Flavourless Chapter 23: The bright future that awaits us all.
Plain Wafer finally learns of the Time Jumpers..
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Inside a small café they’d found while exploring the Crème Republic, Plain Wafer and Pure Vanilla where having a bit of a very late breakfast since neither had any supper the previous night and had departed the manor before breakfast.
Plain Wafer was eating her French toast as Pure Vanilla sipped on the tea he’d ordered, glancing out to the lovely seafront view while lost in thought. He never actually expected her to stay with him and was very ready for the sad goodbye, but now here he was, a guardian to her with a promise to her Father.
Was this how Hollyberry and Dark Cacao felt with their own family?. An overwhelming sense of protection and a warm feeling in the chest, he did once feel it with Gingerbrave and his lot but it was much stronger now, it felt almost greedy of him. Speaking of greed, he wondered how his dear friend Golden Cheese Cookie was. It'd been so long since he’d seen her, he prayed she was okay.
A tug to his sleeve brought him out of thought as he smiled to his side “Yes my dear?”. Plain Wafer slid a Golden Croissant in front of him, another item that had been ordered with breakfast that confused him a little as he thought French toast would be enough. “You need to eat too..”
Ah now he got it, she intentionally ordered it for him it seems. “Don’t you want it though dear?” taking notice of her empty plate. She shook her head puffing up her cheeks “You need to eat too, its my job as your new guard to make sure your looking after yourself”
He gave a light chuckle to this, guess she really took what her father told her seriously and she wasn't really wrong, he should eat, even if he doesn't feel like it. “Alright dear, I will, thank you.” as he put down his teacup to pick up the golden croissant and take a few nibbles which then turned into big munch's.
She smiled victoriously at achieving her goal as she picked up her glass of orange to finish it then set it down. “I’m done!”.
Pure Vanilla surprisingly finished the Golden Croissant faster than he thought he would, guess he was more hungry then he assumed as he brushed crumbs off his robes. “Well what would you like to do now dear? More sightseeing? Or wanna head to the Institute of Thaumaturgy?”
Plain Wafer tapped her chin as she thought for a moment. “ Well we have seen a few sights now and it got a lot busier outside, can we go to the Institute of Thaumaturgy now?”. He gave her a smile while collecting his staff to stand and politely tuck in his chair, they’d already paid when ordering. “Of course, hopefully we can meet up with our friends too then”
Plain Wafer had tucked in her chair as she rushed to his side, instantly holding his hand. She no longer felt as embarrassed doing it, she really didn't wanna get lost in this city anyway.
It took them a bit longer to find the Institution than they thought and by a lot longer, almost half the day had passed as they got distracted by more sights then took some wrong turns, it was very easy to get lost in this city but now both looked up in awe at the Institute as the sun was setting in the distance.
“Well, I didn't expect to see you two here of all places, taking in the sights of our grand Institute?~” The familiar voice making them both turn head, it was Espresso Cookie, carrying scrolls, tomes and research materials in his arms.
Pure Vanilla chuckled “We are, I see you're busy at work yourself my friend, how are things going?”. Espresso pushed up his glasses a little as he juggled the items in his arms. “I just went to my laboratory for some materials, the others have gone back to Mansion Madeleine.”
He hummed “ I see, I guess we can join them soon, we do need a place to stay tonight and I'm sure Madeline would not mind? But actually we are here for a reason, dear Wafer wants to see if there are any books on the object she found that caused her to be here with us now.”
This seemed to gain Espresso curiosity slightly. “Now you mention that, I believe I have some research regarding an object that matches the description given at the Wafflehanger, though I am very busy at the moment, I know where I placed it in the Institution and you're welcome to read it, i can’t promise it’ll help too much though, it wasn't researched that long ago.
Then his gaze glanced to Pure Vanilla as a thought came to his mind, frowning an eyebrow “..Actually, maybe I’ll bring it out to you, I'm afraid we don’t know how the Souljam will react if you come back in proximity of them and I'd rather our research not be interrupted by a reaction at this point in time, wait right here.”
He wandered up the stairs before either could say much more as they decided to sit on the steps and wait for him. Watching as the sun was slowly setting in the distance, giving the city a bit of a shiny gleam.
“Have you enjoyed yourself today dear?” Pure Vanilla spoke up, breaking the silence. She looked at him with a nod, “Yeah, I’ve never been so far from the Kingdom before, it’s all so different, and very shiny.” raising a hand to her face to stop the slight sun from reflecting in her face.
Pure Vanilla raised his hand to chuckle, though a question that had been plaguing him since this morning finally arose “How come you didn't want to stay here?, I understand your father wanted you to return with me, but you were very accepting of it”
She blinked at the question, not quite expecting it as she fidgetted with her sleeves a little, something he’d taken notice of her doing a lot when she was nervous. “I-i,well..,I kinda wanted to stay with you, where it's familiar and comfortable. Everything around me has changed so suddenly but your still the same and this city is too crowded and the the though of the academy reminds of back then...”
