Here, Have a Cookie a Pokemon Fanfiction

Joern’s POV

Joern kept his eyes locked on his trainer as the large trainer pulled out a pair of poke balls. The bumps on his skin felt more pronounced than usual and his leaf felt stiff in the crisp frigid air. He didn’t trust this training ground. Not for one moment.

“Relax, would ya. You’re the tensest Lombre I’ve ever seen.” Wayne tossed a fancy looking poke ball into the air, and a light filled the air.

Joern sighed as the metal bird filled the air. He supposed he couldn’t be too angry at the large human. Most of his kind were lively jokers. Joern looked out across the clearing towards his psychic teammate and pushed. 'I’m as serious as I need to be.’

Emilie stopped what she was doing, the water surrounding her falling to the ground as she briefly glared my way. ‘Don’t use me to pass messages unless you have too, okay? I’ve got like, three new attack patterns to try and figure out, and while talking to humans is doable now, it’s still hard as fuck.’

Joern shot a teasing grin her way. ‘All things considered, you could probably use the endurance training.’

‘...shut your face.’ Emilie’s blush was apparent to the whole clearing. Guess red on white really was super obvious.

Joern chuckled before leaning back. He supposed he couldn’t be too mad at her. That Gallade hit like a truck. It wasn’t fair to hold the rest of his family to his standard. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’ll try and limit my conversations with the big guy.’

‘Thanks,’ Emilie muttered, before going back to her own training.

Joern grinned, grateful that the banter ended there. He wasn’t too sure he had another line ready after that.

Skarmory landed right in front of him and spread his wings out. “Snap out of it.”

Joern simply turned his head and gave the bird an unimpressed look. “Sorry, I was talking to my teammate. Were you saying something?”

Skarmory sneered before laughing. “Like trainer like pokemon, huh? Wayne’s been trying to talk to you for a few minutes now.”

Joern pulled back before shifting his focus to the big guy leading the session. He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry.”

“You’re good. Just stay focused on what I’m about to tell you, cause I don’t want to repeat myself a third time.” Wayne smiled down at the water type as he cradled what I assumed was Nuzleaf’s poke ball. “Nuzleaf’s a bit of a headache on the best of days, and you’re new. So I want to lay out some ground rules. He’s not going to trust you right out the gate. He might get cagey about me in particular, and he’s very serious about his role as my protector.”

Huh, might not hate the guy.

Wayne just stared at Joern for a long moment before nodding. “Just give him the benefit of the doubt, don’t do anything that’ll piss him off, and if he says anything rude about Lea, I apologize in advance.”

Never mind, he’s probably a dick.

Legends above, he was spending too much time around Emilie and Lea.

Joern narrowed his eyes as the dark and grass type formed between him and his trainer, his arms pulled up in a fighting stance with a single, sharp, green leaf held in each one.

Coming out of the gate with an attack already at the ready. Joern wondered how he did that. “Hello.”

The low tier shinobi wannabe made no notion that he heard him, and simply tightened his fists in anticipation.

Damn it all, he was terrible at breaking the ice. Why couldn’t he get the personalized training with May? The damn bird didn’t need help learning to turn off the waterworks, he’d probably figure it out by the end of the day. His instincts couldn’t be that bad, and Joern wanted nothing to do with this weirdo. Fuck, think, Joern. What would the others do here?

Emilie would insult him to try and get him to banter, but that probably wouldn’t go over well here. Joern could just imagine the one-sided beatdown that would ensue if this thing attacked him. Joern liked Wayne. He didn’t want to put one of his pokemon in the center if he didn’t have to.

Apollo’d start rambling on about one of his ‘great expeditions’ that may or may not have actually happened with mates that Joern had no proof even existed. He’d once found it hard to believe that a flock of Wingull would put up with his eccentricies, but that notion quickly died once he grew more attached to the water fowl. Regardless, Joern had no stories to tell.

