Chapter Text
Red Velvet Cookie led GingerBrave to an odd building that on the outside looked kinda like a mix of a bakery and a hospital.
Red Velvet Cookie held the door open for GingerBrave and, pretty much the second he stepped in, he was hit with a wave of the smell of butter and dough.
The inside of the building looked quite clinical yet also cozy and welcoming.
As Red Velvet Cookie approached the desk at the front, GingerBrave looked past it to see an open door where the smell was coming from.
GingerBrave couldn't help but wonder what exactly was happening back there.
Red Velvet Cookie rang the desk bell and when no one called, his face soured slightly as he rang the desk bell again.
Red Velvet Cookie rolled his eyes and muttered “What's he doing this time…?”
After waiting around for a bit, Red Velvet Cookie walked away from the desk, leaving GingerBrave unsupervised.
GingerBrave snuck behind the desk when Red Velvet Cookie wasn't looking and quickly snuck through the door.
Inside the room was what looked like a bedroom that was decorated with books on various topics, mainly cookie biology, and various research notes on the walled bulletin board.
The notes were pretty incomprehensible to GingerBrave. They reminded him of Wizard Cookie and how he always wanted to learn.
GingerBrave smiled hopefully at the notes and wondered when he would reunite with his friends.
He then noticed a hatch in the floor that looked to lead to a basement.
As GingerBrave approached the cellar with the weathered door, the smell seemed overwhelming at that point.
GingerBrave was nervous, but he wasn't about to let some strange smell ward him off.
So, with the need to satisfy his curiosity, GingerBrave went down the stairs into the cellar.
click clack click
Well… this place was... dark.
click clack click
Probably the darkest place GingerBrave had been in since escaping the witch's castle.
click clack click
GingerBrave soon heard muttering from the deepest part of the cellar.
Getting to the bottom, GingerBrave saw a plethora of various ingredients.
Butter… sugar… flour…
It caused GingerBrave's panic to spike almost immediately.
He could feel his heart racing and his breath quickening.
This probably would've been where most turned back.
But GingerBrave wasn't most cookies.
His curiosity compelled him forward.
He poked his head from around the corner of the wall, candy cane in hand, and his heart might've well stopped upon seeing what was in that ridiculously large room.
Baking tools and equipment was scattered about, ingredients spilled on the floor, a large mixer mixing up what looked like cookie dough, and the centerpiece of it all, a massive oven ablaze.
Near the oven was an odd cookie shroud in shadow, only lit up by the inferno inside of the oven he stood in front of.
Soon a loud ding rang out through the room, and the cookie chuckled as he said “Maybe this batch will come out better!”
He rushed over to a leaver and pulled down on it, causing the pulley system to open the massive oven and a tray automatically slid out.
The repulsive stench of burnt dough permitted the air, causing the cookie to cough.
“Dang it! Burnt again!?” The cookie exclaimed in a disappointed tone. He sighed and said “Guess I'll have to dispose of them when they cool off.”
At this point, GingerBrave couldn't take the sight. The only thing he could see at that moment was him being in the witch's castle, the burnt remains of cookies around him.
GingerBrave couldn't breathe.
Soon enough, he fell to the floor, passing out.
———————————————————————————————
“-in -r -ve-”
GingerBrave slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurred.
“Gin -r -ave*
He could barely make out the vague image of three cookies.
“GingerBrave!”
As his vision and hearing came back to him, he saw that he was being shaken awake by Red Velvet Cookie and that two other cookies were nearby.
GingerBrave shot up in the bed he was in and yelped, startling Red Velvet Cookie.
“Hey, hey, easy now.” One of the nearby cookies said as he walked over to GingerBrave, who was breathing rapidly, “Panicking won't do you any good.”
GingerBrave struggled to get control of his breathing, he looked over at the other two cookies.
The first one was nearby with a comforting hand on GingerBrave’s shoulder. He was quite a large cookie with egg-golden eyes with white pupils. He had big and long hair with curls on the sides and was colored light-brownish-yellow. His dough was colored a medium-baked brown.
