Honey Pie (Jack Horner x Reader)

Prologue <3

Everyone's first introduction to death is hardly ever the same. Some may have been introduced to the inevitable when their first childhood pet died, others simply taught by their parents or their peers around them. Unfortunately, I had to experience death first hand. I still remember the day it happened.

I was a small child, no older than 9, living with my parents and siblings. I was tucked comfortably in my warm little bed, waiting to fall into a comfortable sleep filled with dreams of cotton candy clouds and the ability to soar through the air. I remember how the sound of crickets chirping rang through the air like a late night lullaby and the air smelled crisp as it did every spring.
I had dozed off for a moment, but was awoken by a sudden intense warmth with the air threatening to suffocate me if I didn't move. Of course, I knew about the dangers of fire and how it could hurt you if you weren't careful, but I still hadn't caught onto how to escape until that night.
I got up from my bed and ran out of my room, right to where it was the most dangerous in the house. The blaze immediately flooded my vision with bright, twisted branches threatening to grab me if I got too close. The next thing that entered my sight, behind the large, hot flames, was the rest of my family huddled in a corner with fear littered on each of their faces. My father was the first to catch sight of my little shaking form, who was beginning to hyperventilate from fear with tears threatening to spill from my eyes. The only thing he did was yell at me to run and escape the house before the flames swallowed me whole like it was about to do to them.
Of course I obeyed, it was the only thing I could really do at that moment. I ran through the burning house as fast as my little legs could go, trying my best to avoid the embers that lashed out at me. I was successful at first, but had tripped on one of my brother's toys just before I made it out of the house. I fell face first onto the floor, onto a newly burning flame that has begun to spread as I was running. The adrenaline rush was enough for me not to feel the skin on my face slightly melting as I quickly scrambled up and made that last rush out of the house.
I took a few extra strides for good measure before collapsing onto the ground in a coughing fit from the thick smoke that I didn't realize was suffocating me. The crisp air of the outdoors filled my lungs again as the coughing fit subsided, and I turned back to watch in horror as my home burned away. The whistling of the thrashing and snapping flames filled my ears.

Suddenly, another whistle faded in with the flames. My eyes widened at the sight of a figure walking out of the flames, hoping that one of my family members successfully escaped. My hopes crumbled like the walls of my burning home when I realized that the emerging figure began to look large and dog-like.
Of course, my child mind immediately labeled it as a monster who probably started the fire and I tried my best to back away from the large canine as it fully emerged from the flames, completely unscathed.
Their piercing scarlet eyes were locked onto mine as the wind gently pushed against their grey fur and black cloak. The canine stopped just at the doorframe and stopped whistling to pull their lips back into a small, toothy smile.

"You're lucky you escaped when you did, child. Any longer in that house would have made me take you too." The wolf's voice let me know he was male.
The two sickles in his hands didn't go unnoticed as he began walking toward me again. I continued to push myself back in fear, breathing heavily as tears ran down my face.
"Ge-get away, monster!" My voice was hoarse and shaky from just about having to cough up my lungs.

The wolf stopped in his tracks before letting out a chuckle. "I'm not a monster, kid, and I'm not going to hurt you either. You're just having a near-death experience."

I was too scared to question what he meant and quickly got to my feet and ran again. I ran in the direction of the woods that I lived behind and ran as far as my body would allow before stopping again due to exhaustion. I continued to breath heavily as I looked back to see the smoke of my former home rising high in the sky. I looked back to what was in front of me and noticed that I was on the other side of the woods. In front of me was a small town that I recognized as the one my parents took us to for school.
I rested an arm against the tree that stood next to me and leaned against it to catch my breath. The adrenaline began to fade and was slowly replacing the cold feeling on the bottom left of my face with a burning pain that reached just below my eye and halfway through my lips. It hurt to move my mouth or touch my face, but I pressed my hand against the wound anyway and took it back as fast as I touched it. I looked at my fingers that were now coated in a thin layer of blood from where I touched my face and felt my heart sink. Panic settled in the deep pit of my stomach as I looked up and quickly stumbled out of the woods to find help.

I weaved through the dark and dirty alleyways until I finally emerged onto a street filled with carriages filled with food, random plethoras of items, and entertainers. I was about to run out and yell for help, but everyone who was in the area immediately ran to a specific carriage what was bright with lights and music. With a little more focus, I saw the impressive sight of a dancing, singing, but very wooden puppet with no strings. This would have made me run over in wonder if I wasn't in immense pain. Just as the dancing puppet finished his very poor singing, I heard a yell to my left.
I turned to see a very rotund boy yelling, something about being a boy, before slapping the pie that was resting next to him. Said pie flew across the street and landed just at my feet with a loud clanking. I was surprised the pie's contents didn't splatter on me when it landed. Looking back up, I noticed the boy was staring directly at me. He must have not seen my face until I looked up because his angered face immediately turned into one of horror as he pointed out to me and screamed out, "What is that?!"

Upon hearing the boy's scream, everyone turned around and looked at where he was pointing. Of course being adults, they immediately recognized me as an injured child and ran to my aid, but my mind wasn't really there at the moment. All I could do was stare at nothing in particular as I realized that everything was taken from me. That wolf took away my home, my family, and even my immediate recognizability as a human.

He took everything from me.

Those were my final thoughts before I finally blacked out from everything that happened.

When I woke, I was in a hospital with bandages wrapped around half my face. I don't remember much, but the man who owned the living puppet, whose name I learned was Geppetto, was the one who brought me to the hospital. I ended up telling the old man about my situation and he kindly decided to take me in and raise me alongside the living puppet named Pinocchio. I quickly learned that Pinocchio was annoying and the worst liar the world has ever seen, but he was my new brother, so I had to tolerate it.

I ended up growing up with pyrophobia and a hatred towards wolves, the hatred was unexplained due to me never mentioning the encounter with the anthropomorphic canine. The wound on my face healed into a large scar that never left. A permanent reminder that life is cruel and full of misery.

One day, however, Geppetto told Pinocchio and I a story. It was a legend about a wishing star that had crashed somewhere on the planet many lifetimes ago. He told us that it had the ability to grant one wish to the one who finds it and that the map to the star was still out there having yet to be found.
At that moment, I decided to dedicate my life to finding that map and getting to that star. I wanted nothing more than to get revenge on that wolf and that star is my golden ticket to success.

I'm going to get that wish and nothing is going to stand in my way.

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End of chapter
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Don't judge me, we're probably in the same damn situation if you're reading this fic.
Hope you guys like, though! I'll work on the next chapter now! <3