He smiled warmly to her, he had a feeling her answer would be related to familiarity, it can’t be easy to take in all the changes around her within a few days and now knowing her past circumstances, it made sense she wouldn't want to be reminded of something that brought her great trauma.
Shuffling over a little as he put an arm around her shoulder and brought her into a sideward embrace. “Well dear, it seems you're stuck with me now, when we get back we should consider how to make your new room yours and finish your homework” making a small tease at the end as she gasped at him “Homework!? But i don’t ha-..” blinking as she saw him containing a laugh “Hey! Technically if I had any I'd be a few decades late now!”
“Sorry Dear I couldn't help myself, but now that I think about it, what would you like to do in that sense? I actually do teach a small class back in the Kingdom, would you want to join us?, Continue your studies?. You might be at a little higher level than many of the villagers though.” She seemed surprised by that “You're a Teacher? Are you gonna give me homework if I do..?” squinting her eyes at him for a moment before actually seeming to think about it “I’ll..think about it, the Villagers are nicer than…them”
He accepted her answer for now, not wanting to cause her to be saddened by old memories as footsteps resounded behind them and someone clearly out of breath. “O-oh phew.. I-i found them, here you go, please bring them back later and don’t damage them.., now do forgive me i really need to get back, before something else goes wrong..”
Espresso was clearly out of breath as he quickly handed over the stack of papers that were bound together and turned on his heels to run back up the stairs and out of view, not even giving the two a chance to thank or wave him goodbye.
Plain Wafer stared down to the papers in her hands as she felt her heartbeat pick up and hands trembling a bit, the image drawn on the cover being the very item she’d picked up a few days ago as she breathed out reading the title. “..Time Jumpers.., that’s it, that's the item I picked up.”
Pure Vanilla put a hand to her back, gaining a small worried expression but turned to look at the setting sun “ Dear, how about we find our way to Mansion Madeleine and you can read it while being a bit more comfortable?”
She snapped out of it and stared at him “O-oh yeah, that’s a good idea” then quickly put the papers into her satchel and turned as she stared at the pathed road “..do you know which way it is?”. Pure Vanilla if he wasn't wearing bandages across his face would have the exact same expression as her, staring to the pathed road “..nope”
Oh great.. ------------------
Night had fallen by the time the two had found the manor, with the star illuminating the sky.
They’d decided to get supper on their travels from another café just in case they got a bit too lost, which turned out to be a good idea, Wafer had been delighted to order a little Omurice meal and convinced him to also try it, it was quite delicious.
Plain Wafer had run up to the door, raising her hand to knock on it as she stepped back and waited, taking a glance behind as Pure Vanilla wasn't that far behind, leaning slightly on his staff. “You are definitely faster than me dear.” which just made her snicker.
To their delight, it was Madeline Cookie who answered the door, in a different outfit than she’d seen him before but him answering did save them from having to explain to anyone else as his face lit up with a smile. “Pure Vani..- I mean Healer Cookie!, Little Miss Cookie, what are you doing here this late?”She frowned a little, had he forgotten her name already? But Pure Vanilla spoke up “Ah Madeline, do forgive our intrusion so late, it seems things have changed a little, would it be possible for us to stay with you for the remainder of our stay?.”
He gasped, stepping aside to allow them entry “Of course! You’d not even have to ask, it’d be an honour!”. Well that was easy. “Welcome to Mansion Madeleine!~, the others have just retired to rest but I can show you to the room Gingerbrave is in for tonight, till we can have a room made up for you?”
“It’s quite alright friend, we can just stay with Gingerbrave if it saves making up a room, I'm sure he’d love the company, right Wafer?” he addressed her as she was currently staring at some of the portraits in awe but soon replied “o-oh uhh yeah!”
“Right then good friends, follow me!” marching onwards down a hallway with both of them following him as he stopped at a door “Here we go, it is quite late so do have a good night rest and we can talk more in the morning!~” giving a small bowing salute as he marched back down the hallway.
Giving a small knock to the door, just so they didn't accidentally disturb their friend if he was already resting but seems he wasn't as Gingerbrave opened the door, with his ever so bright smile “Pure Van-..i mean Healer Cookie! Plain Wafer!. What are you guys doing here?.”Pure Vanilla chucked back as he repeated what he said to Madeline Cookie. “Pure Vanilla is fine while we are here my dear friend, and I'm afraid circumstances have changed a little, so we’ll be staying with you guys for the remainder of the trip now, if that’s quite alright that we share a room?”
