"Then, Wandering Clock, I will ask you once more: where are you hiding the other versions of [Your Favorite Flavor] Cookie?"The voice echoed through the void like thunder in a ruined cathedral. It was not a question.
It was a sentence disguised as an interrogation, a verdict pronounced from atop an invisible throne.Shadow Milk Cookie, the Beast of Deceit, stood before Timekeeper Cookie with all the majesty of a fallen demon. All of his eyes — the two on his face, plus those that hid in the shadows of his hair like lurking spiders — narrowed in unison, gleaming with a contained fury that made the very fabric of reality tremble around him. His hands, which moments before had seemed normal, now twisted and stretched like tendrils of blue smoke, slithering through the air with sinister purpose. They were hands of deceit and twisted truths, fingers that could caress and tear apart in the same gesture. Timekeeper didn't know what to do.
For the first time in her existence as the guardian of time — that infinite existence that had witnessed the birth and death of countless timelines — the smug smile that always adorned her face had vanished. No trace remained of that playful arrogance with which she used to observe chaos from her golden scissors.
Now, in its place, was something she had never shown anyone before.Fear.She was on the ground, injured. Her steampunk uniform, that black and gold outfit that made her look like an empress of time, was torn in several places. The blue smoke from Shadow Milk's attack still rose from her right shoulder, where the scorched fabric revealed her dough. Her golden scissors, the powerful Sonic Embroider with which she could cut holes in space-time, lay a few meters away, trembling slightly as if they too felt their owner's fear.Right in front of her stood the Beast of Deceit.
That monster from another timeline.The one who had caused chaos with time.Timekeeper remembered Croissant Cookie's warnings — her past self, that enthusiastic mechanic who still believed she could fix anything with enough gears and determination. According to what Croissant had told her during one of their many meetings across timelines, Shadow Milk Cookie had begun cracking every timeline.
Cracks.
Small at first, almost imperceptible. Like scratches on the surface of an old mirror. But then they grew deeper, wider, more dangerous. And they all had the same goal.
They were searching for the original [Favorite Flavor] Cookie.
For you.
Timekeeper herself had been the one to hide you deep within the Time Gap — that hole between seconds, that fold in the fabric of time where even the most powerful guardians couldn't find you without knowing exactly where to look.
She had done it carefully, precisely, using her scissors to cut any trace that might lead to you.She had erased memories.She had altered entire timelines.She had created distractions, illusions, false versions.All to protect you.And now, the Beast of Deceit had discovered it.Shadow Milk's eyes shone with terrible intensity.
His smile, that perpetual grimace that seemed carved into his blue lips, widened to reveal his sharp teeth. They weren't normal cookie teeth. They were predator's teeth, belonging to someone who had stopped being simply a "Cookie" a long, long time ago.
"Come on, come on," he said, in a voice that alternated between a velvety whisper and a shrill shriek. "Don't make me repeat the question, little guardian. That would ruin the rhythm of the show!"He paused theatrically. He raised an arm toward the non-existent sky of that temporal void, as if reciting a monologue on a stage.
His staff, black as obsidian with a bright blue eye on the knob, appeared in his hand with a snap of his fingers.
"You see, my dear Timekeeper," he continued, walking around her with slow, almost dancing steps, "I've been looking for that special little cookie for a very, very long time. I've traveled across timelines, broken realities, made entire civilizations vanish into nothing... all for her. And you? You hid her! You put her in a place where even I couldn't find her!"His voice changed suddenly.
The playfulness disappeared, replaced by something darker, more dangerous.
"But not anymore."Timekeeper felt her own scissors — her own scissors — rise in the air, floating toward Shadow Milk as if pulled by a magnet. The golden blades opened and closed once, twice, three times, with a metallic sound that echoed through the void like a death sentence.
"Right now, this very night, you're going to tell me where she is," said Shadow Milk, and all his eyes fixed on Timekeeper at once.
"Or, and I tell you this with all the love of my lying heart..."He leaned toward her, so close that his breath — cold, like wind from an open grave — brushed against her doughy face.
"I'm going to cut every single one of your timelines. One by one. Until there's not a single second left in which you ever existed. And then, when nothing of you remains, POP!" — he snapped his fingers, and a small explosion of blue magic illuminated his smile —
"I'll find her all by myself."Timekeeper swallowed. There was no way out. No trick up her sleeve. No alternate timeline she could flee to.Because Shadow Milk Cookie, the Beast of Deceit, the master of lies and twisted truths, was already here.
And he wouldn't leave without what he had come for.
There was no turning back.
•••
The ruins where Jelly Bean had taken you after the cupcake surprise and the teleportation and that tower that looked like a lighthouse... everything had exploded in a display of beauty that your mind could barely process. Not a violent explosion, but an explosion of light, of color, of magic.When the cracks in the tower's facade had opened, no smoke or debris had come out. Instead, this had come out...The clearing where you now sat seemed pulled from a dream.
Or from a memory you'd never had, but that somehow felt deeply familiar.The tree under which you had sat — you never figured out what kind it was, because Jelly Bean had just shrugged and said
"it's a tree, [Favorite Flavor], trees are trees" when you asked — was beautiful. Even "beautiful" fell short.
Majestic.
Eternal.
Its branches stretched toward the sky like arms wanting to embrace the stars, and its leaves — green like fresh mint, but with a metallic sheen reminiscent of polished silver — moved gently with a breeze that came from nowhere visible. It was as if the tree was breathing. As if it was alive in a way that went beyond biology.
From where you sat, you could see small flowers sprouting among the leaves. They weren't normal flowers. They were like little lanterns of light, translucent petals glowing from within with a warm radiance. Some were blue, others golden, others a purple so deep it seemed to contain the night sky itself. They moved with the magic of the place, floating slightly detached from the branches, as if dancing a dance only they knew.The ground beneath your bare feet — because yes, you were still barefoot, still wearing your star-and-moon pajamas under the tunic you'd put on at some point during the escape — was covered in soft, spongy moss, the color of freshly crushed mint. It was so soft it felt like walking on a cloud.And the air...
The air smelled of spring and nostalgia.It smelled like the mornings of your childhood, when you still didn't know the world could be cold. It smelled like new books in the academy library, pages still unopened, full of promises. It smelled like freshly baked cookies, like hot chocolate, like...Like home.
But not the home you knew.The home you'd never had.
"Are you okay?" Jelly Bean asked beside you, and his voice brought you back to the present.You blinked.The sunrise, that magical moment when the sun begins to peek over the hills and paints the sky pink, orange, and gold, was happening right before your eyes. The first rays, still shy, filtered through the tree's branches, creating a pattern of light and shadow that danced across your face.The sun was beginning to rise.The first rays, still almost timid, peeked over the distant hills, tinting the sky pink and orange and gold. The light, warm and soft as a caress, filtered through the cracks in the tower — or what remained of it, which now seemed more like an ornamental frame than a structure — illuminating the interior in an almost magical way.
No, not "almost."Magical. Completely magical.Each ray of sunlight seemed to have a life of its own. It moved slowly, as if exploring the place, caressing the moss-covered stones, illuminating the flowers sprouting from the cracks, making the magical dust floating in the air shine like tiny little stars.It was beautiful.
So beautiful that you were left speechless.Jelly Bean, sitting beside you, watched you with a smile that wasn't his usual smile. It wasn't the teasing smile of
"I'm fond of you but I love annoying you." It wasn't the mischievous smile of
"I just did something sneaky and I'm waiting for you to notice."It was a soft smile. Peaceful.
Almost... tender.
His blue hair, that blue so intense that sometimes it seemed to contain entire galaxies in its strands, was pulled into a small ponytail at the back of his head. Loose strands fell across his forehead, moving placidly with the morning breeze. His eyes — always bright, always mischievous — were now fixed on the horizon, on the slowly rising sun, and there was something in his expression that made you think that maybe, maybe, he too was feeling the same sense of peace as you.