He wore a white chef's uniform with maroon sleeves, as well as a maroon apron and black pants, shoes and a maroon-shaded pair of goggles on his head.
GingerBrave finally got control of his breathing and he asked in a shaky voice “Wh-... Where am I?”
The large cookie chuckled and said “You're in my clinic, kid! Now, what were you doing in my lab?”
A wave of panic washed over GingerBrave and he jumped out of the bed and tried to run for the door.
“GingerBrave, what are you doing!?” Red Velvet Cookie asked, clearly worried as he grabbed GingerBrave by his wrist.
GingerBrave tried to pry himself off of Red Velvet as he yelled “Let me go!”
“Woah, woah, kid, calm down!” The large cookie said, trying to move closer to GingerBrave.
“I don't wanna be eaten! Let me go!” GingerBrave screamed, not at all aware that he wasn't in the Witch's Castle.
“What are you on about?” The large cookie asked confused and worried as he put his hands on GingerBrave's shoulders after Red Velvet Cookie let go of his wrist.
It went on like this for a while before Red Velvet Cookie shoved the other cookie away from GingerBrave and hugged him.
“It's okay, GingerBrave.” He said in a soothing tone, “It's going to be alright. No one is going to hurt you. You're safe.”
GingerBrave slowly calmed down in Red Velvet Cookie's arms, his breathing slowing down gradually and his tears coming to a stop.
With a final deep breath from GingerBrave, Red Velvet Cookie let go of him and asked “Better now?”
GingerBrave nodded.
“Well… That's a good thing! Sorry about that. Didn't know that would give ya a panic attack.” The larger cookie chuckled out nervously.
“Who're you?” GingerBrave asked.
“Oh, right! I'm Butter Roll Cookie!”
“I'm GingerBrave…”
“Nice to meet ya! Matcha Cookie over there found ya passed out in my lab, so I brought you up here.” Butter Roll Cookie said as he pointed at the other cookie in the back.
The other cookie was significantly smaller than Butter Roll Cookie and had olive green dough, dark green hair tied in a pair of buns, a pair of black ram-like horns, and dark green eyes. She wore a dark green cloak with an olive zigzag design on the bottom and on the ends of her oversized sleeves. She carried a tan-colored wooden staff with a shiny chartreuse jewel at the top.
Matcha Cookie rolled her eyes like she was annoyed with Butter Roll Cookie saying that.
“Oh, quit being so grumpy!” Butter Roll Cookie chuckled out as he looked over at Matcha Cookie.
He then looked back over to GingerBrave and said “Anyways, what brings you here?”
“Oh, uh, I was here to get a check up…” GingerBrave said.
“Well, don't gotta worry about that! Alright did when I found ya! You're fine!” Butter Roll Cookie said before he leaned over GingerBrave, “You're a really interesting little cookie, aren't ya?
GingerBrave was very uncomfortable now. Thankfully, Red Velvet Cookie said “Leave him alone Butter Roll Cookie. He's been through a lot.”
Butter Roll Cookie looked over at GingerBrave and chuckled out “What? Curiosity ain't a crime!”
“Yeah, but he's still just a kid. He doesn't need you to experiment on him.”
“Hey, I wasn't gonna do that!”
“How do I know that? You've done it before!”
And, this seemed like GingerBrave's cue to leave.
GingerBrave slowly opened the door and left the room.
As he exited the building, he wondered if leaving those two there was the best course of action.
Well… they'll probably be fine.
———————————————————————————————
GingerBrave wandered around the village for a bit before coming across a merge between an armory, a forge, and a battleground in the back.
GingerBrave heard what sounded like fighting in the back, so he decided to check it out.
He went around the back to find the battlegrounds fenced off and two cookies fighting.
The first cookie looked large with a russet brown complexion and a tall, broad build. His carmine right eye sat half-lidded in a pensive expression; the other was forced shut from an old scar which vertically scores it. The knight's hair was straight and cut a simple, middle-part bob, taking a deep raven color with two bold streaks of white.
