Chapter Text
Gingerbrave tried to block out the scent of lilies as the group marched ahead, focusing on their goals. Now since they had passed their previous path, monsters were starting to pop up again, however since the group had weapons most of the smarter ones just ran back into the wood to avoid them.
“Ow!” Strawberry cookies said as she tripped over a rock.
“You alright?” Gingerbrave asked as he helped Strawberry to her feet.
“I’m fine.” Strawberry said softly. “I just didn’t see the rock.”
“It’s a very strange looking rock.” Wizard said as he poked it with his staff. “It doesn’t appear to be the same structure of rock as the others we passed and clearly has different signs of erosion.”
“Translations?” Chili Pepper said with her normal snark.
“It shouldn’t be here.” Wizard replied, annoyance hinting in his tone.
“I know what this is. There are some fallen ones in our village, there are stones that they cut to look like important cookies.” Vanilla Custard said as he thought before stomping his foot in anger. “Ugh, what is the word?!”
“Statue?” Gingerbrave offered.
“Yes, a statue!” Custard said his eyes were practically filled with stars.
“That must mean there has to be a base around here. Why don’t we find it and repair it?” Gingerbrave offered.
“Why would we do that? We’re burning daylight here, and I don’t want to navigate at night.” Chili Pepper asked.
“Grandpa said to never leave a problem alone when you can fix it. Come on, it will only take a few minutes.” Gingerbrave countered.
Chili Pepper rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath as the group began to do a sweep of the area but eventually joined in as she figured it was better to get it over with then waste time. Eventually they found it, the same colored stone as the rock, with hints of words carved into it, however Pepper couldn’t make them out anymore. With some pleading from Gingerbrave and Strawberry cookie, Wizard eventually used his magic, placing the statue back where it once stood, fixing its cracks with magic.
“There, I’m sure the villages around will be happy that their statue is repaired. Maybe they’ll make one of us!” Custard said with his childish smile.
“It kind of looks like Gingerbrave.” Strawberry said.
“It does, doesn’t it?” Gingerbrave said before posing like the statue, his candy cane sword held out just like the metal one being held by the stone.
“I don’t see it.” Pepper said, causing the three to look at her. “I mean, the crack scars are the same, yes, but really I just don’t see it.”
“I agree with Chili Pepper.” Wizard said, causing the group to turn to look at him. “I mean, besides compared to what Gingerbrave has done, this guy is probably just the same average cookie.”
The group let out a laugh, Gingerbrave got closer to the place where most statues had something written about them. He had hoped his brother’s magic might have restored it, just enough so he could read it but no luck.
It did really look like Gingerbrave, at least the triplets believe so, same kind face, hair that looked like it could turn into clouds in the right light, cracked scars that dance across his face. To those three it looks like Gingerbrave’s future if he decided to be a knight, clad in fancy armor and a sword. To Chili Pepper and Vanilla Custard, the statue just looked like every other knight they had come across, this one had a face but forgettable like all the others, and Gingerbrave wasn’t forgettable.
“You think he fought in the Dark Flour War?” Chili Pepper asked as she began to walk away causing the group to follow her.
“Probably, that's when most of the heroes came to be right?” Wizard cookie replied.
“Beats me, I don’t know.” Pepper said with a shrug.
“Then why did you ask?” Wizard cookie said, annoyance began to drip from his tone.
Any possible fight began to disappear when monsters appeared yet again. The group rushed forward weapons out ready to clear a path. There was a tiny jelly worm that appeared to yell at the group, however considering he was the size worm, most of the group just ignored it’s yelling about how it was a threat. They saw some hint of the Chocolate Brute yet he always seemed to disappear right before they could confront the cake monster. The group ended up chatting away yet again, ignoring everything going on around them.
“It’s nice to see such lively company.” A voice said, causing them to jump.
They all turned around, it was the same cookie from earlier, with the red eyes and the lily staff.
“You can’t just sneak up on us like that! Not cool.” Chili Pepper yelled.
“Hehehe sorry, Oh, I’ve recalled my name by the way.” The adult cookie said. “It’s White Lily cookie.”
“You got all your memories back?!” Gingerbrave asked, excitement clear on his face.
“Not yet.” White Lily said as her face dropped. “I’ve been wandering through the forest, slowly getting fragments but I haven’t found them all yet.”
“You’ve been through the whole forest?” Wizard commented. “Then maybe you can help us, we’re trying to stop a big Choco wherehound Brute with a hammer that has been messing with our kingdom.”
“A hammer.” White Lily repeated. “I remember, that just passed through that area.”
White Lily cookie pointed ahead, causing Gingerbrave to smile brightly. “Thank you White Lily, if you want you could join us on our adventure.”
“I’m sorry….” White Lily said as her face twisted into sorry. “I think I need to spend some more time alone. Until we meet again.”