Or maybe it was just the accumulated tiredness from the night before.You just looked at the sky.You didn't know why, but there was something about this sunrise that made you feel... small. But not in a bad way. Small in the sense that the world was enormous and beautiful and full of possibilities, and you were just a tiny particle in the midst of it all.
A particle that, for some reason, had been lucky enough to be right there, at that exact moment, to see it all.
Jelly Bean's hand deliberately brushed against yours.
You knew because his fingers moved slightly whenever your knuckles neared his. It wasn't an accidental touch. It was a deliberate, soft touch, almost as if he were asking: "Can I? Is it okay?"But you didn't move.You didn't pull your hand away.Was he your best friend after all?From childhood, from that day in kindergarten when he had sat beside you without saying anything, without asking you to play, just resting his head on your shoulder and falling asleep... since then, Jelly Bean had been a constant in your life.
The only constant.He had been there when no one else was.When the other cookies avoided you because you spoke
"too complicated" or because you didn't understand their games or because you simply... didn't fit in.
He had stayed.
Despite everything.
Despite your uncomfortable silences.
Despite your complicated words.
Despite your way of seeing the world that seemed cold to others, but that he had always accepted as simply "different."So, why?Why now, in the middle of this magical sunrise, with his hand brushing yours and the sun painting the sky in colors you didn't even know existed...
why did you feel like something wasn't right?Something in the way he looked at you.
Something in the way he smiled.Something...But... now that you thought about it... how had you met Jelly Bean?You froze.The question appeared in your mind like lightning in a clear sky. Out of nowhere. Without warning. Without permission.
How had you met him?You remembered kindergarten, yes. You remembered the colors and the wooden blocks and the messy blue blob approaching you while you read a storybook too advanced for your age. You remembered how he sat beside you, how he rested his head on your shoulder, how he fell asleep.But...What about before that?No.
There was no "before that."Jelly Bean had simply... appeared.As if he had always been there.As if he had been inserted into your life at some point you couldn't remember, and your mind had filled the gaps with false memories to make everything seem normal.That wasn't how you remembered... no... how was it?A sharp headache hit you like a tombstone falling from a ten-story building.
"Ow!" you cried out, bringing your hands to your temples.The world spun around you. The magical tree, the flowers of light, the sky painted pink and orange... everything blended into a blur of colors that made you dizzy to the point of wanting to vomit.What was happening?Why did your head hurt?Why couldn't you remember something as simple as meeting your best friend?Jelly Bean, who seconds before had been watching the horizon with a peaceful expression you didn't recognize, turned to you instantly.
His hand, the same one that had been brushing yours, landed on your shoulder with an urgency he didn't hide.
"[Favorite Flavor] Cookie!" he exclaimed, and his voice was no longer that of your usual teasing friend. Now it was the voice of someone genuinely scared.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"You brought your hands to your face, gently massaging your temples. Your fingers pressed small circles into your cookie dough, trying to relieve the throbbing pain that refused to disappear.
"Yeah... just a silly little headache,"
you said, turning to Jelly Bean.Your smile was weak, tired, but genuine. You didn't want to worry him. Not when he had just made all that effort to take you to such a special place just to watch the sunrise.Jelly Bean watched you for a moment longer. His eyes, those blue eyes that had always seemed so familiar to you, scanned your face for any sign that you were lying.Because Jelly Bean always knew when you lied.Always.But this time, for some reason, he said nothing.He just nodded.
"Okay," he said, and his tone regained some of its usual lightness. "If it hurts again, tell me, alright? I don't want to have to take you to the infirmary again. Last time, the nurse looked at me like I'd hurt you on purpose.
"You laughed.It was true. The last time you'd gone to the infirmary — because you'd hit your head on a bookshelf in the library while reaching for a book on the highest shelf — the nurse, Milky Way Cookie, had stared at Jelly Bean with such intense suspicion that he'd had to swear by all the witches in the world that it wasn't his fault.
"I promise," you said.And for a moment, just a moment, everything was okay again.The headache faded as quickly as it had come.The sunrise continued painting the sky in impossible colors.Jelly Bean's hand brushed yours again.But deep in your mind, in some dark corner you didn't want to explore, the question remained.How did you really meet him?Why can't you remember?What are you hiding from yourself?After all that — the magical sunrise, the breathing tree, the flowers of light, and the headache that had come and gone like a ghost — you returned to your room as fast as you could with Jelly Bean.And when I say "fast," I mean
"running as if an army of angry professors were chasing us.
"Because yes.The breakfast bell would ring any moment.And if any professor found you outside your rooms before the bell that marked the official start of the day rang... well, let's just say the last time that had happened, you'd ended up cleaning the cauldrons in Potions class for an entire week.
And the cauldrons in Potions class smelled bad.Really bad.Like wet socks and rotten frogs and something the professor, Mystic Spice Cookie, called "secret ingredient" but that everyone knew was just her excuse not to clean them herself.
So you ran.
Barefoot.
Still wearing your star-and-moon pajamas, even though you'd put the tunic on over them at some point during the escape — you didn't remember exactly when, possibly after the teleportation and before Jelly Bean dragged you through the secret shortcuts.
Your bare feet pounded the cold earth as you ran behind Jelly Bean, who seemed to know every nook and cranny of the academy gardens like the back of his hand.
"This way!" he whispered, grabbing your wrist and pulling you toward a hidden passage behind a statue of an ancient wizard whose nose had broken off centuries ago.The passage was narrow, dark, and smelled of dampness and ancient secrets. Your toes stumbled over a root — roots? In a stone passage? — and you almost fell flat on your face, but Jelly Bean held you up with a strength he didn't appear to have.
"Careful," he said, his voice a warm whisper in your ear.
"I don't want to have to explain to the headmistress why her best student shows up a mess moments before breakfast."
You scoffed.
"I'm not the best student."
"You are the best student," he replied, as if it were an indisputable fact, like saying the sky is blue or that fire burns.
"And you know it. And I know it. And the whole academy knows it. So stop pretending to be humble, it doesn't suit you."
You wanted to protest, but you couldn't.Because, well...He was right.It wasn't that you liked to show off. It wasn't that you walked through the halls with an imaginary medal on your chest shouting "look at me, I'm the best!" But facts were facts. Your grades were the highest in the class. Your assignments were the ones professors used as examples. Your spells were the ones other students tried to imitate (and failed, almost always).You had reached the top through effort, through sleepless nights, through books read to exhaustion.And sometimes, in the darkest moments, you wondered if all that effort had been worth it.If being "the best" was really something you wanted.
Or if it was just something you had learned to be because it was the only way anyone would look at you.
You reached your room just as the first lights of day began to filter through the hallway windows. The oak door — that door you knew so well you could open it with your eyes closed — opened with a sigh under your fingers.
"Hurry up," said Jelly Bean, staying in the hallway with an expression that said
"I'll keep watch for any professors."
"You have five minutes. Five!"He closed the door behind you.You stood in the dark, illuminated only by the faint moonlight still filtering through the open window. Your breathing was heavy from the run, your heart beat strongly in your chest, and your bare feet were covered in dirt and small green leaves.You laughed.You couldn't help it.Despite the chaos, despite the escape, despite the headache and the unanswered questions... you felt alive.More alive than you'd felt in weeks.
Maybe months.Maybe years.
You put on your academy uniform and set aside that purple cone that those who wanted to wore, and silently thanked yourself for not wearing it, but it did suit you... occasionally.You slung your bag over your shoulder. It was a brown leather satchel, worn from use but still sturdy, that reached your waist. Inside you carried your books — Advanced Spells for Cookies in a Hurry, Introduction to Arcane Magic, Elementary Magical History, and a notebook filled with notes in your small, neat handwriting — and your case of magical quills.
You fixed yourself up as fast as possible so you wouldn't look like a weirdo just woken up. You wiped your face with a damp cloth to remove the last traces of sleep, brushed your teeth with a speed that would have impressed any dentist.
Done.
Almost.