Lucas would crack a bad joke in the hopes of pulling either a laugh or a groan from the person he was trying to talk to. Honestly, that might work, what was a pun he could make about-

“Would one of you talk to the other already? I thought I was going to have to break up a fight, not watch a staring contest.” Skarmory beat her wings, and a small gust blew across the clearing. “Say something, you antisocial idiots.”

“I was getting to it, meetings should be handled appropriately,” Joern said. He glanced over at the now tense Nuzleaf and sighed. “I’m sorry if my silence came off as rude, though considering you look like you’re ready to try and cut me to shreds, I thought a bit of planning would be prudent in dealing with you.”

Nuzleaf’s eyes narrowed, and his arms didn’t lower.

This would be a whole lot easier if Wayne gave Joern anything to go off for what he wanted him to do here. This prick certainly wasn’t. Oh, that works for a pun. “You’d think a Nuzleaf would be nicer, nuzzle is literally in the name.”

Ah, a groan. He fell into the Tsundere category with Emilie, then.

Nuzleaf finally lowered his leaves before looking back at his trainer. “When you told me I would be training someone, you failed to mention he was an idiot.”

“Be nice,” Wayne ordered, saying something for the first time since this ass hat came out.

Fuck, screw Emilie. That one just straight up came from Lea. What were these people doing to him?

Nuzleaf glowered at his trainer before turning to look at the lilypad pokemon. “Don’t know how a softy like you expects to learn dark type attacks. My shogun can be eccentric at times, but this one takes the cake.”

Softy?

Him?

“Your words are about as sharp as your leaves. I was expecting more interesting barbs from a dark type, but compared to my teammates, you’re about as effective in a battle of words as you are in a battle of vines.” Joern glared balefully at the annoying grass type, his tone of voice never rising in octave.

“Implying that I would even need to try in either instance against someone like you.” Nuzleaf looked Joern up and down. “I suppose I have something to work with, at least.”

“Stop posturing and get to the point,” Wayne ordered.

Joern looked up towards the normally gentle giant with a frown. How he interacted with Nuzleaf seemed out of character. No jokes. No nonsense. Just orders.

“Yes, Shogun Wayne.” Nuzleaf nodded once, his countenance shifting instantly. “I’m going to assume you have no idea what you’re doing going into this?”

Joern leaned back at the abrupt change before narrowing his eyes. He couldn’t quite place it, but... the act was off putting. He supposed he could play along. “Up to this point, I’ve only learned moves in my own set of types or general purpose moves that are easy for anyone to pick up. This would be my first foray into things outside of my general wheelhouse.”

Nuzleaf nodded once. “Good, then I don’t have to break you of your bad habits.”

Joern didn’t like how this thing said break. Neither did Skarmory, apparently, because a single, sharp blade of wind cleaved through the space between us. Joern backed away from the assault, Nuzleaf didn’t even blink.

“Quit it with the goody two shoes instructor act. It’s creepy, just talk like you normally would and walk him through the process. Teach him Knock Off or something, that one’s fairly easy to pick up, right?” Skarmory tilted his head to the side.

Nuzleaf growled. “I was following my shogunate’s orders.”

“And your shogunate’s first order is to be your normal, asshole self. Keep the acting for the enemy. We’re amongst friends.” Skarmory glared down at the wannabe ninja, and the grass type backed off.

“Not sure how friendly it is considering she’s here.” Nuzleaf glanced over at Lea with a hateful gaze.

Joern blurred across the clearing, putting himself between Lea and the crazy grass type, a ball of water already formed in his hand. “Touch my trainer and drown.” The words came out in a snarl.

Nuzleaf leaned back from the grass type, before throwing his head back and laughing. Joern pulled back slightly, before sucking in a sharp breath as a black fist slammed home into his stomach. Joern had already laid vines into the ground and held his stance firm as he threw his hand forward, launching the devastating tide of water outwards and pushing the grass type away from him.

