Chapter Text
Gingerbrave normally wasn’t much of a thinker.
Make no mistake, he’s perfectly capable of being thoughtful!
It’s just that he’s more of an action guy, so he usually left the thinking to his siblings.
And yet, as of late, he’s been oddly contemplative.
With the daily chores being just muscle memories at this point, the young cookie just let his body lazily chop wood on autopilot, while he pondered about the latest topic on his mind.
‘With all the ancients busy trying to redeem their beast counterparts, as well as maintaining their own kingdoms, me and many others were told to just go back to our kingdom and rest…’ Gingerbrave thought with a frown. ‘I hope they’ll be alright! I mean, I did ask if they’d like me to help, but they just gave me that look and turned me down…’
As a common cookie with no special powers to his name, Gingerbrave was all too used to other cookies looking at him like he’s biting more than he could chew whenever he offered to help.
To which he’d just shrug it off, cause why should he let that stop him from doing what’s right?
“You and everyone else have been through a lot recently, Gingerbrave. Let us handle the beasts and other matters in our kingdoms ourselves! You all deserve a break…” The brave cookie muttered to himself as he continued chopping away. ‘That’s what Pure Vanilla Cookie told me, and he’s right; We all could use a moment of peace after the war. But what I don’t get is why his words and expression made me feel-‘
His train of thoughts was interrupted by a sharp, sudden pain in his chest.
Gingerbrave lost his grip on the axe as he let out a quiet gasp, the tool falling to the ground while he clutched his chest. After a few seconds, the pain went away, the teen blinking in bafflement as he rubbed the spot where it had just hurt.
‘There it was again, that ache around my chest that came and went randomly, ever since I returned to our kingdom.’ He thought as he let out a sigh. ‘…Did the Ultimate Cookie do something to me? I do remember feeling… off, ever since I escaped that oven…’
Gingerbrave may not be much of a thinker, but he’s not stupid.
He could put two and two together, sometimes, like at this moment.
“It’s probably not serious… maybe. Hopefully.” The young cookie quietly said out loud to himself as he put away the axe, deciding that he’s done with the lumber job for the time being.
“Alright, that should be all daily chores done! Time to go home~!”
For some reason, his cheer felt forced even to his own ears.
Unfortunately for Gingerbrave, he wasn’t able to head straight home like he wanted.
As he passed by the other cookies, many would call over to him for help about this and that.
Being who he was, he could not refuse them out of the goodness of his heart.
‘I guess that’s what happens when you’re the go-to cookie for just about anything in this kingdom, huh? Way to make me feel useful, guys!’ He tried to joke in his head as yet another cookie asked for his assistance, yet it didn’t quite come out as lighthearted as he wanted it to.
By the time he actually reached the front door of the house he shared with his siblings, the moon had just risen, and most of the kingdom’s citizens were likely already in their homes, getting ready for bed or any other nighttime activities they’d do.
Opening the front door, he was greeted by the sight of Strawberry Cookie playing on her video game console and Wizard Cookie reading books as per usual. Both of his siblings looked up from their respective activities as he walked in.
“Gingerbrave. Did you spend all day helping cookies again?” Wizard Cookie deadpanned.
“Well, yeah? That’s what I always do!” Gingerbrave responded with a confused smile.
“You do realize you’re being explicitly told to take it easy by me, Strawberry Cookie and Pure Vanilla Cookie after what you went through in the war?”
“Uhhh… I forgot?” Gingerbrave rubbed his neck and began to sweat nervously.
“Did you even eat today?”
As if on cue, Gingerbrave’s belly growled hungrily, making him blush in embarrassment.
Wizard Cookie facepalmed, muttering something about him being “annoyingly altruistic”, while Strawberry Cookie let out a fond sigh and stood up while putting her console down.
“Come on, I’ll make your favorites, we should have enough ingredients for it.”