You sat on the bed — just one second, just to catch your breath — and looked out the window.The sun moved with silent movements, slowly ascending in the sky as if it weren't in a hurry to reach its destination. Its rays, still soft and golden, reached your window and brushed your face with a warmth that made you close your eyes.For a moment, just a moment, everything was silent.
1.
2.
3.
The entire academy vibrated beneath your feet.The bells began to ring — not one bell, but all at once, like a symphony of bronze spreading through every corner of the building — and the echo of their peal filtered through the walls, through the windows, through the very cracks in the stones.It was the sound of waking.
The sound of beginning.The sound of a new day full of possibilities.And along with that... the sound of doors opening all at once.As if by magic.
Or maybe by real magic, because the academy was full of those little enchantments that made life easier. Doors that opened by themselves, stairs that changed position depending on where you wanted to go, lamps that turned on when they detected movement...
It was a magical place.And sometimes, on good days, it reminded you why you had decided to study there.You left afterwards.With your books against your chest — stacked so you could hold them with one hand while adjusting your bag strap with the other — you walked down the hallway with confident steps.Around you, students filled the main corridor.Some talked nonstop, their voices blending into a constant buzz that was almost white noise. Others ran after their friends, laughing and pushing each other, in a game that seemed normal but that you had never quite understood. Some floated, using their magic to move without touching the ground — those were the most advanced students, or the laziest, depending on who you asked. Others used their magic to carry their things, making backpacks and cases and folders float around them like orbiting satellites.And in the midst of all that chaos, you just stood leaning against your door.Waiting for Jelly Bean.
You didn't have to wait long.He appeared like an innocent elementary school child who hadn't done anything wrong in his life — which was a lie, because Jelly Bean was always doing something wrong, always scheming, always had a mischievous smile that gave away that he'd just done something sneaky — with his uniform disheveled, shirt untucked, a button undone, and his blue hair a mess.
"Good morning, [Favorite Flavor]!" he sang, with an energy that, at that hour of the morning, bordered on obscene.And before you could think — before you could say "good morning" or "fix that button" or "why do you have an ink stain on your cheek?" — he grabbed your wrist.He dragged you down the hallway.This was new.Normally, Jelly Bean walked beside you. Or behind you, when he was especially tired and used your back as support to keep from falling. But dragging you... that wasn't usual.The academy dining hall was one of those rooms that made you feel small.Not in a bad way.Small in the sense that it was enormous.Enormous in the sense that it had ceilings so high they seemed to touch the sky, crystal windows that let in sunlight in golden waves, and incredibly long oak tables that stretched across the entire room.Hundreds of students could sit there.And, from the noise filling the atmosphere, it seemed like all of them had decided to have breakfast at the same time.Jelly Bean let go of your wrist as soon as you entered the dining hall — but not without giving you a little squeeze that could have been "I'm fond of you" or "don't even think about escaping" — and headed straight for the food queue.You followed him.Not that you had a choice.The breakfast line was long, but moved fast. The cooks — a team of cookies in white hats and flour-stained aprons — served trays with an efficiency that only practice could give.
"Good morning, [Favorite Flavor]!" said one of them, Honey Biscuit Cookie, a chubby, ever-smiling cook who knew you because you were one of the few students who asked for vegetables at breakfast.
"The usual?"You nodded."Oatmeal with fruit, mint tea, and a whole wheat toast, please.
"Honey Biscuit Cookie nodded enthusiastically and began preparing your tray.And Jelly Bean beside you ordered his usual: Gelatins, Pancakes, and a mountain of scrambled eggs.You didn't ask.It was Jelly Bean.Some things just...
were.You found a table near one of the windows. The sunlight streamed directly in, bathing the wooden surface with a warm glow that made everything seem brighter, happier, more magical.You sat down.Jelly Bean began eating as if he hadn't tasted food in days. His cheeks puffed out with the first cookie, and a chocolate crumb fell onto his pristine white shirt (well, "pristine" was relative, because there were already several stains before he started eating).You, in contrast, ate calmly.A spoonful of oatmeal. A sip of tea. A small bite of toast.Your mind, however, wasn't on the food.It was somewhere else.Some other time.How did you meet Jelly Bean?How did it really happen?Why can't you remember?
"Hey," said Jelly Bean, his mouth full of scrambled egg.
"You okay? You were staring at your oatmeal like it was about to bite you."You blinked.
"Yeah, yeah," you replied, forcing a smile.
"Just... thinking."
"About what?"
About you.
About us.
About how it's possible I can't remember something as important as meeting you.
"About the Arcane Magic exam," you lied, and it was such a transparent lie that anyone else would have noticed instantly.But Jelly Bean wasn't
"anyone else."Jelly Bean was Jelly Bean.And sometimes, when he didn't want to see something, he simply... didn't see it.
"Oh, that one," he said, waving his hand as if shooing away an annoying fly.
"Easy. You'll pass it with your eyes closed. Me... well, I'll need a miracle. Or for you to let me copy. Or both."
You laughed.Despite everything, you laughed.That was Jelly Bean's magic.He could make you laugh even when your mind was full of unanswered questions.
"I'm not going to let you copy," you said, in a tone that was meant to be stern but came out more affectionate than you'd planned.
"You're a bad friend!"
"I'm a good friend who doesn't want her best friend to get expelled for cheating."
"They won't expel me!" protested Jelly Bean, with an expression of indignation so exaggerated it seemed pulled from a play.
"At worst, they'll punish me by making me clean the cauldrons again!"
"And who do you think will have to clean them with you because 'I can't leave you alone, Jelly Bean, you're a danger to yourself and others'?"
Jelly Bean smiled.That smile.That smile that completely disarmed you."You," he said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"Always you."And there was something in the way he said it that made you feel... strange.Not a bad "strange."A "strange" you didn't know how to describe.As if those words had a deeper meaning than what they appeared.As if "always you" wasn't just a cliché, but a promise.Or a confession.
Or...You shook your head, pushing those thoughts away.You were being ridiculous.It was Jelly Bean.Your best friend.There was nothing more.There couldn't be anything more.You finished your breakfast in silence, while Jelly Bean talked nonstop about unimportant things: the weekend Broomball game, the new cookie flavor they'd brought to the cafeteria, how he'd dreamed last night that he turned into a dragon and flew over the academy breathing fire.
"... and then, POOF!" he said, slapping the table with his palm and completely ignoring the looks from other students.
"I breathed fire at the headmaster! And it wasn't normal fire, it was magical fire that turned everything it touched into glitter!"
"Glitter?" you repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Glitter!" he confirmed, with absolute seriousness.
"It was a really weird dream. When I woke up, I had glitter on my pillow. I don't know how to explain it."
You didn't know how to explain it either, but you didn't ask.It was Jelly Bean.Some things just... were.But... what if not?What if they weren't just "that way"?What if there was an explanation for everything?An explanation you didn't want to know.You got up from the table with your empty tray.Jelly Bean followed you, with a kicked-puppy expression."Leaving already?" he asked, in a voice that tried to be casual but sounded almost pitiful.
"We have class, Jelly Bean," you said, depositing your tray on the dirty dish cart. "Elementary Magical History. With Professor Midnight Star Cookie. Remember? The one who threatened to turn you into a toad last time you were late because 'it's unacceptable for a student to interrupt my explanations on the quantum theory of magic with questions about whether toads can cast spells'?"
Jelly Bean paled.
Or rather, his cookie dough became slightly paler than usual.
"Toads can't cast spells," he muttered. "I asked out of scientific curiosity."
"There's nothing scientific about asking 'what if the toad levitates?' in the middle of an explanation about the magic energy formula."
"It was a valid hypothesis!"
"It was nonsense."