Nuzleaf flipped in the air and landed on his feet, before glancing at his fellow grass type with a smile.

Skarmory flew down and cleaved a line in the dirt between them. “Now that you’ve both gotten that out of your system, calm the hell down. I can and will cut you both to ribbons.”

Joern backed away from the angry bird type, slightly unnerved by the grin he had on his face as he said that. Why were all of Wayne’s Pokémon psychos?

He had very little room to talk, didn’t he?

He shifted his glare back to his ‘teacher’ as he rubbed his stomach. “My trainer is off limits. Bad mouth her at your own peril.”

The grin never left Nuzleaf’s face. “As long as she doesn’t try and hurt my Shogunate’s chosen again, I suppose I can abide by that. This training session might be easier than I thought.”

Joern glared.

“Way easier. What I just did to you was something the humans call a Sucker Punch. Why they feel the need to name all our little tricks to shout them out to our opponents in the heat of battle is beyond me, but in layman’s terms, that’s what you’d find if you looked it up on one of your trainer’s fancy little devices.” Nuzleaf lifted his hand up, a dark aura coating it.

“Alright, that’s what I’m here to learn, then. How do I do that?” Joern asked.

Nuzleaf chuckled. “I doubt you’ll be able to go that far, mostly because I don’t think your body can move that fast. You strike me as more of a wall.” The black glow faded. “My annoying aerial acquaintance over there honestly had a good idea. Knock Off is probably more your speed.”

Joern briefly looked back to his trainer, who was still sitting ramrod straight in a deep trance. Did he have to listen to her and deal with this idiot?

“Now then, most trainer indexes will tell you to think negative thoughts to channel the power of the void. When my lord took it upon himself to start training me, he used those foolishly created reference materials in an effort to heighten my connection.” Nuzleaf shook his head. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Joern quickly turned his head and stared intently at the dark type in front of him. Lea loved crap like this, the nerd. She’d want to hear all about it when they could talk again. “What exactly is the void?”

Nuzleaf grinned. “It’s that part of you that constantly says you’ll come up short. The doubt, the fear, the wrath, all the worst parts of you pooled together around one simple truth that you dedicated yourself to.”

Joern tilted his head. “Sounds miserable. Though, what truth are you talking about here?”

Nuzleaf chuckled. “You’d be right if you tried learning from the machines. The truth is your reason for being. It’s what you dedicate yourself to in the hopes of having a more promising future. The reason you get up and keep getting up, despite the fact that what you’re trying to pull from wants to pull you back down.”

Joern tilted his head. That didn’t sound healthy.

Nuzleaf sighed. “You’re not a dark type, you’re only trying to learn our ways. I can respect that, but your pull to the void will be far weaker than mine, just because you're not constantly being pulled down by your worst impulses. Before we begin, though, you need to have that truth in mind to ground yourself. What do you dedicate yourself to more than anything else? What is your purpose?”

Joern once again shifted to look at his trainer, before pausing. He shifted to glance at the rest of his team a good ways away. He glanced at the rain longingly before focusing on his friends.

“Protecting my new family,” Joern said.

Nuzleaf smirked. “Didn’t do a very good job of that, huh?”

Joern leaned forward as the mental image of this thing being shoved through a tree played through his head.

“Good, hold on to that feeling, and keep your goal in mind.” Nuzleaf raised his arms up and brought them up in a fighting stance in front of him. “Dive into that feeling and focus. Push it out of you!”

Joern glared hatefully at the moronic grass type. What feeling? The desire to break Nuzleaf’s face? The helplessness from the event in question? The-

His thoughts were cut off as Nuzleaf appeared in front of him and punched him lightly on the back of the head. A shadowy whisp pushed out from his head, and he groaned.

“Did I screw up?” Joern asked.

“You lost yourself in the negatives. You didn’t push through.” Nuzleaf shook his head before sighing. “This might take us a bit. Just be glad you aren’t learning from the books. People think dark types are all dark thoughts and evil temptations, but in reality, we’re equal parts hope and despair. Emotions always exist in parity, remember that.”

