witches? Why do you fight to defend lands made by creatures who have made us to be eaten? Those who have caused you all of your grief?" 

Gingerbrave looked over to her for a moment, seeming to ponder her question for a moment. 

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

(("Guys look..., A BIRDIE!!"))

-

((Authors Note: Welcoming the first piece of fanart from one of my most enthused, consistant fans of this book- this amazing piece of art was made by @Mils0013 (Wattpad), and has also been posted to Mils Tumblr! () please consider going and showing Mils some support!))

Mils Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/keeperofthecookies

The Wonderful Fanart: 

-

The boy continued to ponder the woman's question. His darkened eyes shifted a little bit, and he stared at the nearby wall- dare one say- he may have even been a little lost for words to express his opinions even now. Despite that, he gave it some thought. Why would he defend the product of everything that had caused him so much pain when he was barely even conceptualized?

The world was always going to be harsh, and unforgiving.

In itself, though, there was beauty, and compassion. Love able to be found, if only one dug deep enough to finally reach it.

There was always things he second guessed within himself. Always wondering whether or not he had done the right thing. Whether or not he was capable to continue on the way he was, just because he knew what witches could really be like.

Just before Gingerbrave could answer, the timer over the oven went off, and he stood up- walking over to the warm appliance as he grabbed the oven mitts again, and readied his hands to the designated handle to pull the appliance door open to get to the product of his cooking labors. The second the door of the stove was open, a warm wave of air hit him, and he visualld tensed a little bit.

The feeling of the warmth didn't hurt him physically. Not in the least. However, the emotions that started to rise in him were indicative of moderate panic. His hands clenched over the bar of the handle, and he quickly closed his eyes, before his breath hitched in the back of his throat and and struggled to get himself to move for a firm few seconds. He trembled a little bit as subtle flashes in his memeories started to play, and the feeling of sadness started to emerge within him again.

It was cut short when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Dark Enchantress there, standing over him with a calm, knowing face. She had gently made a motion for him to move to the side, so she could continue the task he had set himself to do. However, he shook his head no, and took a deep breath- before stucking both of his arms in the oven. He pulled out the baked goods with a baited breath, and subsequentially stuck them on the counter, where they could cool on the cooling rack that rested near the sink.

Looking up to Dark Enchantress the moment before, gave him a feeling of moderate realization to the question that the woman had wanted him to answer. The one that she awaited, in quetion of his motivations that confused her so.

"I think... I can explain it." Gingerbrave finally sighed, before setting the oven mitts down on the counter- far enough away from the cooling food for them to cool down as well. "I don't know if it can make sense, but... I can't explain it."

Dark Enchantress looked back at the white haired child, before walking over to the chair once more, and sitting down in it. She nodded to him, and allowed him the time to speak his mind. To enlighten, or amuse her with his point of view. Despite not hating him anymore, she highly doubted that they could ever see eye to eye.

"Go on, child." she patiently prompted, before closing her eyes a bit. Resituating herself, she rests her folded hands over her lap, and made sure to pay attention the best she could.

"Change."

The word was so simple, and yet so confusing.

It could be interpreted as anything.

Anything at all.

Perhaps it was an answer that rested right under her nose, maybe it was something so abstract that no one else could consciously think about it. Maybe it meant absolutely nothing at all. Any way it went, the purple skinned woman looked absolutely lost, and confused. With a wave of her hand, she gestured for him to continue, if he would. Hoping to understand more.

There was a substle confusion, and ample frustration behind her obvious interest.

"Everything is subject to change." GingerBrave stated simply. "Everything we do, everything we are- is fueled by some sort of change. A difference. An acception or occurance that was different from the last. Change is the variable, and we are the factors." It was almost poetic, even if Dark Enchantress could not completely understand. "Change is one of the many truths of this world... it is always a truth, because change is about differences. Change is a truth, because it is constant in it's variation."

Dark Enchantress laughed a little bit, still confused as she tried to understand what he was getting at. She really did- but the more she thought about it, the more practical she was becoming. It was almost like an oxymoron, in a way- what he had just said. Change being a truth, because something or someone changing is a constant. A reality.

