Fragments - A Cookie Run Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen: Framed

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))