Joern tilted his head. “So, what advice would you give?”

“Focus on the bad, then banish it with the good. THAT is the cycle through which dark types master their craft, and it’s why that truth is so important.” Nuzleaf turned and glanced at Wayne with a wistful smile. “Just focus on them.”

Joern nodded once, before closing his eyes. He focused on the words Nuzleaf said before, and the feeling they invoked. He-

Stopped.

A gust of air exploded outwards from the clearing Lea was currently meditating at. Joern’s eyes snapped open, and he instantly turned and started running towards the grove. Dirt and sand levitated around his trainer in a similar fashion to what they did when the fear block broke.

Normal POV

I stood just beyond the door and stared down at the little girl wiping her eyes at one of the tables. Adorned in beat up goth ware, she slowly pulled her hands away from her face and looked at me, her eyes red and puffy. Dark blue hair framed her face, her bangs casting a shadow over her features in the dim light of the dining room.

Fuck, even in my head, we can’t keep all the lights on in this place.

Okay, calm down. Finding another version of you in your own head doesn’t mean you’re crazy. Fuck, she might not even be me! Oh god, I hate that idea even more. Deep breaths. Calm down. She’s just a kid, just breathe.

“Hello?” Her voice was hoarse as she repeated the question.

I snapped to attention, pulled from my musings by the feelings of ice water filling my veins. “Hi.” I waved. Fuck, what exactly do I say. “Are you, uh... talking to me?”

“Yeah...? Who else would I be talking to?” The little girl waved her hands up and gestured to the empty bakery, her head tilted to the side with unrepentant sass.

Yeah, this was me. Legends above my head was fucked.

“Sorry, I was just surprised. I REALLY wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here. Do you know how you got here?” I slowly started walking towards the table.

She shook her head. “I woke up here a while ago, I-I don’t know how long it’s been.” She started tearing up a bit. “Please help me find my sister. I’m so scared.”

“It’s going to be alright, okay?” I knelt down to put myself at eye level and made my voice as soothing as possible. She might’ve been me, but she was still a little kid. “Do you know where you are right now?” No reason this should be any different from all the times back home.

“It’s my momma’s bakery!” Little me brought her hands together with a smile before looking around the room. “At least, I think it is. I’ve never actually been here before.”

Fuck, she was really young.

“Eve talks about it all the time, and it looks just how I had imagined it.” The little girl went back to staring nervously at the table. “I was really hoping she would be here somewhere, but I can’t find her...”

“Your sister sounds like a pretty cool person. Could you describe her for me?” Did I really just ask that? Okay, maybe I shouldn’t go full auto pilot work mode. I don’t really need her to describe-

The little girl nodded excitedly. “Of course! She’s really tall and has dark hair. She usually makes faces like this.” Mini me puffed her cheeks out and scowled. “Or like this.” She closed her eyes and her mouth hung slightly, as if she was falling asleep standing up.

I had to bite my upper lip to stop myself from laughing. Okay, never mind, I a hundred percent needed to ask her about Eve.

“Are you alright, miss?” she tilted her head at me again.

I sucked in a deep breath through my nose before calming down with an exhale. “I’m fine, don’t worry. Your sister sounds like a very interesting person.”

Mini me nodded. “She was a grouch for a while, and kind of scary, but now she’s been really nice. She even agreed to help me start my Pokémon journey!”

That... wasn’t right. Well, actually, no. It was. The event’s correct, but the time’s all wrong.

“Miss?”

I jerked before staring down at mini me. “Oh, sorry. I get lost in my head sometimes. How old are you, kid?”

Mini me puffed her cheeks out and frowned. “Don’t call me kid! I’m...” She started counting her fingers and paused once she ran out. “I’m not sure how to count that high, but I know it’s a lot!”