It had started to sound almost scientific, at this point. After long moments of silence, the leader of the Cookies of Darkness seemed to tilt her head a little bit, before letting out a gentle sigh. "I am afraid I do not completely understand what you mean child..."

GingerBrave laughed a little bit, despite it sounding dry. However, he smiled anyways, and looked away- letting his glance fall on the nearby wall instead of the woman nearby. "I still don't know how to completely explain it that well... but... thank you for listening to me anyway."

Both of the white haired persons sat still at the table in slightly awkward silence, before a voice came from the nearby hallway.

"Something smells good..." it was groggy, and the sound made after it seemed to be a bit of a snort- as someone was getting sleep out of their system.

"Licorice." Dark Enchantress greeted the Dark Wizard with a nod in the gray-skinned man's direction.

"So, what smells good?"

Licorice conntinued walking into the kitchen, sitting down at his own seat tat the table as he continued to wake himself up. "Or am I just going to have to wait ti find out?"

((To Be Contintued))

Chapter Text

(("Get in loser, we're going to therapy."))

-

The chatter at the table was modest at first. Then again, it was usually how lunchrooms were like. Cafeterias, or whatever whomst may call them. It didn't really matter at this point- there was so much going on around GingerBrave that he shut down actively thinking about much of anything.

He was trying to enjoy the moment. Surrounded by those he was comfortable with as they all chattered about a couple things.

Somehow, he had convinced himself that they normally wouldn't talk at the table, especially before he was brought into the darksides place of residence.

Licorice was, shockingly, sitting at the table without his robes. One could tell that he was lanky in build, but he was certainly very thin. It wasn't an unhealthy thin either, he simply just didn't have a build where he would have meat on his bones. The dark wizards hair was pulled firmly into a bun of messy dreads at the back of his head. Probably for comfort reasons.

The table filled up completely, eventually. Poison Mushroom being the one to the table last as they huddled up to their chair, and made an attempt to climb it sleepily.  The younger child went to waiting for their food much like everyone else. Though, they weren't in the mood to talk much at the time, one could assume by the lack of active interaction.

Dark Choco and Red Velvet both talked back and forth as they had a morning coffee, made at the brewing machine. Ironically, it was Dark Choco who preferred to have coffee with sweeteners and cream. Red Velvet might as well be outright chewing on the coffee beans himself, based on how he drank his.

Amongst all the chatter, Gingerbrave had only managed to string some of his wandering thoughts together in the confusion that wrapped around his mind. He had been counting his blessings, and lining up his curses. Everything that had happened in the last long while had a reprecussion. What if one of the reprecussions was the safety of the cookies around him now, much like it was in the kingdom?

Just how strong was the accursed entity in his mind? It had managed to take control over multitudes of cookies in such a short amount of time. Effecting them mentally, and making them act different.

The only thing the Cookies of Darkness had up their sleeves was the fact that they were very much accustomed to darker magic and utilizing an event to their advantage. Be it for knowledge or for other means.

"Hey, whatever you made tastes pretty good kiddo." Licorice called over to Gingerbrave, before taking another bite. "I 'unno what it is, but it really hits the spot." pulling back his locks, the gray-skinned man finished what was on his plate, before standing up and going up to the sink to wash his dish. "Bitter and sweet tastes don't always work well together, but this one was quite great."

Gingerbrave smiled  a little at the compliment, before nodding.

Even with the smell of the food he had made- which was quite amazing, he couldn't help but allow his mind to wander. There was a force somewhere in his mind whispering to him all the time that he was not safe. He wanted to believe he was. The darksides didn't scare him, and he thoroughly didn't believe that they would hurt him at this point.

Miss Pomegranate even seemed less intimidating now. Not in a bad way, of course.

All of a sudden, it was overwhelmingly cold.

Everything around him was freezing. A chill slowly made it's way up the boys' spine, tingling as the sensation of coolness graduated to nothing short of bitterly frigid. Gingerbrave wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes, trying to shut down any thought he had of the cold. It did little to soothe his jittery teeth and shaking fingers.

