Madeleine Grows a Pair

1 - Trust Me, You Need the Sleep

Listen I'm just gonna assume you read the whole caption to the story so you already know what to expect. Yeah there's cookie gore. And if cursing isn't in here for this chapter, it's definitely gonna be there for the second one.

-

The way Madeleine Cookie used magic over the years had changed to say the least. Rather than drawing magic out from his surroundings as he needed it, he'd been storing it, saving it for later.

Every day around noon, he walked to the park centering the kingdom. He would pick a bench, any bench would work, and sit down on it to soak up the sunlight. He would sit there until the magic hummed through his dough, loud and excited. It charged him through the day and well into the night. It kept him, as well as the kingdom, safe with its warmth.

He didn't exactly know what keeping extra magic would do, though.

Not that he cared. At the time, he was patrolling the kingdom. His heavy armor rattled as he walked about his routes. The clinking of his boots rhythmically clashed against the stone tiles lining the streets. He wore his signature smile while waving at anyone who passed him. Birds were chirping rather loudly despite it being midday rather than morning, but it made an enjoyable background noise.

Gumball Cookie dashed into sight, unable to skid to a stop.

He braced for impact, crashing into a table outside Jampie Diner. Splintered wood flew in every direction. Madeleine shielded his eyes for a second.

The result, surprisingly, wasn't too devastating. The chairs were fine, and honestly, the table probably would've been fine, too, if it weren't for the kid's massive gumball canon tanking the impact.

As if he didn't just blow a table to bits, Gumball jumped up and continued running in the same route as before.

A few seconds passed, the owner dipped their head outside to check out what was happening, and Gingerbrave passed by. He ran with the same vigor as Gumball, if not more, and passed by the Diner.

That time, the table was spared another brutal crashing into.

"So..," they started, "kids, am I right?"

Madeleine was not amused. He felt charitable, though, so he took it upon himself to help clean the mess.

As he helped pick up table fragments a distant, "tag, you're it!" could be heard.

...

With the table put up and away, Madeleine stood up, hands on his sides with a grin. He leaned back to stretch and felt a dull ache where his hands dug into his hips.

Bruises? He couldn't remember doing anything strenuous the other day, just his usual tasks. Not to mention that both 'bruises' were parallel. He couldn't think of anything that would result in both sides of his lower back bruising.

He shook his head, quickly returning to his duty patrolling the streets. He shoved any thoughts of the bruising to the back of his mind. It would probably heal within the week. Faster if he used his limited knowledge of restorative magic.

It seemed like the children's game of tag was over because any laughter lining the streets was gone, covered by the small talk of cookies going about their day. Afternoons were always the busiest part of the day. One more reason to keep his guard, he supposed.

Across the street was Espresso Cookie. It was surprising to see him away from his experiments, though he seemed rushed and probably wanted to return to them. He looked out to see Madeleine, glared at him, and continued his course. He looked very unhappy to be in his position.