Cookie Run: HeartBreak.

⚠︎ Dreamy Cookieland!

⚠︎ - running away from home, mention of death, hallucination, mention of bruises, coping, bomb, "gang", fire

the next day, Almond had to go to work early again, so Walnut was alone in the house. she couldn't get her mind off of what happened in the past week. it was all stressful for her, so she had to do something to get her mind off of it. she put on clean clothes, grabbed her bag, and left the house running. GingerBrave and his friends saw her running away from home and decided to follow her, curious as of why she was running away. they later noticed that she was running to some amusement park, which was more colorful than the one they went to. it had a carousel, a small train, and different stands that served things like candy and balloons. it felt nostalgic to them in a way. the group saw Walnut sit down on a bench near the entrance and start to cry. a group of kids that were playing then saw her crying and ran up to her.
"Walnut! what's wrong?" one of the kids asked, who was wearing overalls and carried balloons.
"i-it's just... a lot happened..." she responded.
she then began to explain everything that happened to the kids, to which they looked frightened.
"oh... i'm sorry you get that" said a kid wearing an animal suit.
"Walnut... that's so scary...!" said the one holding balloons.
"it'll be okay, Walnut. just try to keep your mind off of it... is that why you came here?" asked a kid wearing a purple suit and sparkly cape.
Walnut nodded and stood up. some of the kids held her hand and brought her to the carousel, which had horses that looked like one of the kids.
"this place seems nice! maybe we should go inside?" GingerBright asked her friends.
"yeah, it's just... don't expect anything good from this place. we've seen pain and suffering in all of the other places we've been to" said GingerBrave.
"he has a point" Skater said.
"plus, do you really think this place will give us clues to a cookie paradise?" Strawberry asked.
"it'll be a while before we find a paradise... so let's go!" GingerBright said, running to the entrance.
"wait...!" GingerBrave said, trying to catch up along with the others.

once they reached the entrance, the amusement park looked full and happy. kids were playing with each other and stopping by the different stands scattered around. they saw the carousel at the center where Walnut and the group of kids went, so they walked up to them.
"hi, Walnut!" GingerBright said with a cheerful tone.
"hi, guys!" she said back. they noticed that she wasn't crying anymore.
"more kids! yay!" said the girl holding balloons.
"i've never seen you around here before!" said a boy with yellow hair and glasses.
"look! they have brown hair!" said the kid wearing an animal suit.
"aww, you all are so cute!" GingerBright said.
"oh... there's newcomers!" said the one wearing purple.
"uhh... hello!" said GingerBrave.
"i'm Cream Unicorn, and welcome to Cookieland!"
"Cookieland!" said the one in the animal suit.
"i'm Apple! nice to meet you!" said the girl with balloons.
"i'm Bell Pepper, and i know a lot about computers!" said the boy with glasses.
"i'm Pancake! now that we know each other, give me your acorns!" said the one in the animal suit while jumping in front of them.
"we still haven't introduced ourselves, silly! i'm GingerBrave!" said GingerBrave.
"i'm GingerBright!"
"Strawberry..."
"you can call me Skater!"
"ughh... Zombie..."
"woah... you have a zombie in your group? how does it feel when you're dead?" said Pancake.
"i don't think Zombie's exactly dead... wait, are you?" GingerBright asked.
Zombie shrugged.
Apple held out a balloon to GingerBright that was green and shaped like an apple.
"take one!" she said.
"okay!" GingerBright said, taking the string.
"i like you, and other kids constantly ask me for balloons, even though that lady over there can give you one."
Apple pointed to the balloon stand, where a woman in green was working. she was busy blowing helium into a multicolored balloon.
"she's basically my mom at this point" Bell Pepper said.
"we should all get one!" said GingerBrave.
"right!" said Skater.
they headed over to the stand and the woman working there noticed them.
"hello, guys! do you want some balloons?" she asked them.
"yes, please! can i get a skull one?" GingerBrave said.
"i'll have a strawberry one, please..." Strawberry said.
"uhh... green...! like Zombie...!" Zombie said.
"alright! i'll start blowing them up for you."
as the woman started blowing the balloons up, she began talking to them.
"i never thought i'd be working at an amusement park for kids... Bell Pepper decided to bring me here one day, and the kids here loved me! therefore, i took the empty balloon stand. i'm honestly kinda surprised we're not out of apple balloons yet. Apple gets them all the time!"
"that is surprising!" Skater said.
GingerBrave looked around at the other stands and saw Milk at the funnel cake stand.
"guys, Milk's over there! we should go say hi!" he said.
"Milk wouldn't be here..." Strawberry said with a slightly serious tone.
"he's dead... remember?" GingerBright whispered.
"but... i swear i saw him!"
once the cookies got their balloons, Apple ran up to them.
"hi again, guys!" she said.
"hi, Apple!" GingerBright said.
"why'd you come here?" GingerBrave asked.
"i think you guys need to be separated. you all need to see more! more!"
"...okay? we can do with that, right?" Skater asked.
"of course! i wanted to see more of this park too!" GingerBright said.
"that would be fine!" Strawberry said.
"come on... come on, you two! this way!" Apple said as she grabbed both GingerBright's and Strawberry's hand and ran them to the train.
"this is one of my favorite places to go when i'm bored and need some sightseeing. hop on!"
the two girls got on the train, but Apple didn't get on. instead, she watched as the train started moving with a mischievous smile.
"who's driving this?" Strawberry asked.
"i see no one in the driver's seat... it must be magical!" GingerBright said.
"where is it even gonna take us...?"
"probably around the park! trains in amusement parks usually do that."
"...hey, GingerBright?"
"yeah?"
"are you... okay?"
"of course i am! i'm in this happy place with my friends!"
"no, i meant from... you know what."
"oh... yeah. i think my bruises healed."
"that's good... i don't want you to be traumatized from it."
"i'll be okay if i was, but it would still hurt to a degree."
"i don't think i fully recovered, either... or GingerBrave."
"don't you think it's weird how he saw Milk back there?"
"i think it was a hallucination..."
"probably... hey, Strawberry?"
"yeah?"
"...i'm glad you're with me. it's been hard for us."
"true... i'm glad i'm with you as well."
Strawberry set her hand on GingerBright's, which made her blush. she lied her head on Strawberry's shoulder in return. while riding the train, they saw a few buildings and more kids playing. one kid threw a cherry over the top of the train which exploded and almost hit another kid.
"missed!" he yelled.
"i have more where that came from!" the girl who threw the bomb yelled.
the girls then saw Cream Unicorn flying overhead. she landed herself on a cloud and bounced off of it, transforming into a unicorn.
"wow! i didn't know she could do that!" GingerBright commented.
"i mean, 'unicorn' is in her name" Strawberry said.
the train was nearing the station, and they saw Apple shouting at them from a distance.
"now kiss! NOW KI- wha?"
Cream Unicorn moved her hoof and made Apple float. she bounced a bit before falling on the ground. Cream Unicorn transformed back and giggled.
"sorry... you were shouting something a little absurd there. welcome back!" she said.
"hello!" GingerBright said.
"hey, guys? where are the others...?" Strawberry asked.
"i sent them to the arcade!" Apple said.
"i hope they're having fun then...!"