Where did everybody go?

Opening his eyes, Gingerbrave noticed that the room around him looked white. A bold breeze passed in front of his face, the coldness nipping at his nose. This made the child close his eyes again in dismay. He shook his head and felt his warm breath escaping into the open cold.

"Gingerbrave...." a voice came from the cold. The voice was one that the boy was desperate to hear again; and still- he feared it even more now than he had ever feared it in the past. "Why won't you look at me, Gingerbrave..."

The feeling around him was cold, but GingerBrave found himself oddly... calm. It was confusing, and foreign, compared to all the other feelings of common intrusions he had felt over the last many months. The snapping of a bold colored hue was not missed- in presence of a calm, blue hue.

In front of him, Gingerbrave soptted a familiar set of eyes. Eyes that were round, and full of curiosity. Not yet tained by the world that had been wearing the child down for the longest time. Gingerrbave brought out his hand as he tried to touch the face in front of his own. He hesitated for a second, though. For he had no idea what was true or what was false. What was there, or just illusory.

"Dozer...?" Gingerbrave almost nervously asked. All this time, the angry face of his sibling had been tormenting him. It was strange seeing Dozer as he truly was.

Dozer was just another bright eyed little kid. Not yet tained or broken-down by the world and it's lesser or greater evils. Dozer never had the chance to experience anything, and to Gingerbrave, he was still just a little child. One much younger than himself. He was a child too, but can he claim to be young and stupid when he has gone through so much? Can he be considered old and intelligent, despite not being in this world as long as many other cookies have been?

It was a lot like some estranged state of confused limbo. Was he experientially deprived, or over-compensated?

All of these existential questions, because he is tormented by bad memories and worst entities.

"Gingerbrave.... did I do something bad...?" Dozer asked, before letting his floating form gradually sink down to the ground. "I'm sorry..." the tired child muttered, before bringing his log-sleeved arm to wipe at his watery eyes. "I didn't mean to do anything bad..."

GingerBrave was so confused. What was even happening anymore? Could he trust this frigid fragment from his mind? If so, why was it showing up now of all times?

If there was anything Gingbebrave wished he had more of, it would be trust and faith. After a momet of hesitation, Brave pulled his hand back toward himself, and looked to the teary-eyed Dozer in front of himself. His own face was solemn. He just shook his head, and let out a deep sigh.

"You're not really him... you're messing with me again..." he mumbled.

The confused child in front of Gingerbrave tilted his head, ad wiped at his teary face, the liquid continuing to fall from his eyes. He retracted his hands, and looked bit hurt.

"You need to stop using my brother against me." Brave leans his head down into his arm, and shook his noggin, trying to clear his mind. "How can you want to hurt me so much you would use someone that isn't even here to defend himself against me? That's another kind of torment." He shook his head.

The little Dozer in front of him looked up and down, before sitting on his bum in front of Gingerbrave. The little boy didn't say a thing, but his soft, curious face didn't change. Tired, and slightly bloodshot. Innocent. The very things that it has not been, the entire time that Gingerbrave has been suffering in the last months.

Gingerbrave shivered a bit, trying to not break down into a nervous mess. The cold around him was making his arms feel as though they were going to crumble away from his body and shatter onto the ground.

He clenched his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to vanquish the ghost of his brothers memory from the forefront of his mind.  Somehow, some way. He would succeed and free his mind on his own because he had been helped every step along the way so far... and yet... would that be him betraying his own lessons about trust and seeking help?

He only bit his lip, and looked away from Dozer, as he felt the smaller boy walk nearer and nearer.

Dozer scoot on the snow, and leans agaist an invisible wall, before looking up to Gingerbrave again, and down to the ground witha  bit of a dejected pout. He didn't say a word more, before leaning his cold head against Gingerbrave's arm. He closed his eyes, and proceeded to drift off into some sort of peaceful slumber.