White Lily turned and ran into the woods leaving the group all alone yet again. Gingerbrave was going to say something however Chili Pepper cookie ran into the area Lily had pointed at, screaming about treasure with her chili daggers at the ready. Of course the Brute they were trying to hunt wasn’t there, instead Chili ran right into a hoard of cake monsters. So any thoughts the group had were quickly hushed away as they shifted into fight mode. The little gummy worm again, this time growing to the size of a giant to fight the group. Thankfully they were able to beat the gummy worm which was slowly shrinking and began to crawl back to its friends.
“Hey….what happened?” The little gummy worm asked. “I was a dragon..but I’m small again.”
“You fools! You were supposed to use it later, he was going to be our weapon!” The cookie in the robe said.
“Hey you ragged thief! Are you the boss?” Gingerbrave yelled out.
The cookie turned to glare at him with his yellow eyes, he had dark locs of hair with pale dough on his body.
“Ragged thief?! I am Licorice cookies, my mission is to find the treasures from old for my master. You may have slowed us down but you haven’t stopped us. I bid thee farewell.” Licorice said before using his magic, causing himself and the Choco wherehound next to him to disappear, leaving behind the jelly worm.
“But..you promise to turn me into a dragon…” The little jelly worm said to the air where the Licorice and the monster once stood, sadness filled his voice causing pity to fill in the hearts of the youngest of the group.
“You can’t just get strong like that. It takes hard work.” Strawberry said softly.
“But they promised me, they told me I would get big wings to soar in the sky.” The Jelly worm countered.
“Now that's your own fault, it was really stupid to-OW!” Chili Pepper started to say before Wizard cookie took his staff and smacked her leg causing her to yell in pain. This of course cause Vanilla Custard to laugh which got Pepper’s attention away from the little worm.
“Those cake monsters weren’t your friends; they were using you.” Gingerbrave informed the jelly worm, "I’m sorry you had to find out this way."
“I think you're right…I’m sorry.” The Jelly Worm said before a smile appeared on its face. “But I’m happy to become a dragon, even if it was for a short period of time! I’ve got to go tell the others.”
The jelly worm quickly buried itself into the ground likely to tell his friends all about his transformation. Gingerbrave smiled to himself, at least happy that the little worm was happy. He then turned to see Chili Pepper had gotten Custard in a headlock and was roughing up his hair while Wizard cookie was hitting her with his staff, causing Gingerbrave to burst out laughing.
“They really are a lively group.” A familiar voice said again, causing the unofficial leader to turn to see the white hair adult cookie again.
“Hey White Lily Cookie, did you get all your memories back?” Gingerbrave asked, causing sadness to dance across her face.
“No, sadly but I’ve learned a lot during my wandering in the forest. The dragon carcass brings new life, the old trees. I just want to know more about my world, and maybe I’ll learn more about myself.” White Lily said. “Maybe I’ll even discover another kingdom.”
“Then come with us!” Gingerbrave offered. “We’re trying to get Vanilla Custard back home but we will definitely be exploring and wandering. And as Grandpa Gnome says ‘everything is better when friends are around’!”
“I’m sure my fragrance will make you uncomfortable.” White Lily squeaked out.
“Fragrance?” Gingerbrave muttered before he could stop himself. He focused on the scents around them, he could pick out Strawberry and Wizards scent, they smelled of comfort and home. Chili Pepper scent was sharp, standing out next to Custard's softer vanilla scent. The only other scent he could pick up on was that of the lilies that were withering around them, a sickly-sweet scent as they tried to desperately call the bugs to them before they died.
Gingerbrave paused, he couldn’t make out White Lily’s scent, should he tell her this? Or should he just lie? She already seemed to have a lot going on at the moment.
“Your fragrance is no problem.” Gingerbrave said. “We all have different scents, but it doesn’t bug us, we’re all friends.”
“Hey did he just lie-?” Custard started to whisper before Pepper thankfully had the sense to cover his mouth.
“So I can join you…that way I can learn more about the world?” White Lily Cookie asked.
“Absolutely” Gingerbrave said, grabbing the adult's hand. “Come on! We’re having a great time.”
“Actually we need to find a place to rest soon.” Pepper butted in completely destroying the vibe. “The sun will likely set soon and the last thing we need to do is be sleeping in the forest.”
“There's smoke coming from there.” Wizard said as he pointed to a smoke cloud just past the treeline. “It doesn’t appear to be a forest fire, likely a building or a campfire.”
“Alright let's head there.” Gingerbrave said matter of factly, the others nodded in agreement.
The group began their walk, chatting as they left the forest, leaving the scent of withered lilies behind them. The environment was shifting, plants dying, and sand slowly replacing the grass they were walking on. As the sun started to set, painting the sky oranges and pink, they finally ran across it, a village made out of stone and other ingredients from the environment. The group walked up to the first cookie they saw, asking where they could stay for the night, which got them pointed to the direction of the inn.