"welp, that was fun! i'm gonna leave now" GingerBrave said, getting ready to leave the arcade with Skater.
"WAIT! don't go! we still have lots more fun to have!" said their new friend, Firecracker.
"we'll come back again soon!" Skater said.
"okay... fine, but bring the rest of your gang next time!"
"i'll make sure of it!"
"bye, guys!" said another one of their new friends, Piñata.
the two boys left the arcade and found Walnut and Zombie walking around, so they ran up to them.
"hello!" Walnut said.
"hello, Walnut! are you having fun with Zombie?" GingerBrave asked.
"yeah! they don't talk a lot, though."
"she... a detective...!" Zombie moaned.
"that's right! i'm gonna become just like my dad!"
"i hope you do! you're doing really good so far" GingerBrave said.
"so... are you okay now?" Skater asked.
"am i... okay?" Walnut said, a little confused.
"yeah."
"well, of course! i'm in this wonderful and cute place."
"Walnut, i hope you forgive us, but... we eavesdropped on you when we first came here. we were concerned because you were running away from home..." explained GingerBrave.
"oh! so, you heard about... that?"
"yes..."
"i'm... okay. i came here to cope with my awful feelings."
"that's good."
"my friends here help me feel like i'm an innocent kid again!"
"i understand the feeling. this place made us feel pretty nostalgic!"
"do you have any memories before the oven?"
"i... don't think so."
"where's your dad now?" Skater asked.
"at work! he always has to go early now, which makes me feel alone sometimes... but i have my novels and plushies to keep me company! i forgot about the coffee he brewed for me this morning, but i'm wide awake now. overall, he's doing something good for the world!"
"you have a great dad, Walnut!"
"good... great...!" Zombie moaned.
"hey... does anyone smell that?" GingerBrave asked.
the other cookies sniffed the air.
"it's coming from that empty stand over there!" Walnut said, pointing to a nearby chip stand.
the stand was on fire, but the source was somewhere behind it. they ran behind the stand to see something that they wouldn't forget for a while.

____________________

note: another chapter finished! it's nice to have a cute and innocent chapter before things go to shit. i decided to put Aloe in this chapter because she is, in fact, my favorite cookie in the Cookie Run series and i imagine her being good with kids. now then, i hope you enjoyed!

- Sky