The head that Gingerbrave felt on his arm was cold. Almost like touching ice itself. He wanted desperately to lean into it, to let Dozer know if he was there... but... he didn't know if it really was his brother. It was torture. Another image of dozer that he couldn't find comfort it, because of all of this work done by this stupid entity.

"I miss you..." Gingerbrave teared up a little bit, refusing to open his eyes. "I will always love you and miss you. I'm sorry I didn't do more when you were alive. There are no excuses I can make. No reasons I can excuse myself with. Just please... if you are the real Dozer... know that I love you. No matter how much you deserve to hate me."

Opening his saddened blue eyes, Gingerbrave looked over to the sleeping image of his sibling. He felt a lump growing in his throat. There was so much he wanted to say and do. So much he wanted to confide, and yet, he couldn't. However, the feeling of darkness and tension on his chest started to lift, just a little bit.

Dozer opened his eyes, and peered right into Gingerbrave's.  The little black eyes  blurred a little bit before the younger child looked down and teared up again. Dozer gently grabbed onto Gingerbrave's sleeves and started to shake the older boy's arms.
A sniffle came from the form of the spirit, and Dozer shook his head. "Please wake me up.... I don't like bullying you..." the child whispered. "I don't want to sleep anymore... it's cold here. I'm lonely." Dozer continued to pleade with the older sibling. The more words were spoken, the more confused annd whispered they became. Echoed in whispers and overpowered by the howling wind. When did the wind even get that loud?

Eventually though, his form turned into a mass of glowing blue snowflakes- carried off by the most whimsical of winds.

Gingerbrave just closed his eyes and leans his head back. Pleading with himself to wake up soon.

Somehow, though... the form of his brother renewed his feeling of determination. A small will to continue, in his feeling of hopelessness.

He smiled a bit, and shook his head, laughing a bit.

He was suddenly flooded with a feeling of warmth, and the snow around him felt a little less unforgiving.

In some way... just maybe... he was going to be okay. It would just take time... right?

Gingerbrave took a deep breath, and closed his eyes again. Only to open them again, to the warm feeling of someone's hand on his face.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((If time is money, an ATM is a Time Machine.))

~~

GingerBrave looked in the general direction of the hand he felt on his face and lightly smiled over to Dark Enchantress before sighing. The boy took in a deep breath, and readied himself to stand up. He was confident he knew what he was going to need to do. He felt more himself now than he had in a long while now. Energized and maybe even slightly scheming in a way.

Plotting something, and planning it out thoroughly.

His fear was a driving factor, and his his braver was the wheels, pulling him along. Despite all this turmoil, and fear, and constant regret or emotional agony- he had been pulled through.

He had been allowed to finally deal with something he had buried for the longest time.

Some part of him was being renewed all this time. patience was said to be key, but maybe it was also love or admiration. Confidence or admiration.

He needed to get this right the first time, or there may not be another chance to get this done correctly. He only knew of so many ways to solve or try to curb a problem and he didn't want to consider himself out of options. Not yet. Despite every little loop they all had jumped through they were not seeing the bigger picture. Whilst he didn't know what the bigger picture was, he needed to find out. Right?

Dark Enchantress had taught him many things. Second Chances being one of those very things.

This would normally be the part where someone could say that 'Everyone Deserves a Second Chance' but it isn't always true. Second chances are granted to those who strive or have strode for betterment. If not at the time, then before. Second chances are the choices to make anew and amend.

Their enemy was cruel because that is what the witch wanted to be. It was cruel, because it had nothing better that it WANTED to do. There were infinitesimal options after all.

"I'm going to get started on Dishes. GingerBrave, go get washed up. Pull the bell on the wall if you need some help." Dark Enchantress picked up more dishes before walking over to the sink. She got the liquid in the sink running, making sure it was warm.

Every day, she thanked this world for the liquids that didn't make cookies like them crumble. Lest they want to throw their dishes into the fire every time they are used.

GingerBrave looked down at his clothes and pondered what he was going to wear. He had yet to get his own room room, so there was not much he was going to be able to accomplish.