Gingerbrave did seem to get a bit of a worried expression as Pure Vanilla spoke of them now remaining with them which made Plain Wafer raise an eyebrow, clearly hiding something from them but he was quick to cover it with enthusiasm. “Of course PV! Come in! You guys must be tired, we can have a slumber party!”
“Slumber party..? I’ve never had one before, what do you do?.” Plain Wafer said idly as she set her cloak on a hook with her hat. Gingerbrave waved his arms “Well you stay up talking, sometimes you have snacks and uhh pillow fights!”
Pure Vanilla chuckled at the sight as he undoing his bandages around his face and the one on his staff, letting it breath a little and let to the side of the bed. “As much as that sounds delightful, it’s rather late and we wouldn't want disturb anyone else within the household, but it does sound delightful for another night friend.”
Gingerbrave gave a small aww noise which made Pure Vanilla chuckle a little more. “Had an eventful day? Are things going alright?”. She could see the way Gingerbrave flinched a little to the question, rubbing back of head nervously “w-well, uhh, as good as can be, yep! Hey, what do you have there?” He quickly changed the attention towards Plain Wafer as she held the papers Espresso Cookie gave her earlier. She went to sit on the side. “Answers hopefully to what happened to me.”.
“What happened to you?” Gingerbread tilted his head, confused and peered at Pure Vanilla questioningly, as he spoke up “Ah, right, I'm sorry my friend, I guess it’s time we told you the full story of the day our dear Wafer showed up at the Kingdom.”
---------------------- Pure Vanilla sat on the bed between the two smaller cookies as Plain Wafer stared at the papers in her hands and carefully explained in her steed what had happened that day to Gingerbread making sure not to leave any details out, then the events of today leading them back to the Mansion. “So, she'll be staying with me in the Vanilla Kingdom for the foreseeable future with me as her acting guardian.”
By the end of the tale Gingerbread had his mouth open in shock as he looked to Plain Wafer “T-thats..woah, you're from the past? That's so cool! But also sad with the circumstances..” clearly not really knowing how to feel about the situation he’d just been told.
She just gave him an idly nod, clearly forced on the papers in her hand, a slight tremble in her hands but Pure Vanilla put a hand to her back “Go on, we here with you, right my friend?” looking at Gingerbrave who gave a firm nod with raised fist “ Yeah, whatever happens you’ve got us, your friends!” Taking in a breath, the words encouraging her as she opened to the first page and started to read it out as the two leaned over, Gingerbrave having to crawl across the bed to her other side to get a better view.
“Time Jumpers, a golden gear shaped device with multiple hands, are theorized to be part of a bigger machine given its shape, it has the ability when activated to send a cookie a little ways into the future, so far, the max we have seen is four to five minutes as the cookie would disappear and appear back in the same place..” she frowned to this “ Well clearly that's not true now is it..” grumbling a little herself as she continued, flipping the page.
“We first discovered these items appearing randomly in carpentry shops across Crispa a few months back and a few were collected for testing…” She slapped her hand to the paper a little “well that is not true either or how did i find one!?”. Clearly getting a bit frustrated but Pure Vanilla gave her a soothing pat to the back as she took in a breath and continued reading.
“We even theorize that it might be possible to recreate these devices ourselves but playing with time is a fickle thing, so we’ve still yet to proceed with that part of the research but one thing did become clear to us, Once used the Time jumpers disappear or becomes none functioning, it is a one way system, they is no returning back to where you where…before” Plain Wafer felt her shoulders slump while she read out the last words. “..i couldn't go back even if I wanted to, I was doomed the moment I activated it.” Her voice was full of sadness.
Pure Vanilla brought immediately into a sideward embrace, resting his chin on her head “Don’t say that, you weren't doomed, in a sense you were saved from what was to come.., it’s like a miracle.”
She looked up to him curiously for a moment though her look changed to one of sad anger as she pushed away from him. “Miracle? Some miracle!.., Mama's gone!, Papa's is different and old!. My home is destroyed!. Everything I thought I knew was gone in an instant!” seeming to have a small tantrum as she slapped her hands against her lap, ruffling up the papers a little.
Gingerbrave had a shuffled back a bit with wide eyes but he saw Pure Vanilla glance over to him and mouth something, so he jumped up and tip-toed out of the room on a small quiet mission, it might be best he wasn't in the room for this.
Pure Vanilla turned back to Plain Wafer as she seemed to thrash around a little more, clearly he’d not quite worded things right but her next words made his heart sink. " Why me!? A flavourless cookie like me!? I didn't deserve it!, this miracle! It’d be better if someone else found it and…!”
In an instant the room went silent as only the noise of a slap echoed out. Plain Wafer's head had jolted to the side slightly with her eyes wide with shock raising her hand to her reddening cheek as she slowly glanced back up “..P-Pure Vanilla..?”