"It was a valid hypothesis AND nonsense! Both can be true at the same time!"You left the dining hall laughing.Well, you laughed.Jelly Bean laughed because you were laughing,
and because he was Jelly Bean and always found a reason to smile.As you walked toward the Elementary Magical History classroom — which was on the fourth floor of the east wing, near the library and right next to the Potions lab, which was convenient because you often had to run from one class to another — Jelly Bean didn't stop talking.He talked about the weather ("it's going to be sunny today, I know because I saw it in yesterday's newspaper. Did you know there's a newspaper just for the weather? It's called The Magical Thermometer. It's very boring, but it has bad jokes on the last page. Yesterday it said: 'What does one cloud say to another cloud? You're such a cloud-ner!'. It's terrible, right? I love it").
He talked about the food ("have you tried the new cupcakes in the cafeteria? They're strawberry and have a cream center that melts in your mouth. I saved you one. Well, I saved you half. Well, I saved you a third. They were really good").
He talked about his plans for the weekend ("we could go to the library, I know, we always go to the library, but this time we could go to the restricted section! I found out there's a book there about ancestral magic, the kind the ancient wizards used before wands were invented. They say it's dangerous. They say it can change reality. They say... hey, are you listening to me?").
Jelly Bean looked at you with an expression that said "you didn't hear a single word I said, did you?"But he didn't say anything.He just smiled.
That smile.
That smile that...You shook your head.
Again.
You were doing that again.You reached the classroom just as the start-of-class bell rang. Professor Midnight Star Cookie — a tall, thin cookie, with dough dark as the night sky and eyes that shone like stars — was already at the blackboard, writing magical formulas with chalk that seemed to contain an entire universe inside."Late. Sit down," she said, without turning around, in a voice that was as soft as silk but as firm as steel.You sat in your usual spot: second row, by the window, where you could see the academy's inner garden while taking notes.Jelly Bean sat beside you.As always.
Every morning.Every day since...You didn't remember.You couldn't remember.Why couldn't you remember?The class began.Midnight Star Cookie explained the theory of magical energy — how it originated, how it was channeled, how it transformed from one state to another — with a clarity that made even the most complex concepts seem simple.You took notes.
Your handwriting was small and neat, each word carefully written in the blue-covered notebook you'd bought at the start of the course.
Jelly Bean, beside you, didn't take notes.He drew.Little doodles in the margins of his notebook: smiley faces, stars, flowers, and what appeared to be a failed attempt at drawing a dragon.
"... and so, the formula for magical energy is expressed as follows," said Midnight Star Cookie, pointing at the blackboard with her wand. "E = mc²... but with magic. More or less."
The students laughed.Midnight Star Cookie smiled — a rare smile, unusual for her, that made everyone present feel special for having witnessed it — and continued with the explanation.The class passed normally.Or at least, with the normality that a magic class could have in an academy where anything could happen.There was a moment, during the practical experiment, when Midnight Star Cookie asked students to channel their magical energy to levitate a small stone. It was a basic exercise, the kind done in early courses, but the professor insisted on repeating it every so often
"to keep the fundamentals fresh in your minds."Jelly Bean, who had always been bad at levitation exercises — his magic was more... how to put it?... "explosive" than "delicate" — frowned in concentration.
"Come on..." he murmured, extending a hand toward the stone.
"Rise..."Elementary Magical History class ended without further incident.Midnight Star Cookie closed her book — a huge tome, bound in red leather with pages that seemed to glow with their own light — and announced homework for the next day: read chapters 5 and 6 of the manual, and write a three-page essay on the influence of elemental magic on the architecture of ancient cookie civilizations.The students groaned in unison.
You, in contrast, smiled.
You liked writing essays.You liked researching.You liked immersing yourself in history and discovering connections others didn't see.
"See you tomorrow," said Midnight Star Cookie, with a nod of her head.And she left the classroom with floating steps — literally floating, because sometimes she forgot her feet should touch the ground when walking.
The students began gathering their things.Some left quickly, running to their next class with the energy of those in a hurry to get somewhere.Others stayed to chat for a while, taking advantage of the minutes of rest between lessons.You put your books away in your satchel with unhurried movements, organizing them in the order you'd need them for the rest of the morning.
"[Favorite Flavor]," said Jelly Bean, suddenly.His voice sounded... strange.It wasn't his usual cheerful voice.It wasn't the teasing voice of
"I just did something sneaky and I'm waiting for you to notice."It was a... serious voice.You turned to him, an eyebrow raised."Yes?"He didn't answer.Instead, he stood up from his chair, approached you slowly, and...... attached himself to your back.Like a koala.
Literally, like a koala.His arms wrapped around your neck, his legs hooked around your waist, and his weight — which was more than it seemed, because Jelly Bean was sturdier than his lanky appearance suggested — leaned completely on you.
"Jelly Bean," you said, in a tone that was half exasperated, half amused. "What are you doing?"
"I don't want to go to class," he murmured, his face buried in your shoulder.
"I don't want to leave your warmth."
"My... warmth?"
"Your warmth," he corrected, as if that clarification explained everything. "It's cold out there. And here, on your back, it's warm. And it smells good. And you're soft. And I never want to move again.
"The students still in the classroom turned to look at you.Some laughed.Others murmured something you couldn't hear.A red-haired cookie — you didn't remember her name, but had seen her before in Transformations class — gave you a look that was half envy, half... understanding?"
Jelly Bean," you insisted, trying to unhook him from your back without success.
"We have to go to the next class."
"No."
"No?"
"No. I refuse. I'm going on student strike. Cookie strike. Koala strike..."
"Koala strike?"
"Koala strike!" he confirmed, with an enthusiasm that contrasted with his
"I'm not moving even if you pay me" posture. "I'm a koala and this is my branch. And I'm not getting down."
"I'm not a branch," you said, though deep in your mind you thought that if he was a koala and you were his branch, that meant... no. Better not think about that."You're my favorite branch," he said, and his voice sounded softer, almost..tender?
"The strongest branch. The warmest branch. The branch that never breaks.
"Why did he say those things?Why did he look at you like that?Why did you feel strange every time he opened his mouth?Not a bad strange.A strange that...You shook your head.Again.
You were doing that again.In the end, you managed to get Jelly Bean to detach from your back.Not without effort.Not without him putting on an expression so dramatic, so exaggerated, so theatrical, that it seemed like you were tearing his heart from his chest instead of just asking him to walk on his own two feet.
"Don't abandon me!" he shouted, falling to his knees in the middle of the hallway and raising his arms to the sky.
"I can't live without you, [Favorite Flavor]! I don't know what I'd do if you weren't by my side! I need you! I nee-eed you!"The looks from passing students multiplied.You felt your cheeks burning with embarrassment."Jelly Bean
" you hissed, grabbing his arm and trying to lift him from the floor. "Get up! People are staring!"
"Let them stare!" he declared, in a voice that echoed through the hallway like thunder.
"Let everyone know that you're my favorite person in the whole academy! Let everyone know that without you I'm nothing! Let everyone know that—"
"Okay, okay!" you interrupted, because if he kept talking you'd die of embarrassment. "I'll do your homework! I'll do your homework, Jelly Bean! Just... please... get up!"
The effect was immediate.Jelly Bean stopped gesturing.His expression changed from "absolute drama" to "malicious satisfaction" in the time it took you to blink.
"Promise?" he asked, in a voice that was a conspiratorial whisper.
"I promise," you said, with a sigh.
"I'll do your homework. But just this once."
"This once and next time?"
"This once."
"This once and next time and the one after next?"
"Jelly Bean!"He laughed.That laugh.That laugh that was so contagious, so genuine, so...Why did you think it wasn't his?Where did that feeling come from?Why, deep in your heart, did you know that something didn't fit?Something wasn't right.Something about Jelly Bean.Something you couldn't remember.Something he didn't want you to remember.
But Jelly Bean's laugh was his laugh.It was the laugh you'd heard for years.The laugh that had accompanied you through bad days and good days.The laugh that...No.It couldn't be.No.He grabbed your hand — that hand that was always stupidly warm, always stupidly safe — and led you to the next class.
"Come on," he said, with a smile.
"The homework isn't going to do itself."