To this, Poison Mushroom Cookie seemed to show some excitement, before pulling themselves off of the chair, and hobbling over to Brave Cookie. They grabbed him by the hand and started to guide Brave in the direction of their room.

Not much for struggle or yearning to escape, GingerBrave followed Poison Mushroom Cookie to their room, and wait at the door as the other dug through their drawer. Despite the rather bright colored cloak that they usually sported, Poison Mushroom Cookie seemed to sport quite a bit of a plain or slightly gothic or grunge themed clothing. A limited, but welcome surprise.

He watched in interest as the slightly younger cookie continued to shuffle through the drawer. Eventually finding what they had their eyes sights set on.

Stepping down from a small stool, Poison Mushroom Cookie presented an outfit to GingerBrave. This outfit consisting of a dark pair of suspender shorts with skull buckles, and a white semi-formal shirt.

This was followed by long black socks and some casual, but slightly formal shoes.

Initially satisfied with the idea with light formal attire, GingerBrave was about to say thank you- before Poison Mushroom started to dig around in a couple more drawers. They seemed to be having fun, so GingerBrave didn't bother making any comments on the situation. He just smiled and let the other do what they wanted. This lead to the Mushroom child pulling out several well-put-together outfits for GingerBrave and a couple for themself as well.

Overall, the purple-theme juvenile was entertained.

Poison Mushroom even seemed to be doing the typical fashion critique thing, by holding up their hands and picturing every piece of clothing on the other cookie- Seeing what fit, what wasn't it, and everything in between.

GingerBrave started to have more fun with it, striking poses for the other to try to interpret in different ways. He even went as far as to make different faces to suit the mood.

Poison Mushroom Cookie found this amusing, and stuck out thier tongue through their cleft lip, and blew a raspberry in the others direction, somewhat imitating some of the favorite poses they had seen the other make.

GingerBrave and the other eventually came to a consensus that the first outfit that the slightly younger child had picked was the most suited for him, and he thanked them for the clothes.

Luckily for both of the children, the clothes should be a pretty good fit- considering they were somewhat around the same size. GingerBrave only being a few inches taller than the other- it really wasn't much of an age gap. Just as Brave was about to leave the room, the purple capped child walked over, carrying a small, purple toadstoole. The stool was detached from the stem, and seemed to be a deeper shade than the other mushrooms seen growing in planting pots around the room.

Hesitantly, GingerBrave went to touch it, maintaining his smile to the smaller child as he traces one of the dots on the surface of the stoole cap.

"It's so pretty!"

All the smaller cookie could do is laugh a bit, before spitting out 'shroomie' in between some of their smaller, more excitable babbles as they continued to pet the shroom. GingerBrave left Poison Mushroom to it, thanking them again before leaving their room and heading to the nearby bathroom instead.

((To Be Continued))

Chapter Text

((Ooh E, Ooh Ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang))

~~

GingerBrave continued to play with Poison Mushroom's wardrobe with them for a little while, before Licorice walked by, snapping a quick picture before chuckling and stepping closer and tapping both of them on their heads. This surprised both of them.

"What's going on here? A fashion show?' He snickered, before shaking his finger to the two younger boys and pulling his hair back  with a big grin. "I will have you know I am a professional in this department." He winks at them both before doing a twirl. "In fact, I am considered to be drop-dead gorgeous status in the fashion industry! Top notch, I say!"

Poison Mushroom started to clap their hands, before gesturing to their other drawer and hobbling over to it. They pulled out some black clothing with red in specific areas. He showed them to GingerBrave, making the common cookie's eyes light up in a small sparkle.

"Those look so cool! The colors really DO suit you guys...! They kind of give me a feeling of deja vu..." GingerBrave pondered this feeling for a moment, before shaking his head. "Maybe I am just imagining things."

"Ohh, that's right we do have these." Licorice gently took the clothes from the child, before chuckling and shaking his had. "A few of us got some custom clothes made but I can't remember what they are for anymore. I'll go change into mine, be right back!" Licorice seemed excited to share his own style. Soon enough, he was walking back in style.

