Fragments - A Cookie Run Fanfiction

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Internalize

((I'm waking up, to ash and dust- I wipe my ass and I slap my nuts.))

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((Authors Notes: First, I want to say thank you to my Wattpad Community. The people who are almost always as happy or excited to see a chapter of this long-lasting fanfiction and I was to write them. They gave me some good advice, kind words and I thank all of them for sticking with this fanfiction for so long. This next chapter is being released 2 days early- because I want to get the ball rolling on this fanfiction again sooner rather than later. Bless you all.))

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At first, everything seemed to be going well. After all- Gingerbrave had survived in the wild before. When he and the other friends he had at the beginning of his confusing life had finally escaped together- it was the first true sense of both freedom- and isolation.

The world was a large, and scary place. It always would be. Part of the boy's mind spun, the first steps to making him more self reliant again- was learning to take care of himself and remembering how to survive without comfort from others when he needed it. Comfort from others was a lot like a poison. Despite well intention- it was easy to become reliant on being dependant on others.

After nearly washing up some ingredients- he had started to cut and part them- surprisingly skilled in the craft of cooking for a youngter. It would be surprising to most who were not familiar with how his life had played out so far.

Gingerbrave may not have been too sure on how to move things forward- and thank the darksides for everything they had done for him thus far. Closing his eyes, had had taken in a deep breath- before placing the ingredients together in the fashion they were meant to be placed- and he faced the stove. Internally- part of him quivered in apprehension. His fingers felt as though they suddenly were made of static.

Small flashes would play themselves in his mind. His nightmares from the beginning of this whole mess... the memories as of not even 2 days ago. Without notcing- Gingerbrave's breathing had become slightly rapid, and unsteady.

Calm down. Calm.

Closing his eyes and letting his head fall forward the slightest bit- Gingerbrave squeezed his hand around the body of the spoon that was currently in his hands. The sensation was uncomfortable, but it was enough to make him stop concentrating on the bad memories so much.

Caught up in the internalized confusion- he hardly noticed just how much time had passed. Four whole minutes of just sitting in front of the warming oven, and it felt like a mere couple seconds dedicated to getting himself mentally back in order. The concept of time was nearly as frightening as the realization of death.

'Stop thinking about that. You're just going to make yourself paranoid again.' he mentally scolded himself.

After taking in a deep breath, Gingerbrave grabbed an oven mitt from the nearby hook on the kitchen wall- and slid the food into the oven with a quickness- and retracting his hand immediately afterward. He didn't feel pain- but just the sensation of his whole arm being surrounded by heat nearly made his legs feel like jelly. The boy shut the oven, and placed the oven mitt back on the hook he had found it- before he turned to start washing up what little bit of a mess he made.

The slithering friend that the brave child had made just a little while ago was still lying curled up on the paper towels that it had been placed on top of a short while ago. This provided the youth with some sort of ease- as he made his way over to sit down near the serpent.

A small flick of the tongue indicated that the snake could smell him nearby. Closing it's eyes, the creature seemed to have a sleeping smile. It was a lot like a puppy, if it was looked at long enough. A tube-shaped, scaled puppy.

Gingerbrave brought a finger out, and gently pressed it on the snakes nose- between the nostrils. This caused the creature to flick it's tongue again in greeting as it lifted it's head from the resting postion it had found, in order to wrap itself over 'Brave's hand.

It tickled. Oddly enough, it gave the brave child a feeling of warmth.

"Thank you..." the boy muttered to the estranged being, before looking back over to the oven. The oven continued to run- the feintest of sounds coming from it as it produced the heat required to cook the food. "I hope I did okay... I don't usually have to cook and for all I know I did something that may taste bad...." the bad thoughts were becoming intrusive again.

Shaking his noggin, Gingerbrave smiled a little, despite it looking dry and tired. "No. I did fine. Right? I did fine?" He looked to the serpent, who flicked it's tongue in contemplation. After some seconds, it gently plopped the front of it's nose on the top of his hands a couple times.

It was a lot like a dog gently nudging it's owner with it's nose.

A small laugh rose from the back of Gingerbrave's throat as he wiped at his eyes a little bit, and nodded. "Yeah. I did okay. I just know it."

Some minutues of arguably awkward silence pass by- bleeding into about half an hour before anything else of substantiality took place. Somewhat in a daze, the child rests his chin in his hand as he focused on the glow coming from the window on the oven door.

He had turned the light to the stove on- so he could see the inside of it. Part of him held onto the paranoia of the food that he made was going to be sentient, and he was really just hurting whoever or whatever it was. No screaming, no crying. No begging to be let out of the hellscape oven environmennt.

"It's just... food..." he closed his eyes again, his right hand trembling as he sucked in a deeper breath. "Just food... just food. Not alive... you're not hurting it..."

He bit his lip, before a queasy sigh made it's way from his lips. Eventually, his shoulders relaxed.

"The food is indeed not alive."

A voice from behind Gingerbrave caught the boy off guard, making him jump up a couple inches before whipping his head around to see the source.

((To Be Continued)