My eyebrow twitched as the last two words came out of her mouth.

“And the name’s Lea!” She nodded once with her arms crossed in front of her.

“What a coincidence!” I did my best to sound as upbeat and jovial as possible. “That’s my name too!” Just what are you, you small child me? “It’s a great name, isn’t it?”

Mini me nodded. “I like it loads! My friend got me a game the other day, and her name was Lea too! She’s really cool, and shoots laser balls out of her hands and is strong and brave and-”

“Whoa, calm down there, little one. You gotta remember to take a breath every once in a while. She sounds really cool. I’m glad you like it. Who’s the friend that gave you the game?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“May! She’s really nice, and REALLY pretty.” A blush lit up little me’s face as she shifted in her seat. “We play loads at her house, cause Eve is always really busy.”

I nodded along. So, either current me was bleeding through to this child version of me, or I was hopeless from a very young age. Got it. Probably the former, considering she couldn’t give me a straight answer about her age. “She sounds amazing, are you two going on your journey together?”

Mini me looked away.

“I want to, but it probably won’t happen.” Mini me looked away. “I’m so scared...”

“Why are you scared, hon? It sounds like your friend would love to travel with you.” I put my hand on her back and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m not smart like her, or popular, or any of the other stuff she is.” Mini me looked away from me. “She’s going to figure that out and leave on her own before I can, I know it.”

The words that came out of her mouth ran through me like a hot knife. I froze as a large, inky blackness extended out from below the table. What the-

“I’ll really be alone, then,” she said, her voice almost drowned out by the odd dripping that filled my ears.

Focus! Think. That was... for the longest time that was my greatest fear. To be left all alone. To be left behind like yesterday’s long johns.

“T-that’s ridiculous.” I forced the words out through clenched teeth as I fought through dark thoughts. “May’s an amazing person, and an amazing friend. I know, without a doubt, that she’ll stick by your side, no matter what!” The words flowed from my mouth with a conviction I didn’t know I had. It may have been my nightmare once upon a time, but I knew better. “So, you just stick by hers, alright?”

Mini me’s eyes grew wide and started to sparkle as the darkness faded.

“Y-yes, ma’am.” She nodded fervently. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I dumped that shit on you.”

My eyes sharpened at the curse word.

“Stuff! I meant stuff.” Mini me pulled herself away from our hug and put some distance between us.

I’m chastising myself for my own bad language. Straitjacket, here I come.

“Thanks for the pep talk, you’re alright for an adult.” She stared at me with narrowed eyes. “Though, how do you know May? Are you also friends with her?”

I froze before grasping at the offered lifeline. I wasn’t entirely sure how well acknowledging this place was a mental representation of my mind would go with this thing, and I didn’t want to find out. “I’m in here all the time and May comes here a lot too. We hang out.”

Mini me nodded.

“Do you know who you want to be your starter Pokémon?” I asked, genuinely curious. What would this version of me want to go on a journey with?

Her eyes grew wide and fearful, and she slowly backed away. “I... don’t know.”

That was a curveball. Through all of my years of wanting to go on a grand adventure, I always had an answer to this question. That answer might have changed, but it always existed. Her not having an answer was... alarming.

Let’s go with the classic and see if she vibes with it. “Really, you must have some idea. I know I heard May talking about a friend that was all about Torchic a bit ago, was that you?”

Mini me shook her head. “I don’t want a Torchic anymore.” Her voice was petulant. As if the idea insulted her. “Dad had a Torchic, and I don’t want to be like him AT ALL!”

Well, that wholesale confirms that this little girl knows more than I did at this age.

“Besides, May wants a Torchic, and she studied really REALLY hard to pass Mr. Birch’s exam. I already know I’m not smart enough to pass, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from her,” mini me said.

I winced. Was I really this negative all the time? I didn’t think so, but maybe I needed to watch that more. “I think you’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit, but I understand wanting to help a friend.”