“T-Thank you, Strawberry Cookie!” He said as he hastily bowed in gratitude, an admittedly adorable habit he got from his sister, causing said sister to giggle softly before she made her way to the kitchen.
Gingerbrave’s siblings already ate, but they still sat with him inside the kitchen as he happily gulped down his dinner, yapping about what he’s been doing today in between bites.
Strawberry Cookie and Wizard Cookie nodded along as they resumed their earlier activities of playing games and reading books, but also making sure to pay attention to their sibling and occasionally chiming in with comments of their own.
Before long, the teen finished his food and put his plate away, and the trio moved to the living room as they continued to chatter about various topics.
Eventually, a certain topic that Gingerbrave was thinking about earlier that day came up.
“Do you think Pure Vanilla Cookie and the others will be able to handle the beasts?” The candy cane wielder asked, head tilted thoughtfully.
“They have their awakened forms and everything, don’t they? Surely, they can wrangle their evil counterparts by this point, especially since said counterparts are weakened after the war.” Wizard Cookie responded matter-of-factly.
“Still… I wonder if-“
“-there’s anything you can do to help?” His brother flatly finished the sentence for him, causing him to let out a sheepish chuckle.
“Gingerbrave…” Strawberry Cookie softly called his name, voice full of concern and sadness as she could guess why her sibling was acting the way he was.
“I’m fine, you guys, it’s okay.” Gingerbrave tried to reassure, knowing what’s gotten both of them worried, but his voice and smile both came out a little wobbly.
Neither of his siblings pointed that out, knowing full well the teen would just deny it.
“…I’ve been practicing a spell about dreams. Good ones.” Wizard Cookie suddenly spoke up, his visible eye glancing away briefly before looking straight at Gingerbrave. “I’ve tested it on myself and Strawberry Cookie already today, while you were away, and it gave us both nice dreams during our naps. You’ll be my final test subject when you’re going to sleep tonight, to make sure that this spell actually works.”
The way he phrased it was meant to sound standoffish, but all three siblings knew better.
“Thank you, Wizard Cookie.” This time, Gingerbrave’s smile was small but genuine.
A spell that’d give you good dreams wouldn’t do anything if you couldn’t sleep in the first place.
In hindsight, that’s an obvious caveat as Gingerbrave stared blankly at the ceiling from his position on the bed.
‘I’m super tired from all the work I did today, so sleep should come to me easy peasy, right?’ Was what he naively thought several minutes ago, after his siblings had bid him goodnight and went to their own bedrooms, and he very much would like to deck his past self in the face.
He dearly hoped whatever dream spell Wizard Cookie had cast didn’t have a time limit on how fast you need to fall asleep for it to take effect. Otherwise, he’d have to explain to his brother that the spell failed because he couldn’t doze off in time, and that would just make his siblings even fussier over him, which would suck a lot.
With nothing to do except wait for sleep to claim him, Gingerbrave found himself once again letting his mind wander.
‘They still don’t know about my… chest pain thing. And I don’t know how to tell them.’ The teen thought to himself with a frown, hugging a pillow to his chest for comfort as he puzzled out on how to tell his siblings about all this. ‘Should I even tell them? I mean, so far, it’s just the occasional pain in my chest, which happened only like once or twice per day? For all I know it’s not even something that’s related to the Ultimate Cookie. It’s probably just a side effect of being in the ultimate oven, and probably something that’ll eventually go away… maybe. Hopefully-’
As if the universe was out to prove him wrong, the chest pain in question returned for a brief moment, and though it wasn’t as painful as earlier it still caused him to let out a pained groan.
‘…I’m going to have to tell them at some point, aren’t I?’ He thought with a resigned sigh.
“…Tomorrow.” Gingerbrave mumbled to himself.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll try to tell them… I think. Just need to be… brave about it…”
Eventually, sleep did finally claim the young cookie at long last.
And once it did, the area around his chest gradually turned black and smelled of ashes.