"You said I would do it."
"Exactly. The homework isn't going to do itself. You're going to do it. Which is not the same thing."You sighed.And let him lead you.Because, after all, he was Jelly Bean.Your best friend.The only one who had stayed.The one who...The headache returned.Not strong.Not unbearable.Just a small twinge at your temples.A warning.A "don't go there."A "don't ask."A "let it be."But you couldn't.Not this time.Not after everything.The next class was separate.That meant students split into groups according to their specialty: some went to Advanced Transformations, others to Practical Enchantments, others to Applied Magical Theory.
You went to Disciplinary Arcane Magic, the most advanced class in the course, only accessible to students with the highest grades.Jelly Bean, of course, went to... not that class.He went to Basic Survival Spells, a class that, according to malicious tongues, was "where they send those who can't handle complicated magic."According to Jelly Bean, it was
"where they send those who have other priorities in life, like eating cookies and being happy."You didn't comment.Because, well...Deep down, you knew Jelly Bean was smarter than he appeared.
Much smarter.But there was something — an invisible barrier, a wall he had built himself — that prevented him from applying his intelligence to the "boring" things.Like exams.Or homework.Or magical theory.When you reached the Disciplinary Arcane Magic classroom — a small, intimate room, with enchanted blackboards that could show three-dimensional diagrams of magical formulas — Jelly Bean attached himself to your back again.But this time he wasn't a koala.He was a...
"Don't let go," he murmured, his face buried between your shoulder blades.
"Jelly Bean, I have to go in," you said, trying to open the door while he prevented you from moving.
"I know."
"So... let go?"
"No."
"Jelly Bean..."
"I don't want to go to Basic Survival Spells!" he exclaimed, in a voice that was half complaint, half plea.
"It's boring! The professor just explains how to make a campfire with magic! And I already know how to make campfires! I make campfires all the time! I once made a campfire in the library!"
"And you almost burned down the restricted section," you reminded him."That's because restricted books are flammable! Not my fault!"You sighed.
You turned to him with a sudden movement that forced him to separate from your back. His arms fell to his sides, and for a moment, just a moment, you saw something in his expression you hadn't seen before.Fear.Not a big fear, not paralyzing.A small, almost hidden fear.The fear of someone who knows they're going to be alone.
"I'll come to your class afterwards," you said, softening your voice.
"I'll help you with notes. And tonight, when we get back to our rooms, we'll do the homework together. Okay?"Jelly Bean looked at you.
His eyes — those blue eyes that had always seemed so familiar, so known, so... his — searched for yours.
"Promise?" he asked.And his voice was so small, so fragile, so different from his usual loud, teasing voice, that you felt something break inside you.
"I promise," you said.And this time, it wasn't out of obligation.Not to shut him up.Not to stop him from making a fool of himself in the middle of the hallway.It was because you wanted to.
Because, despite everything, despite the unanswered questions, despite the blurry memories, despite the headache and the ghostly laugh... you loved him.You loved him.
Jelly Bean.Your best friend.The only one who had stayed.The one who...No.Not now.Not here.Not like this.Jelly Bean smiled.And that smile — that smile that was so wide, so bright, so full of something you dared not name — stayed with you throughout Disciplinary Arcane Magic class.
You couldn't concentrate.You couldn't take notes.You couldn't do anything but think about him.
About Jelly Bean.
About how he had changed your life.About how you couldn't imagine your life without him.And for a moment — just a moment, barely a breath — you forgot the questions.
You forgot the blurry memories.You forgot the headache.You forgot the ghostly laugh.You forgot everything.And you just felt.Night fell over the academy like a black velvet cloak.The stars twinkled in the sky, small and bright, like diamonds scattered across an infinite canvas. The moon, full and silver, illuminated the gardens with a soft, mysterious light that made everything seem more magical, more ancient, more... dangerous.
The students had returned to their rooms after dinner.
Lights in the windows went out one by one, like stars extinguishing at dawn.Silence spread through the hallways, broken only by the occasional creak of wooden beams or the whisper of wind through the leaves of the trees in the inner garden.You were in your room.
The small room you had decorated with such care.
Books on the wooden shelves. Postcards of places you wanted to visit pinned to the wall. The empty photo frame you had never filled because you had no picture to put there.The study desk, with its organized chaos of notes and pens.The open window, the white voile curtain moving gently with the night breeze.
The pale lavender comforter on the bed, inviting you to rest after a long day.The door knocked minutes later, you already knew who it was.
Jelly Bean. To do homework.
You studied extra and besides doing homework on the fly, occasionally you'd pull his hair to get him to pay attention and when he pretended to be asleep you'd hit his shoulder. But somehow they managed to finish the homework just in time.And Jelly Bean was indeed tired, and at some point, Jelly Bean rested his head on your shoulder.
He was about to fall asleep. His eyes were half-closed, making him look tired but cute. Yet tenderly.
"[Favorite flavor] cookie," Jelly Bean said, his voice transforming into a whisper of wind.
"Mhm?".You said while checking your notebook.
"Don't... abandon me."
He said suddenly, his eyes closing.That made you blink. Then you closed the notebook and set it on the floor. He was curled up beside you with his head on your shoulder, his breathing soft, about to fall asleep.You leaned toward his head, resting your cheek on his head.
"I promise. I promise."
Your eyes finally closed.Both of you were in a limbo of separate dreams. But together despite the separation, you would be together.
The Time Balance Department smelled like burnt metal.
That wasn't normal. The scent of scorched time only appeared when a timeline collapsed incorrectly, but what filled the main chamber was worse: it was the aroma of something broken that was never meant to break.
Timekeeper Cookie felt it before she saw it.Her clockwork eye spun violently. The floating gears around her all stopped at once. The silence was absolute.
—Assistant —she called.
No answer.Normally, you would appear within the next second with your logbook and your patient half-smile. But this time there was only the echo of her own voice bouncing off the chamber walls.Her hand tightened around the handle of the Sonic Embroider.
—Assistant —she repeated, louder.The silence grew heavier.Then she remembered: you had gone to timeline T-842. A terrible war had broken out there. Not just any war — a temporal war, the kind you don't win with armies, but by erasing enemies from the past. You went because you were the only one who could read future documents and find a peaceful solution.Timekeeper let you go because she trusted you.That was her meShe appeared on the battlefield of T-842 without a sound.
The sky was ash-gray.
The air smelled of molten metal and torn time. And at the center of the crater, surrounded by smoking debris, stood the Timecraft.
Your Timecraft.
The ship she had personally designed for you to travel between timelines. Now it was just a heap of dying sparks and cracked crystals. The wings were bent at an impossible angle. The cockpit… the cockpit was torn open like a rusted tin can.
Timekeeper stepped down from the Sonic Embroider with slow, heavy steps.Her eye scanned the wreckage. The temporal propulsion system had exploded from within. It wasn't an external attack. It was an overload failure. Someone had tried to make an emergency jump without fixed coordinates.Someone who was no longer there.
—No —she whispered.
She knelt among the debris. Her mechanical fingers touched the edge of the pilot's seat. There was your logbook, open to the last page.
The letters trembled, written in haste:"Director, if you're reading this: the war can't be stopped from outside. I had to jump to the epicenter. I'm going to rewrite the origin of the conflict. I don't know if I'll come back. Please take care of the Department for me."
Below, in smaller, almost childlike handwriting:"Thank you for letting me be your assistant. It was the best job in all the timelines."Timekeeper closed the logbook with a sharp snap.
Her eye spun. Fast. Faster. Then it stopped.—Fool —she murmured.But her voice trembled.
—Fool, fool, fool… —she pressed the book against her chest—. Who gave you permission to die?The ash wind did not answer.
Timekeeper Cookie didn't cry. Time goddesses didn't shed tears because time didn't stop for anyone.But then something warm rolled down her cheek. She touched it in disbelief. It was salt water.
—Oh —she said in a voice she didn't recognize as her own—. So this is what it feels like.