His hand was raised in the position from the slap, his usually calm and sweet face was slightly reddened in the cheek, as tears gathered in his eyes “Don’t you dare say you didn't deserve it!, don’t wish..that fate on yourself..” his word choking up a bit at the end, he clearly knew what she was going to say next.
He grabbed her shoulders “You are an amazing cookie in your own ways, flavour or not, don’t keep putting yourself down or comparing yourself to others!” bringing her forward into a protective tight embrace with her face pressed into his chest, she could feel tears from above fall onto her robe.
“By miracle, I meant to me, you're my miracle dear, someone that came back..,someone I didn't f-fail.., y-you brought me so much joy that I thought I'd lost forever.” She’d managed to tilt her head up a little to look at him as it all begun to make sense, how foolish she’d been, only thinking about herself, when Pure Vanilla who’d been with her since that day, making sure she was alright, concerned for her wellbeing, had probably been dealing with the grief for decades and for her to imply such a thing that right in front of him.
She's promised her Papa to look after Pure Vanilla in his steed and She’d already failed that by making him cry and the sight was not something she ever wanted to see again.
Wrapping her arms around his waist and she hugged him back with just as much force “I-I'm sorry! Please don’t cry! I-i didn't mean it, i was just..frustrated, i wasn't thinking!, please your Majesty!, I won't leave you, I promise!”
They stayed like that for a few minutes, only the faint sniffles of now dried tears above her as she pulled back a little and felt his hand come to rest on her red cheek with a faint simmer of light. “I’m sorry dear.., let me soothe that, i-i shouldn't have done that..”
She let him but shook her head “No, you were right to do that, it snapped me out of it, i-I'm sorry i wasn't considering your feelings in all this but you’ve only ever been concerned about mine in return, Papa was right, you do need someone to watch after you.” giving a small cheeky smile with her tease which made him giggle.
“Well I guess we’ll just have to look out for each other my dear, lets stop looking back to the past and look towards a bright future together?” moving his hand away as the light.
She blinked to his words, he was totally right, she was so fixated on the past, she stopped considering the future, the future blessed upon her, a bright future that hopefully awaited them all. “Y-yeah your right.., i guess that’s what Papa wanted for me too, I have a future ahead of me now and I get to walk it with everyone.”
Both smiled to each other as the door behind them opened and Gingerbrave stumbled in with a tray holding three mugs as he did his best not to drop them “Here ya go PV, three hot chocolates! One of the Aunties helped me make them and even some mars..- W-woah PV are you okay?, your face is red!”
Pure Vanilla rubbed his sleeve to his face “I am fine now my dear friend, just some things that needed to be said, thank you for doing that little errand, I think it’s time we retired to resting.” Gingerbrave set the tray on the dresser and handed out the Hot chocolates, they had cooled on his journey back and could be sipped on, it definitely hit the spot. Gingerbrave was quick to down his Hot chocolate earning himself a foam moustache as he brought up a question. “So there is one bed in here, though it's pretty big!”. Pure Vanilla sipped a little with a hum “I can take the sofa, you two deserve the comfort of th..-” but Plain Wafer cut him off in unison with Gingerbrave “No, that is not fair to you!” nodding to each other.
Pure Vanilla blinked at them in surprise “ I-i can’t possibly make one of you take the sofa or the floor..”. Plain Wafer crossed her arms “The bed is big enough for all of us! Right Gingerbrave?” he nodded back firmly to her, Pure Vanilla knew he wasn't getting out of this as he sighed and glanced at a bookcase. “Alright you win dears, how about I also read us a story?” which made them both raise their arms in cheer. “Yeah Story!” --------------- With mugs left on the dresser and the only light in the room being the lamp from the other dresser. The trio found themselves cuddled up in the bed, with Pure Vanilla in the centre, holding a book as he read the story to the small cookies next to him.
As he came to the end of story, he glanced at each side to them, noticing his two little friends had drifted while slightly clinging to the side of robes and snuggling into the blanket. “..and everyone lived happily ever after, the end” closing the book lightly as he leaned over ever so slightly as to not disturb them and turned the lamps light off, leaving the book under it. He gave a small tired sigh and he nestled as best as he could under the blanket and started to the ceiling. Was this what it was like to be a parent? He was expected to be something of one to Plain Wafer now wasn't he?, was he really up to the task?, he’d promised Heavy Cream Cookie after all.
He jumped a little as he glanced to the side Plain Wafer was on, seeing her snuggle more into him and mumbled in her sleep. “..Mama..” As if on instinct he rubbed her back and leaned down to give a small kiss to the top of her head, then snuggled back into the pillows, closing his eyes. Maybe it wasn't as hard as he thought.
-------------- {Previous} {Next Chapter} (I think PV needs a hug too and the cute little ending ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა.) (The Time jumpers knowledge is based off the wiki but they not much so i just made some logical deductions for it.)
