Cookie Run: HeartBreak.

⚠︎ Operation: Timeguard!

⚠︎ - police, mention of fire, mention of death, mention of loss of a family member, mention of concert, mention of gun, mention of being drunk, mention of yelling, mention of being knocked unconscious, mention of assault, mention of child death, swearing, revisiting traumatic memories

the police officers and GingerBrave turned around to see a short woman with her hair up in a ponytail. she was wearing a black tank top and a dark green jumpsuit around her waist. a pair of inventor goggles were sitting on her head.
"what are you doing here?" one of the officers asked.
"please... let him go. i'm sure he didn't do anything wrong to the timeline" she responded.
"how can you be so sure?"
"i'm a time-traveller, so i can travel through time to see any mistakes."
"we're not letting him go!"
"the Director isn't even here! GingerBrave... let's go!"
the girl ran up to GingerBrave and grabbed him by the arm. the officers attempted to stop her, but she pushed them away and ran with him to the elevator. she pressed the 5 button and the elevator started moving up.
"how do you... know my name?" GingerBrave asked.
"you've been the main topic among my coworkers for a while" she responded.
"then... what's your name?"
"you can call me Croissant!"
the elevator arrived at the fifth floor and the door opened to reveal a small room. it was filled with shelves of books, and there was a machine in the center of the room. a small bed could be found in the corner, along with a nightstand and a pet bed.
"woah... what's this room?" GingerBrave asked.
"this is my room!" Croissant responded.
"why'd you bring me to your room of all places?"
"i know it seems weird, but this is where i keep my trusty timecraft!"
Croissant took a seat in her timecraft, facing GingerBrave.
"oh, so that's your timecraft..."
"let me explain everything... something weird has been going on with time lately, such as it breaking and events being out of order, and most of my coworkers started blaming it on you. i can prove it wasn't you, and i don't know who the hell could've done this!"
"that seems like a problem."
"by the way, this clock tower is the headquarters and home of the Time Balance Department where i work! we're a company designed to keep the world's timelines in tact, but as you can see, something went wrong..."
"i see..."
"so, in order to fix the timeline, we need to explore yours and find any mistakes to fix them once and for all!"
"let's do it!"
"but first..."
Croissant stood up to grab a pair of inventor goggles that looked just like hers.
"put these on. time-travelling without any goggles can cause permanent damage to one's eyes" she said.
GingerBrave put them on and they both took a seat in the timecraft. Croissant pressed a button that made it raise up in the air.
"first destination you've been to?"
"right... the oven!"
Croissant plotted the coordinates to the oven and the timecraft took them back in time.

GingerBrave revisited the moment when his brother, Dozer, woke him up from a dream to tell him that they were surrounded by fire. he then saw when he let everyone free from the oven and the other cookies started planning an escape. he saw the moment he met GingerBright, but then it cut to when they were outside and the house was burning.
"where's the part when Dozer died? or the part where my friends and i escaped as a group?" GingerBrave asked.
"let me fix that real quick..." Croissant said.
"actually, it's fine... i don't want to revisit my brother's death."
"Dozer was your brother? i'm so sorry..."
"...i've recovered."
"but... we need to fix this anomaly. i'm sure the escaping part was good, right?"
"yes, it was!"
Croissant fixed the scene to add the part where GingerBrave and his friends escaped.
"anything else?" Croissant asked.
"well... are we able to see who killed Dozer?"
"maybe... close your eyes."
Croissant tried retrieving Dozer's exact death scene, but the timecraft glitched out and didn't allow her to do so.
"huh, that's weird... it doesn't usually glitch out like this."
she kept trying, but it seemed like the timecraft was fighting her.
"aww, damn it... we won't be able to get it. moving on! next destination?"
"uhh... we went to Jellybug Forest and later found DJ!"
"alright!"
Croissant set the coordinates to Jellybug Forest and they saw the flower filled forest. GingerBrave saw the moment they met Fairy and when they got chased by jellybugs. he saw the moment he and his friends showed up at DJ's concert, but something didn't seem right. Pink Choco seemed nice, and her gun made others fall in a nicer form of love.
"wait... this isn't right! Pink Choco was crazy, and she made everyone seem drunk!" said GingerBrave.
"oh, dear... let me fix that."
Croissant tried retrieving the crazy and lustful Pink Choco, but her timecraft glitched out again.
"again? does it not want me to retrieve bad things?"
"i mean, that would be understandable."
"hmm... as far as i know, the Director can also control this timecraft and its functions."
"do you know if they can control time?"
"i'm not sure, but... apparently, they're a supreme overlord of time and their abilities are insane."
"so... this is probably their doing!"
"i can't blame them! saying anything bad about the Director is a rule violation of the TBD!"
"sounds kinda like a dictator..."
"where to next?"
"uhh... do i remember? i don't think i remember very well..."
"it's okay. we can go to the next place you rememb-"
"the Crystal Pudding Cave! where we met Alchemist and Cream Puff!"
"let's go!"
Croissant did her thing and they were brought back to the Crystal Pudding Cave. the events played out just like GingerBrave remembered, but Alchemist seemed to join the group instead of staying with Cream Puff.
"huh? she never did that!"
"what happened then?"
"Alchemist and Cream Puff were practicing magic, but then a jellybug came out of the ground and threw us into a creepy amusement park..."
"i got it!"
Croissant tried to piece it together, but Alchemist still joined the group.
"that isn't right... we can't fix time at this rate!"
"it'll be okay, Croissant! what if we go the the next destination, which was the kingdom?"
"okay!"
they visited the kingdom once again, but it was in its destroyed state. they heard yelling from inside the castle and saw Purple Yam crying in front of GingerBrave and his friends.
"what about the beginning...? everything was peaceful..."
"i see... i'll try to retrieve it."
Croissant attempted to add the good parts in, but all she could get was the part where the Cookies of Darkness came in.
"NO!"
"did it not work?"
"they shouldn't be in the memory... they're cruel beings who traumatized Milk and Purple Yam, which resulted in Milk's death."
"is that so...?"
just then, everything turned to black around them and they got sent to Cheesecake Manor, when GingerBrave was knocked unconscious by Roguefort.
"Roguefort... he disguised himself as GingerBright and assaulted her..."
"oh, god... i'm sorry, GingerBrave."
they then got sent to Cookieland when the amusement park was burning and the kids died.
"what...? Director, stop it...!"
"what the f*ck...?"
"we need to go back... this shit is getting out of hand!"
suddenly, they got sent to when Dozer died. GingerBrave and his friends were mourning the loss of his brother until Skater came and jumped out of the burning house with them.
"no... NO...!"
GingerBrave grabbed the timecraft handle and tried forcing it to send them back to the clock tower.
"GingerBrave, calm down!"
they were sent back to the clock tower, but in the clock control room. GingerBrave was breathing heavily and Croissant felt dizzy.
"i'm... very sorry, GingerBrave. this was all my fault..." Croissant said.
"don't blame yourself... this is the Director's faul-"
"shhh! the Director will come and punish us if we say shit like that about them!"
they both stood up and dusted themselves off.
"so... where do we go next? can i see my friends again?" GingerBrave asked quietly.
"i wouldn't know where your friends are... the officers probably have them" Croissant replied.
"oh, well..."
"we can try again if you want. that's totally up to y-"
"i'd rather not. thank you."
just then, they felt someone else behind them. they grabbed their shoulders tightly and whispered in their ears.
"too bad you weren't able to fix it."

____________________

note: another chapter done! we're getting closer to the end of Part 1 of this story, so i'm excited. poor GingerBrave. i'm tired so i'm gonna end this right here. thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy the next chapter!

- Sky