Mini me shook her head. “Not as smart as May.”

“No one is as smart as May.” Brainiac that she is, she’d probably be able to tell me what the hell is going on here.

Okay, that might be overselling her a bit, but she’d probably have something by the end of the day.

Mini me giggled and nodded. “Yeah, she’s kind of a nerd, huh?”

I nodded, a small grin on my face. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she? Did you have any ideas on who else you wanted as a teammate? There aren’t really any wrong answers here, outside of Zigzagoon.”

Mini me scrunched her nose up at the normal type’s name. “I-I don’t know. I had an idea, but...” She shivered and looked away. “They’re kind of scary.”

Emilie? Scary? Please. “What’s scary, hon?”

She stilled, her face white as she stared directly into my eyes. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, unwilling to look away and break the spell. I opened my mouth, and she cut me off instantly.

“The whole world’s kind of scary, honestly.” The little girl grabbed her arms and looked away, a frown on her face. “Lots of bad things happen all the time.” Her grip tightened, and an inky blackness started to push outwards from the table again.

I froze as a pit opened up where my stomach used to be, and a cold sweat dotted my brow. Visions of familiar scenes played through my head. The thief in the woods, the girl with the dragon, Jasmine’s Misdreavus, Jessica and Atticus’s blank faces...

“I-” I tried to talk but couldn’t force out the words.

“I just, I feel so powerless.” Her voice sounded so far away. “Like nothing I do matters.”

I could faintly see Solrock and Lunatone leering down at me through the void as the shadows started climbing up the walls, and my blood froze in my veins. A dark figure started to rise up from the floor, the shadows piecing together into a long flowing dress. I leaned away from it as it finished forming into the silhouette of a Gardevoir.

My heart leapt into my throat as it started to move forward.

“And I’m all alone.” The words were a whisper in the swirling tide.

Seven glowing red lights in a cross-like pattern stared down at me from on high as the bitter chill that filled the room became overwhelming. The whispered words acted like a lifeline as I turned and focused on the little girl in my head.

The lower half of her body had been consumed and the shadowy figure was right next to the table, her hand outstretched-

“NO!” I screamed the word and a force pushed out from the center of my being, shoving away shadows that I didn’t even realize were there. I sprinted through the room and got between mini me and the dollar store Gardevoir.

The creature pulled her hand back, and the shadows beneath her feet started to twist and writhe. Indistinguishable faces formed and faded in the miasma as the creature lifted up its hands.

“Yeah, well screw you too. I might not know what the fuck’s going on here.” I swallowed down a lump that formed in my throat. “I might be scared out of my fucking mind right now. Hell, I might be completely insane, for all I know, but I’ll be fucking damned if I let you hurt a kid in my own head!”

The world shook as the walls bulged inwards, the shadows receding back down as I found my footing.

“The world’s a scary place, filled with terrifying things.” I almost choked on my own words as I forced them out in the chaos. I winced back slightly as the red glow from on high grew in intensity. “But it’s also filled to the brim with amazing people and Pokémon.”

Tables lifted themselves up into the air and formed a barrier around us as the silhouette threw her hands forward, sending the miasma our way. The cloud bounced off my makeshift shield.

“That’s the great part about us going on this adventure.” New visions played out through my mind. Of an angry little cookie addicted psychic standing up to her mother in the hospital room, just to stay with me.

A small white figure rose up in front of my makeshift defense and lifted her arms up into the air, a brilliant white exploded forward, and the ashen monster that stood before me disappeared in a hiss.

Nascent whispers filled my ears as the tables started to crack under the incessant scratching.

“Your team, your friends, hell, your whole family is there to help protect you from the bad guys. To laugh at your jokes, pick you up when you fuck up, and help you when you need it.” More scenes pushed their way into my mind. May dragging my broken body out of that cave. Wally standing by my bedside when I got out of surgery. Joern standing between me and an angry ghost type.