He wore simple black plate armor and offset from his base armor was a grim mantle on his shoulders, having a large, deep cacao cloak that enveloped his body, and two oversized, semicircle pauldrons. The pauldrons emulate two halves of a cream filled cookie. He wielded a greatsword that had a broad, white steel blade in a diamond shape. The hilt looked like the mantle on his shoulders.
The other cookie, however, looked like a guard of some sort with black armor and a flowing cape that began in a scarf. The cookie had pale lilac dough with fluffy, messy darker purple hair that was cut short. His eyes were obscured by his long bangs and his expression was quite serious.
The two looked to be engaged in a duel and GingerBrave had just caught the end of it.
The larger cookie fell onto his back when the smaller cookie knocked him down. The larger cookie chuckled and said “You're good at this.”
The smaller cookie only nodded as he put his hands on top of his sword as the top of the blade on the ground.
“Silent as ever, I see.” The bigger cookie said as he stood up.
There were stars in GingerBrave's eyes. He may have caught the end of the fight, but what he did see the lilac doughed cookie seemed so cool.
The larger cookie looked over and saw GingerBrave.
“Who are you?” He asked in a gruff voice.
“I'm GingerBrave! Nice to meet you!” GingerBrave waved.
The two cookies looked at each other for a moment before the larger cookie said “I am Dark Choco Cookie and this is Black Salt Cookie. What do you want?”
“I just wanted to see what was going on here. That was really cool!”
Dark Choco Cookie glanced away from GingerBrave. He looked… flattered? It was a bit difficult to tell because of his stoney face.
Black Salt Cookie, on the other hand, stared at GingerBrave curiously.
He suddenly snatched GingerBrave's candy cane out of his hands and inspected it.
“Hey!” GingerBrave said as he tried to grab it back.
Black Salt Cookie then shook his head and tossed the candy cane back to GingerBrave and whispered “Peppermint…”
“Huh?” GingerBrave asked, confused by what Black Salt Cookie meant.
“Not a common material here… Rare, but durable… Treat it well…”
“Oh! Uh, okay!”
“Heh, that's the most I've heard you talk to an outsider in a long time!” Dark Choco Cookie chuckled out, gently nudging Black Salt Cookie’s arm a bit.
Black Salt Cookie simply walked inside of the armory.
“He doesn't talk?” GingerBrave asked.
“Not much. He rarely speaks and when he does he always whispers. Amazing warrior, though. To this day, no one in this village has been able to beat him in a duel.” Dark Choco Cookie responded.
“So he's like a strong silent type of guy?”
“You can say that.”
“So, why exactly are you here?” Dark Choco Cookie continued as he sat down on one of the nearby benches, setting his sword next to him, “Shouldn't you be home with your parents?
“Oh, I got knocked out by some wild cake hounds and was brought here by someone called Licorice Cookie!” GingerBrave said, sitting next to Dark Choco Cookie, “And my parents? I don't have any. Well, unless you count a witch as my mom.”
“A witch?” Dark Choco Cookie asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah. Escaped her castle not too long ago. She kinda tried to... eat... me…”
Dark Choco Cookie was silent for a moment, letting GingerBrave, who was uncomfortable with admitting that fact, some time to breathe.
He then placed a hand on GingerBrave's back and said “I understand. My father isn't exactly… Good either…”
“Is he also a witch?”
Dark Choco Cookie shook his head.
“Then, why is he so bad?”
Dark Choco Cookie was silent.
After a few minutes, GingerBrave put his hand on Dark Choco Cookie's and said “Hey, it's alright! You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to!”
Dark Choco Cookie looked surprised before he chuckled a bit and said “Thank you.”
“Your welcome!”
Dark Choco Cookie then stood up and walked into the armory as he signaled for GingerBrave to wait there.
GingerBrave nodded and waited.
Seems like he made a new friend!