Not The Way I Used To Be [Pure Vanilla Cookie x Reader]

?? Chapter 8 - Follow along ??

Outside, the sun had just risen, barely peeking over the ground, the rays glistened in the trees' wet leaves. It had rained I guess, not enough to cause any damage to the shack, though, but enough to create a light layer of mud around. It caused my shoes to sink in ever so slightly, and create footprints around. It was satisfying, to mess up the perfectly smooth mud. Unusual how perfect it was for having many cake hounds wandering around-

"The sooner we go, the sooner we can find a place to stop and eat, aren't you hungry?" He said, pulling me out of thought. I suppose I was mildly hungry and could go for a nice breakfast. I nod in agreement and carefully make my way over to the marker we left last night. Maybe a day or so's worth of walking would lead us to my uncle's city. He would, if nothing else, point us in the right direction, and hopefully cough up some money to get us there. He didn't live too far away, as far as I was aware.

We both walked in an unsettling silence before I conjured up a question.

"So.. I've told you some about my family, what about yours? Or what about your friends?" I asked cheerfully. I watched him tense up, and slow down his pace. He whipped his head towards me, with a look I couldn't quite describe, before forcing a weary smile.

"Funny you ask, I don't remember to be honest." was all he said, ended our conversation. He then is fastened his pace and continued forward. It didn't feel quite honest, but it didn't feel like a lie either. Perhaps just a touchy subject.

"Okay well, what's your favorite color?" I ask, speeding up to catch up with him. Basic, I know but, I couldn't think of anything else.

He cocked his eyebrow at me, before responding, "Oh uh... Blue I guess, tho I'm also quite fond of a light yellow. You?" A more flowing conversation.

"That's easy, it's f/c, I think that a very pretty shade of f/c can be the answer to everything," I respond, he nodded agreeing. "Favorite flower?"

He didn't even have to think, before blurting out, "White lilies. Those are my favorite." It seemed to even surprise him, before he reaffirmed, "White lilies" How pretty.

It went on like that for a while, back and forth on random topics, such as favorite animals, favorite seasons, and favorite hobbies. His answer felt a little lackluster, or like he wasn't telling the full story, but I wasn't going to push.

I was babbling about a story I found pretty interesting, it had to do with my mom and dad meeting, and the weird circumstances, but I was pulled out of thought and speech, quite literally.

"And he was the one to sweep her off her-" the quick motion didn't register, as one minute we were walking, and the next we had rolled over on the ground. He had landed directly on top of me, pushing himself up and without another word, he had sprung himself up and ran over to the cause of the noise. Ahead, two cookies were hanging off of a horse, holding on to what was previously our bags, laughing. Once it fully clicked, I too pushed myself up and ran after them. They were going moderately slow but gaining speed. Did they just rob us as we were merely walking by? What assholes.

"Give those back!" He cursed, being surprisingly fast for such a cookie, barely managing to grab the saddle of the horse. Knocking one of the cookies off. With a scream, they fell and hit the ground. I had finally caught up to them when they shoved him back and made an attempt to run back to the horse, which had been now stopped to wait for their lost compadre. I ran after them, managing to grab ahold of their shirt, and dragged them down with me.

A tussle ensued, with me losing. I was inexperienced when it came to fighting. I was much too unfocused to try and do the cookie into an illusion. That was until she grabbed ahold of the back of my neck, and something snapped.

...

...

"Y/n! Focus, you are letting them get to you." A raspy voice yelled out. No way would I let them, as the girl grabbed the back of my neck in an attempt to injure me, I grabbed her shoulder and with all my might, I twisted it, and hear a snap. The screaming that was heard caused the voices beholder to run over and pull me off.

"That's good Y/n... But next time, maybe don't hurt my helpers, they don't get paid enough to have limbs snapped off." He said, patting me on the back.

"Yes sir, I understand." It felt like it wasn't quite me. Like, I was watching a movie, a memory that didn't feel real.

Or

It was real. This place was real, I remember it. The fuzzy outlines became crystal clear as I realized what it was. It was the place I trained in for many hours, hours upon hours, so I could defend myself.

...

Instinctively, I grabbed their shoulder and snapped it forward, hearing the sickening crunch gave me a rush, almost a delight. I shoved her back, which in turn pushed me up, and I ran over to the accomplice, who was merely sitting on the horse, his face of horror was enjoyable, as I shoved him off the horse, grabbing ahold of the two bags to return to their rightful owners, me and Healer cookie.

"Ha. That was kind of cool" I said happily to myself, walking over to see the face of another completely stunned cookie. The healer sat there with nothing to say.

"So you can basically trick people to into tripping in an illusion, AND you can fight?" He said, standing up and dusting himself off, before grabbing his bag. I shrugged.

It kind of felt like I unlocked a special ability, like in a game, I had just mysteriously gained this knowledge. It appeared in my brain, but with it, I felt some sort of heavy emotion. Couldn't quite place a finger on it.

He seemed to look around for a moment, before apologizing.

"For what?" I asked.

"For landing on you, I kind of wasn't paying attention and zoned out, the next thing I knew, I saw two cookies getting off with our stuff. I'm also sorry for not helping much, I don't fight." He rubbed the back of his neck with a light blush on his face. I smiled, just a little, before shaking my head.

"Don't be sorry, I was too busy talking to notice, and to be fair, I didn't know I could fight either. I kinda just, remembered something. People don't tend to forget something that crucial though." He seemed to frown a little, before shaking his head after me and motioning forward.

The two cookies, one rolling around in searing pain, and the other trying to get the other back on the horse. Looked back at us.

"You! You are unhinged! Why'd you do that to them?!" The purple-haired one called out, before pulling the other cookie up. They both managed to scramble back onto the horse and flee before I could respond.

That was, unnecessarily weird. I would have preferred if they just left us alone, but I didn't mind the newfound knowledge of basic defense skills.

"Maybe we should get going... You uh... We're kind of scary looking." He commented, before imitating what he described as what I looked like.

"Well, sorry for not being nice to criminals" I mutter before he giggled.

"No no, don't be sorry, It was kind of amazing." He said, a lot more smiley than he was before, of which it felt like he was forcing it. Now it felt much more natural.

I begin walking ahead on the path only turning to say, "We should get moving, as to avoid running into more petty thieves." He nodded enthusiastically, falling behind me. And while it was nice traveling peacefully, it was also boring. And once again, I was talking his ears off about my parents, about the place I lived in, school, and my cousins. He listened patiently, while also glancing back every once in a while, just to be watchful.

Just in case.