Work Text:
Hot. Fire. The blank faces of the cookies burned and melted together. the familiar scene of the oven. He banged on the door, banging and banging and banging, nothing making it budge. He cried desperately, screaming. But nothing could be heard. The loud screaming and yelling. He looked around, trying to find a way out. No way out. He kept looking around, before coming face to face with... Someone familiar. Before he could see their face clearly...
Gingerbrave woke up.
He sighed, pulling the blankets off his sweaty body. It had almost been a whole week of restless nights. That same dream of the oven over and over again. If it wasn’t the oven, it was having to watch his own brother get eaten or watching his family die while he’s too weak to save them. He slept, but he felt even more exhausted in the morning, like everything that happened in the dream just happened in real life. It was an awful thought. Was this his punishment for forgetting his brother’s face? His voice? Did he even have a brother?
He bottled up that thought, storing it away with all the other bad thoughts he didn’t need as checked his phone. 5:30 am. No reason to try to sleep again. He could try eating breakfast and going for a run.. Yeah, That sounds like a good idea. His body was screaming at him to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep now. He had things to do. Work to do. He got up, feeling the weakness emanate all around his body, but he didn’t care. He grabbed a slice of bread, put some jam on it, and headed out the door.
He went for his morning run. But today, it was more like a morning walk. All the streets looked and felt so much longer as he went to start working on his duties. He didn’t have time to worry about being tired. He needed to run.
He walked for what felt like 3 hours before he got to the park. He had alarms. He could take a break. He sat on the bench, sighing at how tired he was. Maybe he’ll just get an energy drink, he thought. He had money. But his body didn’t want to get up as he felt his eyes slowly get heavy…
He closed his eyes for a second before waking to his phone’s alarm. He had fallen asleep for a few minutes. The kingdom was already starting to buzz with activity... No, no NO!! He had stuff to do! He ran to his first task. Roll cake wood chopping. Easy enough. He could ignore the nightmares. The memories of the oven. He didn’t need to remember. All he needed was the present.
No...
Need...
He started chopping wood, but each swing felt like he was lifting a gigantic dumbell. That’s okay. More practice. More exercise. Nothing to think about. He could just be brave, powering through. He forgot his contacts. That’s fine. He didn’t take his pain meds. That’s fine. He felt so weak. That’s fine. Everything’s fine. His body hurt so badly, like he was on the cusp of fainting from the amount of pain he felt. That’s okay. He needed to help. If he couldn’t help, He was useless.
His body got a shudder of relief, before he fell over, crumpling to the ground like a piece of tissue paper, eyes going black.
Black. Noises. Yelling, Familiar voices calling out. Then silence.
His eyes fluttered open, vision still blurred. In a... Room? He wasn’t in a room before... Or at least he thought he wasn't? His memory was completely blurred. His eyes adjusted to the light as he realized he was lying down. On a bed. It was so soft… so nice… No! He had to figure out where he was! Was he captured? But everything's over, who would capture him? He shot up, suddenly feeling his splitting headache. He let out a small squeak.
“Oh! You’re awake!” An all-too-familiar voice called out to him. His eyes focused on the green-haired plant cookie. Herb smiled, bringing him a bit of tea. “What happened?” Gingerbrave looked up at him, tilting his head slightly. Herb stroked the small boy’s head. “You collapsed while working. No head injuries, thankfully, but you did scrape yourself.” He gave gingerbrave the tea before continuing. “But, I noticed how exhausted you looked when you were working. You’ve seemed tired all week. Do you know why?” Ginger froze up. “I... I don’t.” He was lying through his teeth, but it was better than telling.
Herb sighed a bit. “Okay... We can talk later. Just try to get some sleep. Tell me if you need anything, okay?” Gingerbrave nodded. Herb was leaving but turned around. “Did you take your medication this morning?” The boy sighed and shook his head, but immediately felt like his head was about to burst open. He screamed a bit, tears falling out of his eyes uncontrollably. Herb ran back. “Stay down! Stay down!” Herb wiped his tears. “I’ll get you your medication, just lay down slowly and stay still until I come back, okay?” Gingerbrave didn’t nod this time, He just lifted a thumb and laid back down, staring up at the ceiling as he listened to herb’s footsteps getting quieter and quieter.
He was alone now. Quiet. No noise in the light sage-green room. Nothing to entertain him but the thoughts dancing around his head. He felt so pathetic. Like a small child. He probably looked like one, sobbing at the slightest pain. He didn’t even remember his own brother’s face, the one who saved him, the one he so selfishly left when he was young. He hated how he was so unable to do his duties without collapsing. How his legs were injured due to his recklessness, and now he was half-paralyzed, barely being able to function without painkillers. He felt awful, burying himself under the blankets. Blankets would protect him. Sadness , fear, and guilt swarmed him as he just laid there.
He didn't know if she had spaced out or fallen asleep, but the next thing he knew, someone was knocking on the door. Ginger looked up from his blanket cocoon to see Herb, holding a plate with a bowl and some medicine on it on a tray. He silently put the tray on the bed’s moving table. “Hey, Gingy.” Herb scruffed up his hair. “Brought you some food. You looked pretty hungry.” Gingerbrave slowly sat up. The meal was simple. Just some rice and eggs. He started eating. He didn’t realize how famished he felt until now, eating as quickly as possible in his state. Herb looked relieved, sitting down next to him on the bed. “Well, It’s good you have an appetite…” He looked away for a moment. “Gingerbrave..”
“How long has it been since you slept?”
Gingerbrave stuttered on his words. “W-well, technically, I’ve been sleeping every night, but..” He sighed. He couldn’t hide the truth anymore. “I’ve been having nightmares. Every night… The people I love dying, the oven, the horrors I’ve seen, having to keep running and running... It always feels so real, like the kingdom was nothing but a dream... And then I wake up, sweaty and even more tired than I was when I went to sleep... It hurts... I try working to distract myself from my nightmares, but..” He started sobbing and hiccuping into the blankets.
Herb was silent, walking over to gingerbrave before hugging him. Gingerbrave sobbed silently letting his tears soak herb’s apron. “I’m sorry... You shouldn’t have to worry about me..” Herb looked down. “You deserve it for all you do.” The two silently hugged each other, letting him get his emotions all out.
Finally, the tears stopped coming. Herb washed off his face. The towel was cold, but he didn’t mind. His face was hot, anyways. “I feel like a child..” he muttered, but Herb heard him. “You are a child. You’re only twelve.” He gave him a water bottle, which he quickly gulped down. “You seem to be doing better.” Gingerbrave nodded, his headache starting to fade. Herb smiled again. “Well, remember, you need rest.” Gingerbrave nodded. “Can you stay?” He tugged on herb’s sleeve. “Of course.” Herb grabbed a chair, sitting next to the bed.
Herb started humming a slow tune, and gingerbrave slept well for the first time in weeks.