Milk Cookie x Reader : By My Side

Hot mess

We had been traveling through the Dragon's Valley for a few hours now. It was horrible. The heat... The rocky fiery landscape... The ominous dragon-like shapes occasionally flying in the sky... At some point, we witnessed the ground suddenly cracking to spit out some lava, so we had to be constantly aware of our surroundings...

But I did my best to press on without complaints. After the talk with Milk Cookie this morning, I'd feel so ashamed to let him down now... He was already showing signs of concern, occasionally asking me if I wanted to rest, to which I would stubbornly say no. I also didn't want to give Purple Yam Cookie a reason to say something along the lines of 'I told you so'...

Speaking of him, I noticed he started acting unusually agitated and angry ever since we entered the valley, more than I've ever seen him. Sometimes, he just exploded at the sight of flames and yelled things like "Is THAT the BEST you can DO!?" to the fire itself, it seemed. It was really best to stay out of his way... This place wasn't doing him any good.

Despite that, we eventually had no other choice but to walk along a river of lava to look for a way across. This old river of lava had carved its way into in the stone... it had become a deep ravine, that we walked on the edge of.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking and creaking... Under our feet, the cliff started to break into chunks and pillars, slowly drifting apart...

Purple Yam Cookie, further from the edge, yelled and leapt to a safe spot. As for me and Milk Cookie, we were way closer to the edge... Overwhelmed by how risky it would be to move right now, I froze in fear, but Milk Cookie instinctively grabbed my hand.

I could feel it, our pillar was about to fall over...

Milk Cookie secured his mace and shield onto his back. "I know you wanted to avoid this, but I'm afraid I don't have a choice!" Milk Cookie said with a surprisingly calm tone, although he did look pretty anxious for once.

My voice trembled. "A-avoid wha-AA-!?" He quickly tossed me up and held me in his arms, then leapt onto another falling pillar, then onto another one...

It would have been nice, if it weren't so terrifying. I held tight onto him, repeating "Oh God" in cries like a prayer for mercy, thinking I should probably shut my eyes. Despite his efforts, the gap was too wide now. We weren't gonna make it...

"MILK COOKIE!" Purple Yam Cookie called out, tossing him one end of that (human necklace) chain he kept.

Milk Cookie quickly switched to hold me with a single arm, and grabbed the chain before leaping... almost making it. We swung by the chain and crashed into the face of the cliff. Somehow, his arm didn't snap... Truly, the magnum opus of calcium. "OOF-... Ah! Thank you Purple Yam Cookie!" Milk Cookie smiled up at his friend in relieved awe.

Purple Yam Cookie started pulling up the chain. However, before he could even brag or complain, the ground broke under him, and he fell with us. With piercing shriek louder than mine and Milk Cookie's.

Only for a second though! Someone else grabbed Purple Yam Cookie's hand, somehow managing to keep hold of the three of us hanging above the river of lava. We all looked up in shock, to see another cookie confidently grinning down at us. A sturdy cookie with two massive red pigtail and a horned helmet.

"Ohhh yeah, that there looks like outsiders to me! Where are you guys from??" She asked eagerly.

Milk Cookie smiled. "We're-" but he was instantly interrupted by Purple Yam Cookie.

"Would you just PULL US UP FIRST, ALREADY!?!?" Purple Yam Cookie shouted with overwhelming emotions.

"Oh right! Hraghaha!" She laughed as she somehow pulled the three of us back to safety, as long as the cliff doesn't break again.

Purple Yam Cookie crawled away from the edge to calm himself down. Once Milk Cookie was sitting on safe ground, I couldn't let go. I was glued to him, shocked.

Milk Cookie watched me and chuckled sheepishly, patting my back. "It's safe to let go now, Y/N... we're safe!... Thanks to Purple Yam Cookie and our new acquaintance!" He gave her an eager friendly smile. "We owe you our lives, friend! Who might you be??"

"You're in the presence of Mala Sauce Cookie! Future chieftain of the Mala Tribe!" She said proudly, hands on her hips. "And who might YOU be?"

"I am Milk Cookie! And these are my friends, Y/N and Purple Yam Cookie!"

I shakily got off Milk Cookie, but still held tight onto his arm. "He.. hi... Thanks..." I wheezed out.

Purple Yam Cookie stood up to roar at the sky in rage, and threw a boulder into the river of lava. I would have yelled at him for nearly causing the cliff to break again, but I was way too drained for that.

Milk Cookie continued; "We're on a quest to-"

"Woah-woah-woah... Let me stop you right there..." Mala Sauce Cookie said. "We better get away from that cliff while we still can! You can tell me about that 'quest' once we reach my village!"

With an eager nod from Milk Cookie, we allowed the new cookie to take the lead. I followed, kind of on autopilot, way too deep in my thoughts, and still unwilling to let go of Milk Cookie's arm.

"Y/N... Are you alright?" Milk Cookie asked, giving me the same kind of compassionate smile he gave me when we first met.

"Uh-huh! Yeah, I'm fine!..." I said, but Milk Cookie didn't change the way he was looking at me. "...No, I'm not... We almost died. All three of us this time..."

"...Well... Things worked out in the end! Didn't they? I bet the celestials put that chain on our path on purpose to aid us through that life-threatening situation!"

"But-..." Suddenly, I thought of something. This chain was my necklace, the one I lost when I got turned into a cookie. The reason this chain even ended up on our path is because I'm here. This chain came here with me, like it was meant to help us make it through, in spite of me. Even Milk Cookie didn't know that...

What a strange thought. I was not going to start believing that everything happens for a reason, but still. What a strange thought.

"But what?..." Milk Cookie said.

"..."

"..." Milk Cookie smiled and put an arm around me for a cheesy hug. It felt really nice after all of that, no matter how cheesy it was. "I think you just got scared pretty badly! It's making you think too hard about what happened!" He patted my back.

The silly hug forced me to crack a smile. "... Right... Okay, maybe you're right." I locked eyes with him.

He was watching me attentively with a small smile... Sometimes, it just felt crazy how much he cared about how I was feeling.

"Heh... Okay, okay. I'm feeling better now I think. Thanks." I finally said.

"Ah! Good! I'm sorry, I have to go check on Purple Yam Cookie!" Milk Cookie then hurried to go walk besides his friend. I couldn't hear clearly what they were saying, but I definitely heard Purple Yam Cookie say "SCARED?? I didn't get SCARED! Leave me alone!"...

"You're an odd bunch of friends, huh?" Mala Sauce Cookie said.