Another white light rose up directly in front of me and lifted his arms up into the air as the spectral invader finally pushed through. Glowing red eyes rushed towards me with homicidal intent, only to slam into a giant, white barrier. A hissing wail echoed off the walls and the smell of burnt incense filled my nose as the miasmic entity evaporated into the air.

A grin split my face as I noticed most of the shadows starting to fade with it. That grin slipped as the shadowy visages of my torturers slowly pushed through the veil, their bodies adopting the same warped appearance as their regal predecessor.

“Just think of all the people you wouldn’t meet, all the stories you wouldn’t be able to tell, if you let the bad things in the world scare us. If we don’t even try.” More images. Jasmine pulling me aside after our match and giving me a pep talk. Wayne dragging us here to face our former demons and win. Apollo cleaving my tormentors in two.

A third light formed above me, his wings spreading out wide as the Apollo lookalike shot through the air with breathtaking speed. A loud crack filled the open air as the nightmares were cleaved in two. The would-be attackers dissolved into a fine black ash before they could hit the ground.

I winced as the glowing red light grew in intensity. I shielded my eyes as I met the gaze head on. “Even though the world is a scary place. Even though we don’t know what it’ll throw at us next.”

A final light formed in midair, before extending downward. A shining sword glimmered in the radiant glow as a single eye started to form in the hilt.

No clash followed. The two entities stared at each other as the rest of the world slowly started to calm down, the shadows gone save for this one point near the ceiling.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked upwards. “We can meet it with everything we’ve got, and do our best to push through and see all the amazing things it hides.”

The red lights slowly started to fade as the last of the shadows disappeared. The projection of Lucas nodded his head once before slowly fading into the Aether.

My legs gave out from under me, and I felt myself slowly slink down to the floor. I could still feel my heart pounding in my chest as I lifted my hand up to my collar bone. “Holy fucking shit, what the hell did I just do.”

“You won.”

I whipped my head around. What used to be a small, scared, child version of me now stood tall and proud, a mirror image of my own face, framed by long, flowing dark green hair. Her hand was extended outwards, open to grab for a hand up.

I slowly reached up and grabbed the offering, pulling myself to my feet as I looked my doppelganger over. “You grew up.”

She nodded once, a smile on her face. “We did.”

She tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear before taking in the bakery. The tables and chairs were a mess, but despite that, everything else was right as rain. Surprising, all things considered.

Other me clapped her hands twice, and the bakery instantly reformed itself to how it should be. I felt all my memories from the last few days locked into place as the world around me righted itself.

“I-How did you-”

“It’s our mind,” she cut me off. She reached out and offered me her hand again. “This world is a scary place. I think we both realize that now. I’m sorry it took me so long to see the good to go with the bad.” She looked away. “For so long, that’s all I saw.”

“You-”

“Show me a brilliant world, Lea.” She still had her hand outstretched. “That’s all I ask.”

I stared down at the offering again, before grinning. “Bet.”

I grabbed her arm, a smile splitting my face as she grabbed mine. We shook once, before pulling apart.

A light exploded outwards from our outstretched hands, and I pulled away to shield my eyes. When I looked back, my twin had disappeared. In her place, stood a strong, black and white, wooden pillar, extending up into the rafters.

A loud crumbling sound invaded my bakery from outside before I could even think to think about what just happened, and I rushed through the double doors of my mindscape to see just what was happening.

What greeted me was a mental image that both terrified and excited me all at the same time. Equal parts of fear and hope bubbled up in my chest, and I smiled at a sight that would have left me catatonic not but a scant half hour ago.

Cracks traced the wall that enclosed my mental fortress. What had once been an impregnable defense against a harsh, unforgiving world now looked like it’d be doing good holding back a guppy.

This was what I wanted, yet the thought of it leaving still scared me to my core.

Show me a brilliant world. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.

Fear wouldn’t hold me back. Not anymore.

The cracks gave way, and the wall disappeared.