She stood up. Her gaze sharpened like the scissors that accompanied her.
—No. I'm not accepting this.
She raised the logbook toward the gray sky.—HEY THERE, TIMELINE T-842! —she shouted—. YOU'VE TAKEN THE ONLY THING I NEEDED AND I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET IT!The sky didn't answer.
But she didn't need permission. She was Timekeeper Cookie. She was the permission.With a snap of her fingers, the Sonic Embroider transformed into its largest form. Its gears roared like awakened beasts.
—I'm going to find every atom of you —she whispered to the wind, as if you could still hear her—. And if you don't exist, I'll invent you again. It might take me a thousand years, but…She closed her eyes. For one second — just one second — her mask of an indifferent goddess cracked completely.
—…but I'm not going to be alone again. Not anymore.She opened her eyes. The swirl of her pupil burned with a determination no clock could measure.
—Wait for me, Assistant. Wherever you are.And she leaped into the void of time, your logbook pressed against her chest and the name of every star as her only prayer
Centuries later, in a timeline no one remembers creating…A girl woke up in a bed she didn't recognize.
The sheets smelled like cinnamon and freshly oiled gears.
On the nightstand, there was a logbook with a sticky note attached:"Found you. Don't run off without telling me again. — T.K."
You smiled. And behind the door, leaning against the frame, Timekeeper Cookie smiled too.She never told you how much she cried that day.
But every time she saw you sleeping, she would brush your cheek with her cold fingers and whisper
Uhg.... Well, I'm almost finished writing chapter two of "Circles Without Loneliness." Meanwhile...uhhhhhhh, I don't really know what to do. There are stories I want to upload, but I haven't finished them yet. I'm also planning to upload my Wattpad stories here. :).....HELP😭
It was in the forbidden archives of the academy, among scrolls that smelled of sulfur and rotten ink. The witches hadn't been careful disposing of their records. An oversight. A half-burned page. And you, with that insatiable curiosity that had always defined you, read the line that changed everything:"Cookies are baked for our sustenance. Their purpose is to be consumed."
The world stopped.
Your dough grew cold.You didn't tell anyone. Not even her.
---
White Lily Cookie was light before she became flame. You knew her long before Pure Vanilla ever crossed paths with either of you. You were two fragments of dough from the same oven, two souls that learned to beat in unison before either of you even knew what it meant to exist.
She called you her "first reading," because she said reading you was like flipping through a book that never finished writing itself.And you loved her.
Not the way normal cookies love, but with that desperate intensity of someone who knows time is borrowed.When Pure Vanilla appeared, with his vast kindness and his voice like ointment, White Lily smiled brighter than she ever had before. You smiled too.
Because seeing her happy was enough.But the truth was burning beneath your crust.
---
Years passed. White Lily began asking the same questions you'd already asked yourself. That night, the night of the witches' banquet, she trembled on the other side of the banquet hall door.
—I'm going in —she whispered—. I have to know if we're more than just food.
You looked at her. Her porcelain face shone with naive determination. She was going to break. She was going to die the way all cookies died in the end, with teeth sinking into her dough, with crumbs scattered across a milk-stained tablecloth.
No.
You had decided long before.
—Go in —you said, with a calm she mistook for support.White Lily nodded and crossed the threshold.
---
What she saw shattered her. Table after table of cookies being served. Tiny heads rolling across the floor.
Laughter. The witches were laughing.When she came back out, her eyes were two empty wells.
—No... it can't be... we were created for... —her voice cracked—. To be eaten?
You hugged her. This was the moment.
—I know —you whispered against her frosting—. I knew before you did.
White Lily stiffened.
—You... knew? And you didn't tell me?
—Because you would have broken the same way I broke —you said, pulling back just enough to look into her eyes—. But I found a solution.
You showed her the dough. The Ultimate Dough. Black as a starless night, bubbling like a fever dream.
—This will destroy you —White Lily said, horrified.
—This transformed me —you corrected, and for the first time, your voice lost its softness—. I went in there a cookie who feared witches. I came out something witches should fear.
White Lily stepped back.
—No... you didn't...—I did. And now you will too.—What? No!She struggled. But you were stronger.
The curiosity you'd shared for so many years had rotted inside you, twisted into something warped and loving and devouring.
You pushed her.
---
White Lily fell into the Ultimate Dough with a scream that drowned in thickness. Her body sank.
Her light went out for an eternal moment.
And then, from the black depths, a hand emerged.Pale. Confident. Nails stained with darkness.
Dark Enchantress Cookie arose.She didn't speak at first. She looked at you with eyes that were no longer White Lily's. They were older. Emptier. More full.
—You did it —she said, and her voice sounded like bells underwater—. You broke me to make me stronger.
—I set you free —you answered—. Now avenge every cookie.
Dark Enchantress smiled. It was the same smile White Lily had given you when you were children, but twisted, inverted, like a broken mirror.
—You were always my favorite —she murmured.
---
But the witches had felt the disturbance.The ground trembled. The hall's ceiling split open like a flower of smoke. And one of them descended.She wasn't what you'd imagined. She was immense. Immense and hungry.
—My banquet —she roared, her eyes sweeping across the hall—. My food is trying to escape.
Dark Enchantress raised her staff, but she couldn't summon anything in time. The witch was faster. Much faster.A giant hand descended. Not toward Dark Enchantress.Toward you.
—You —the witch said, sniffing you—. You stink of forbidden truth. You read my books.You didn't run. You didn't scream. You only looked at Dark Enchantress, who was lunging to stop her.Too late.The witch's hands lifted you. Her other hand, the left one, grabbed you by the waist and pulled upward.
And she snapped you in half.The sound was dry. Like wood. Like a pencil breaking by accident. There was no blood. Only crumbs. Only the final crack of your existence.—For dessert—the witch said, and she shoved you into her mouth with half your body still gesturing.
---
Dark Enchantress Cookie watched it all.Your last look was for her. There was no fear in your eyes. Only a silent question: Will you do it?And with White Lily's dough churning in her chest, with the memory of a friendship that predated even Pure Vanilla's kindness, Dark Enchantress Cookie clenched her teeth and swore silently.
She would burn every oven.She would hunt every witch.And if she ever found a way to devour the devourers...
She would save a special bite for the one who broke you.
Well, I'll start with a new Shadow Milk story. This one will be yandere, inspired by the game MISIDE. Of course, don't you realize there's now a way to show affection in SMC? My mind is blown! Besides, SMC has so many versions! Or maybe I'll upload another story I'm working on about the Sage of Truth. I think the Sage's story is inspired by a series I don't remember well, but I do remember it had ejem... content... though I'll only be drawing inspiration from certain parts. Don't worry (just let me know if you're interested in this kind of content).
And well, about the story "CIRCLES WITHOUT LONELINESS," it's not canceled. I'm already finishing writing the next episode, and I'm also waiting a little longer in case "Arcana Truth and Deception" comes out so I can incorporate it into the story, since it's related to what I've seen, and I at least want to keep things moving. And that's no excuse.
(I also upload stories to Wattpad, but they're in Spanish).
Despite being a university student, [Favorite Flavor] Cookie carried a weight that no one could see. Fear and terror had been incorporated into her dough with an almost cruel delicacy, like a secret ingredient that no one was meant to taste. They had been placed just behind her heart, hidden in the hope that no one would notice her fragility.
But with each passing day, the cracks grew deeper, and hiding what she felt became a battle she was losing.Ever since the witches had baked her, Cookie felt that her place in the world was an empty space. She studied diligently, she learned quickly, but none of that managed to fill the silence that surrounded her. Because, despite her efforts, she was always alone.
Loneliness had been her only companion from the start. It moved beside her like a shadow, whispering insecurities in her ear, wrapping her in an invisible cloak that drove away any attempt at closeness.