They went into the cozy end, Gingerbrave quickly paid for their stay with some gold coins he had gotten from grandpa. It was somewhat nice, they even offered some dinner jellies for the group so they didn’t have to dig into their rations. Gingerbrave struck up a conversation with an elderly cookie, telling them their goals of finding the vanilla kingdom and the older cookie warning them of the trial they would have to face if they continued on their path, but offering to show them the enterience to the trial in the morning. He had even made comments that they had a statue of the king, which was pretty cool.
“I’m sure all you traveling folk have heard your fair share of stories.” One of the workers said, getting the attention of the crowd. “But had you heard of the stories of the horrors of the Dark Flour war? Started by the Dark Enchantress Cookie?”
The cookie unveiled a cloth… tapestry Gingerbrave thinks is the official name. There were five small cookies in the shadows at the bottom and one large cookie in the middle. Honestly she reminded Gingerbrave a lot of the monster that pulled him and his siblings out of the oven, similar wrinkles on her face. She had pale hair peeking out of a covering, two horns on her head and sharp red eyes that glared back at the viewer in anger.
As the worker began to tell the horror story, some cookies looked bored as if they had heard it a million times before. Wizard looked interested as he quickly took out his notebook and began to write down, likely writing notes to get the history timeline down. Pepper looked bored but quickly took her hands and covered Custard’s ears, either because the boy was already looking tired or she knew the next part was not age appropriate.
Gingerbrave realized it must not be a good story as White Lily quickly stood up and walked back to her room, leaving the group alone. It soon became their sign as not even 10 minutes later Custard was sound asleep and Gingerbrave decided everyone should head to be, yes that including dragging Wizard away from the history lesson.
The room was nice, with two large beds and a couch. Custard got one of the beds, Pepper insisted on the couch. Wizard and Strawberry were asleep on one of the beds, completely dead to the world.
Gingerbrave couldn’t get any sleep, now it wasn’t for the lack of trying. During their early days of the Ginger Kingdom, their bed consisted of a mattress on the floor they would all share, so sleeping in the same bed as his siblings didn’t bother him. But no, either it was because they were in a new place, or maybe it was the burning in his chest, he just couldn’t find sleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.
Eventually Gingerbrave found himself leaving and wandering down to the little lounge of the inn, hoping maybe spending some time by the fire will help lule him to sleep. However when he turned the corner, he realized he wasn’t alone.
“White Lily Cookie?” Gingerbrave asked.
White Lily turned to look at the smaller cookie, turning her attention away from the flames. “Oh, hello Gingerbrave. It’s late, you should be in bed. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I just can’t sleep.” Gingerbrave said as he sat down, close enough to the flames to feel their heat but hopefully not enough for the icing holding his crumb to fall loose. “Are you ok White Lily? You left during the show, was it a bad memory?”
“No, no memories.” White Lily said as she gripped her dress. “It’s frustrating, I feel things, I feel scared as they talk about the war, I feel at peace around the lilies yet when I go to remember why there is just….nothing…”
“I understand, you can’t find the reason for why you feel the way you do.” Gingerbrave said. “I feel the same with my memories.”
“You're missing them too?” White Lily asked.
“Grandpa Gnome says that we’re baked long before the oven. And I have fragments, mom and dad’s scent, mom’s voice, just a feeling of peace at times.” Gingerbrave explained. “Yet I can’t find any memories about why or how. I can’t close my eyes and see the face that belongs to that voice. And…I'm scared… we’re supposed to be a family, my siblings should have a mom and dad. And yet what if we never find them?”
White Lily didn’t originally say anything at first, just wrapping her arms around the young cookie child and bringing him in close, just to hold him. “The world hasn’t been kind to you, even though you're so young.”
Gingerbrave hugged the cookie back and allowed the tears to flow, the ones of scared and doubt he hid from his siblings. The ones he kept inside to make sure Wizard and Strawberry knew they could count on him. White Lily didn’t make any sound of protest as she felt the wet tears just rocking the young cookie.
“I’m sure you will find your mother, she must be somewhere, waiting for you.” White Lily encouraged with a smile.
“I hope mama is as kind as you.” Gingerbrave muttered, loud enough for White Lily to hear and let out a laugh.
It wasn’t long before Gingerbrave drifted to sleep, curled up next to White Lily, the fire being the only light source. White Lily started into the fire, the sound of laughter and crunching filled her mind before she quickly chased it away, doing her best to focus on the young child that she had joined in his adventure.
How does a young child get so many scars? Who did this to him?
Her mind brought back to a memory, a cookie in armor, his helmet off revealing a face that had been cracked. Who did this to him?