Licorice had managed to get dressed quickly. Now sporting a red, loose-sleeved formal shirt, black slacks, a red hat and his hair tied back in a charming man bun.

Poison Mushroom cheered, clapping their hands before stepping out of the room to change themselves. Their outfit was much simpler. A black and red cap cover, and a large baggy sweatshirt with a sparkling 'M' chain.

"These are so dashing!" GingerBrave admired the clothing, before stepping back again. "it fits!"

All three of them started to laugh with each other before hearing a female clear her throat from the hallway.

All three of the boys stopped messing around, only to look over to the side and see Pomegranate Cookie and Dark Enchantress Cookie standing next to each other in the hallway. The red haired female being the closest of the two. At first, all three of the fashion-enjoyers were fixing to apologize for their loudness and chatter. However, they were stopped when Pomegranate stepped forward, pushing up some glasses on her face.

"My style is a bit more simple. I was moderately entertained by the idea." she admitted, before adjusting the coat hanging over her shoulders. "Red Velvet saw what was going on and told us. He went to go and get his costume too. It's just taking a minute."

Dark Enchantress Cookie was drying her hands. While she didn't have a costume on, she did have her almost iconic hood over her head either. Aside from her regular garb, her hair was freed from where it typically rested, hidden in her clothing.

In the place of the hood, though- she was sporting a hairstyle that was somewhat wavy and a little braided down one side. The hair had clearly been cut recently, but it was lengthy enough. GingerBrave's face lightened a bit and his eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Whoaaa your hair is so pretty..!"

"Just felt like airing it out a bit today." Dark Enchantress sighed, before chuckling a little at the antics of the boy. "Besides, we are all dressing up. Why not partake in the fun a little bit, at least? It would be better for my hair to breathe every once in a while. Like everyone else's."

Pomegranate pushed up her glasses and looked to the side, seeming to be a little flushed. However, she regained her composure when she heard a door opening.

Red Velvet came trotting down the hallway after turning a corner, and he revealed his costume as well. Chiffon following right behind with a small spiked collar, and a black and red crown carefully put over his head. The cake-hound barking in excitement as he followed his owner.

GingerBrave seemed to cheer up even more, before looking around. "Everyone looks so nifty! The style is too good to pass up!" he exclaimed before pulling the clothing in his arms closer to himself with a laugh. "What about Dark Choco Cookie?"

Licorice piped in. "Ohh, he didn't want anything. We have an outfit for Choco Werehound Brute, but 'Brute is out scouring something out in another area. Based on the letters that have been written back, Brute is having a good time with some distant relatives too." the black haired man laughed before tapping his custom made prop staff on the ground with a wink "But brute also looked top notch. I can guarantee!"

The blue eyed child seemed to take it seriously, before nodding and looking toward the bathroom. He settled down again before excusing himself and walking in the direction he needed to go.

Opening the bathroom door, he stepped inside, before running the adequate bath temperature.

The water eventually came to a cease, being plugged.

The stillness of the bathroom compared to everything else was rather unsettling. Not much a feeling to be comforted by. However, it was calming in a way.

Sliding into the tub, GingerBrave closed his eyes, and allowed himself to commit to the actions he had considered earlier.

The clock from the hallway ticked and tocked. The sound pinging through the walls at a steady pace. The thumping and melodic nature of the sounds soothed him. He took a deep breath and pondered before becoming tense.

He needed to get back to his brother. Maybe, he will have better control this way. Slightly more aware,with nothing but the sound of water, rhythmic ticking, and his thoughts. All within this room.

GingerBrave exhaled, before taking in yet another deep breath. He readied himself, praying that he didn't accidentally drown himself during this stunt he was about to pull.

Leaning back in the water completely, GingerBrave closed his eyes and withheld his breath as he submerged himself in the tub, letting all of his thoughts and fears go as he tried to concentrate on Dozer again. He just needed to get more information.

Finally falling into the familiar darkness, GingerBrave felt his heart throb painfully. He continued to reach around in the murky blackness of his mind... until he heard a familiar voice.

((To Be Continued))