[Favorite Flavor] Cookie didn’t speak, didn’t hold anyone’s gaze, barely moved her lips to respond. Her classmates at the university, other cookies, had given her a nickname that stuck like a thorn: “Weirdo.”But in some corner of her being, a small flame still burned. It wasn’t bright or strong, but it refused to go out. It was the echo of a dream, the spark of adventure that still breathed, even if with difficulty.
One day, driven by that faint light, she ventured into the old castle of knowledge. Long ago, that place had been home to pure wisdom, but now it lay corrupted, and its essence was locked within the silver tree. Cookie walked among rubble and shadows, until her eyes found a crystal ball. It was black, old, covered in the dust of oblivion, as if it had been waiting for centuries for someone to touch it.She took it gently, but the instant her fingers brushed the cold surface, a shiver ran through her body. It was like an icy whisper, a silent warning telling her she was about to cross a line she shouldn't.As her fingers traced the curve of the crystal, a voice broke the silence. It was playful, sing-song, but also deeply familiar.
"I recommend you don't look at that thing."[Favorite Flavor] Cookie turned her head and found, a few steps away, an old mirror. But it reflected nothing. Inside it was only darkness and two eyes of light, clear and deep, fixed on her, watching her every move.Those eyes…
"Ahem… like I said before," the voice sounded again, with a hint of warning, "drop that thing… before you end up turned into what I am."
[Favorite Flavor] Cookie said nothing. She just hid the crystal ball behind her back, with a gesture that was almost instinctive.
"Well, fine," the voice sighed. "I don't care anyway."The eyes closed, and both they and the darkness surrounding them vanished. Suddenly, the mirror showed a reflection again: that of a Cookie, trembling but steadfast, you.
She left the old tower almost without thinking, her heart pounding. But even outside, under the dim light, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was still watching her.Upon arriving home, loneliness hit her like a block of stone. At that moment, she would have preferred to be surrounded even by her annoying classmates, by anyone, just to not feel that weight on her shoulders.
She sighed and walked to her room with slow but steady steps. She turned on the light, flopped onto the bed, and closed her eyes. She was exhausted, but deep down, there was a hint of satisfaction. She had satisfied her curiosity. She had gone to the university…
and she had found something.Then she remembered.She sat up abruptly and reached into the pocket of her tunic. The crystal ball was still there, waiting. She took it out carefully, and inside she saw something that left her breathless: a shattered reflection, like a mirror smashed to pieces trapped within a sphere. Her own face appeared in it, but with deep dark circles, a sad expression, and trembling lips.
"That's how you'll look…" whispered a voice behind her.[Favorite Flavor] Cookie jumped and nearly dropped the ball. Turning around, the eyes from the mirror were there again, watching her.
"Wh-what…" she stammered.
"What? Didn't you hear me? That's how you'll look if you find out what's behind it."
"N-no… who are you?"But before she could get an answer, the figure vanished and her room filled with shadows. Then the voice spoke again, this time with a dramatic and offended tone.
"That hurt… what do you mean you DON'T know who I am?"Suddenly, small red curtains appeared in front of her, as if a show were about to begin. They opened with a theatrical flourish, revealing a crude, cardboard-cutout version of herself.
"Hey!" she yelled, feeling the heat rise to her face.A mocking giggle echoed in the room. Cookie growled.
"Once upon a time," the voice announced with feigned excitement,
"a foolish and naive little cookie…"[Favorite Flavor] Cookie clenched her fists. She knew it was directed at her."…went to steal from a castle and found a mirror, and realized how ugly she was… and how word fell like a stone, and [Favorite Flavor] Cookie felt more and more offended.
The little show continued until, finally, it ended.She clapped with a bored gesture, more with her fingertips than her palms.
"Thank you, thank you," said the voice, and although she couldn't see him, [Favorite Flavor] Cookie imagined its owner taking an exaggerated bow, spinning around with excessive glee.
"You can leave now," she murmured. "I need to study."
The room returned to normal, but he hadn't left. His image reappeared in the mirror, watching her curiously.
"Study? I can help you with that."
"And how exactly?" asked [Favorite Flavor] Cookie, crossing her arms.
"Easy! I still have some knowledge left in my head."She growled again.…Yes, she barely slept that night. Shadow Milk Cookie, with his endless nonsense, wouldn't let her rest. He didn't help her with homework, didn't give her any peace.
The next day, he woke her up long before necessary, and the university day became a labyrinth of noise and stares that gave her terrible headaches.Coming home was the same.
"You're back! My fabulous show is about to start!" he exclaimed, but that shrill voice only intensified the throbbing in her temples.
"I can't… I need to study."And so an entire week passed. [Favorite Flavor] Cookie couldn't take it anymore. Between the classmates who pointed at her in class and this new "roommate" who wouldn't leave her alone, she felt her patience crumbling.One night, while trying to ignore him, she remembered something she had found months ago in the school library: a record about the ancient heroes, now called "the beasts." Among them, one had caught her attention: The Beast of Deceit.And by satisfying her curiosity, she now had him right in front of her.From what she recalled, he had been the source of knowledge, the Virtue of Wisdom, someone who shared every drop of intelligence with his students. But one day, everything became corrupted. Darkness consumed him entirely, and he was locked in the silver tree along with his companions, for trying to destroy EarthBread.
"So… your plan to destroy everything… is it real?" said [Favorite Flavor] Cookie, staring at him. "Oh, Fount of knowledge?"He watched her for a moment with a serious expression, which then transformed into a grin from ear to ear.
"Oh… so you know?" he said with a stifled laugh. "And here I thought you were naive."
Cookie didn't respond."When I get out of here," he continued, his eyes shining with obsession.
"I'll destroy everything until I have my Soul Jam in my hands."
She just looked at him, watching as the jester wove stories in his own mind."Were you really the Virtue of knowledge?" she said finally, returning to her notes. "Because it doesn't seem like it."
She preferred to drown herself in equations and math problems rather than continue listening to a psychotic madman. Behind her, she heard a growl.Maybe he hadn't liked what she said. But it didn't matter anymore.
Days passed.
Then months. Even, perhaps, years.Cookie was happy. Finally, tomorrow she was graduating.
She entered her room with a tired smile, but something was wrong. Her room was steeped in shadows. Eyes here and there, staring at her intently, calculating her movements with sickening precision.She took a step and felt cold. An icy wind enveloped her, making her shiver.Then, cold arms wrapped around her waist. They didn't squeeze tightly, but there was possession in every inch of that embrace. A low, deep laugh resonated by her ear.
"The show is about to start. And you'll be the star of my story ~."
…He had already freed himself from the silver tree.
[Favorite Flavor] Cookie hadn't even realized.She was never a student, nor a companion, nor a friend.
One-shot: "It's better to be alone... Without those people who left you"
Jax x YOU
You, Rabbit, Cosmo, and Jax had split up across the corners only to jump out at each other and shout
"BOO!" while the mirror at the back played its scatological symphony. During one of those ambushes, Jax caught you by the wrist.
"Got you, dummy," he said, in his deep, drawling voice, just as Cosmo came running by with a cowboy hat on his head yelling, "I'm a galloping blueberry muffin!"Jax let you go to laugh.
He laughed for real. It wasn't the cruel laugh he sometimes used on the other characters out of boredom. It was a softer laugh, one he shared only with you three. Rabbit helped you up, giving you a slap on the back that nearly reset your code, and Cosmo offered you a flower that was actually a funnel.
"I love you guys," you blurted out without thinking, wiping away a tear from laughing so hard.Jax spun his fake gold keys around his index finger.
"Yeah, well... don't get used to it, dummy. This is only fun because you haven't found the exit yet," he said, but his bunny tail gave a slight nervous twitch. That was his way of saying, "Me too."
---
Now, Jax is standing in front of your bedroom door. The door is cold and silent. The circus hallway no longer echoes with Rabbit's laughter or Cosmo's nonsense. Only he is there, hands in his pockets, staring at the painted wood that now looks like a tombstone.Inside, there are no more jokes. Inside, there's only the static hum of Abstraction.
He squeezes his eyes shut. He remembers the pink gelatin. He remembers the fart maze. He remembers when it was the four of you against boredom.
"Come on, [YOUR NAME]...." Jax whispers against the door, his voice broken without its usual arrogance. "It was just a joke. Get up. Let's go piss off Caine again. I promise I won't hide your left glove anymore."
Silence.
Just the hum of your abstracted form, lost in your own code, not recognizing him.Jax turns around, leaning his back against the door. He slides down until he's sitting on the floor, the way you all used to sit together watching Rabbit's craziness. He slowly takes off his gloves. For the first time in a very, very long time, he looks small.
"Cosmo... Rabbit... and now you..." he murmurs, tapping the back of his head softly against the wood.
"There's hardly anyone left worth playing jokes on."The hallway fills with a silence that even the canned laughter of the circus soundtrack can't break. In his mind, Jax only hears the echo of your voice saying, "I love you guys." And for the first time, Jax regrets never having said,
For those who also upload Fandom x Reader stories.
If that's the case, character x reader. Supposedly WE are the reader. And why on earth do you use your OCs, if you already have your own? It would be better to use OC x characters instead of Character x Reader.
¿Lo entiendes?
That's what bothers me. That's why I create my own one-shots and let you use your own OCs.
You remembered the smell of freshly cut grass. The sound of the orphanage's rusty door when it was opened secretly. And you remembered his eyes — those green eyes that always seemed to be up to something — shining as he showed you his latest "invention" made from old clock parts and wire.
Ollie.
Oliver Ludwig. The adopted son of Playtime Co.'s founder, Mr. Elliot Ludwig. To everyone else, he was the weird kid who lived in the mansion next to the factory, the one who didn't play with the other orphans. But to you, he was simply your best friend.You had met a year ago, when the Home Sweet Home orphanage organized a visit to the factory's toy store. While the other children ran toward the Huggy Wuggy plushies and the colorful Smiling Critters, you hung back, gazing with fascination at a small broken music box in a dusty corner.
—¿Te gustan las cosas rotas? —Su voz te había sobresaltado. Era un chico pálido y delgado, con el pelo castaño desaliñado y una sonrisa torcida que nunca le llegaba a los ojos.
"It's not broken," you replied, defensively.
"Just... forgotten."Something in his eyes changed. As if you'd said the secret password to enter his world. That afternoon, Ollie showed you how to fix the music box using a hairpin and a lot of patience. From then on, you were inseparable.The days became a collection of stolen moments: sneaking off together to the back garden of the Ludwig mansion, where he taught you to identify the different types of flowers his father grew (poppies, always poppies, everywhere).
Entire afternoons hidden in the attic, where Ollie built small automatons from parts he "borrowed" from his father's laboratory.One night, under a starry sky barely visible between the factory's smokestacks, Ollie took your hand.
"You know? You're my only real friend," he whispered.
"Todos me miran raro. Dicen que estoy loco, como mi... como mi padre."
—No estás loco —le apretaste la mano."Eres la persona más inteligente que conozco."
"Promise me something," his green eyes shone with an intensity that scared you a little.
"Prométeme que siempre seremos amigos. Pase lo que pase."
"I promise."
"Me too,"
he smiled, and for the first time, his smile was real and complete. "No matter what. Even if my dad says that someday I'll go to a 'better place.' Whatever that is."You didn't understand what he meant then. You wish you had.
---
The day everything changed started like any other. You had gone to look for Ollie in the mansion's greenhouse, his favorite hiding spot among the red flowers. But instead of finding him, two men in white suits blocked the entrance.
"There she is," said one of them, pointing at you with a gloved finger.
"The orphanage girl. The one who always comes to see Mr. Ludwig's son."
"Miss Greyber approved her file last week," the other replied, flipping through a folder. "Suitable temperament. High emotional compatibility. No family to ask about her."You wanted to run. But your legs wouldn't respond.
"Come here, little one," the first man crouched down to your height, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Mr. Ludwig wants to meet you. He says you're special. That you'd be perfect for... a unique opportunity."
"Where's Ollie?" you managed to ask, your voice trembling."Oliver is busy," he replied, and his tone chilled your blood.
"He won't need... visits anymore."Everything happened very fast. Adult hands gripping your arms. The endless white hallway. The metal doors closing behind you with a hollow, final sound. The smell of antiseptic and something sweet — poppies, poppies again — flooding your senses.The last thing you saw before the door closed completely was a small figure at the end of the corridor. Ollie. He was screaming something, pounding on the glass with his small fists, but you couldn't hear him.
Two guards held him, dragging him in the opposite direction.His green eyes met yours for an instant. And in them, you saw something you had never seen before: fear. Ollie, the boy who was never afraid of anything, was terrified.
For you.
The door sealed with a pneumatic hiss.
Darkness.
---
Time became a strange concept after that. Days, weeks, months — you didn't know how much time had passed. You only remembered fragments: needles, blinding lights, adult voices saying words you didn't understand.
"Project: Bigger Bodies."
"Compatible subject." "Successful phase two conversion."The pain was constant. Your body no longer felt like your own.In moments of lucidity, you thought of Ollie. Of his promise. No matter what. You clung to that memory like a castaway to a raft, even when you no longer remembered the sound of your own voice. Even when you began to forget what it felt like to have legs instead of... whatever they were putting on you.One night — or maybe it was day, there were never windows in that place — you heard a different sound. It wasn't the machines. It wasn't the scientists.It was a song.The music box.
Tu caja de música. La que habías arreglado aquella primera tarde, hace una eternidad. Una figura se deslizó en la oscuridad de tu celda. Más alta que antes, sí, pero inconfundible. Those green eyes are gone now. Pupils so yellow, a complete change. Sounds of rattles, faces completely different. And that huge smile you remember, he had no hair now. A jester, a clown.
"Ollie..." you whispered, or tried to whisper. Your voice no longer sounded human.He stopped a few steps away. His expression was a mask of emotions you couldn't decipher: guilt, rage, sadness, all mixed together on the face of a child who had been forced to grow up too fast.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice cracking.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know my father... I didn't know he would do this. I looked for you in the greenhouse and they already..."You reached a hand out toward him.
Your hand was no longer a hand.Ollie didn't step back. Instead, he took it in his, with a tenderness that contrasted with the horror of the situation. His fingers trembled, feeling like needles.
"I'm going to get you out of here," he promised, and there was something dark in his voice, something you hadn't heard from him before.
"I'm going to make sure everyone who did this pays. To you. To me. To all the children they locked up in this place."
"Ollie, I'm scared," you managed to say.He rested his forehead against yours."Me too," he confessed.
"But promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise me that when all this is over... we'll still be friends. No matter what. Even if we're no longer... even if we're no longer ourselves."
His voice felt different, shifting.
"I promise," you said, and it was the only thing that still felt like yours. That promise. That broken but not destroyed friendship.Outside, sirens began to wail. Adult voices shouted. Something was happening in the factory. Something terrible.
Ollie let you go, reluctantly. Those eyes that were once green now glowed yellow with something new: determination. And beneath it, an abyss of fury that had been brewing for years.
"I have to go," he said.
"But I'll come back. I swear it. I'll come back and we'll finish this together. In the meantime... do whatever it takes to survive. Understand?"
You nodded, though you no longer had a head to nod with. But he understood.
"You're my only real friend," he repeated the words from that starry night.
"The only one who saw me as Oliver. Not as the founder's son. Not as an experiment. As me.
"He leaned in and pressed something cold and metallic into what remained of your hand. The music box. Old habits.
"Keep it. When you hear it play again, you'll know how much you matter to me despite everything."
And just as quickly as he had come, he disappeared into the shadows of the laboratory, leaving you alone with the sound of the sirens, the smell of poppies, and a music box playing a broken lullaby.
Outside, somewhere in the factory, the first screams began to rise.
The Hour of Joy had begun.But you could only think of green eyes. And a promise on paper that was the only thing keeping you sane.
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