I did it.
Gingerbrave was on the floor.
They had won, Dark Enchantress was no more.
The beasts were absorbed and destroyed.
It was all over at last.
The floor was full of cracks, craters and jam.
He looked down and saw jam coming out of his side.
There was a lot of it.
But he can't close his eyes.
No, not yet, he needs to see if everyone is okay.
If his mom is okay.
As best he could, he got up, the pain was unbearable.
But he couldn't lie down peacefully unless he sees that everyone is safe.
He walked around the battlefield for a while.
He saw his friends from the Cookie Kingdom.
He was glad they were safe.
He turned his head, only to be hugged by Strawberry and Wizard.
Their voices sounded far away, he could only hear a few words.
"... We made it... Safe!!!..."
Gingerbrave smiled at those words.
He looked behind his friends and saw the ancients.
All with scratches, with some jam on them, but okay.
His mom looked at him and smiled.
He was happy, he could relax now.
His mom's smile disappeared when she saw him fall.
"GINGERBRAVE!!!"
The shout alerted all the cookies around him.
White Lily rushed over to him and nestled him in her lap.
"Gingerbrave!!! Hold on!!!"
Gingerbrave caught a glimpse of his mother's face.
Her hair was messy and unbraided.
Her fairy wings were drooping.
From one side of her head, jam was falling.
But she was fine.
"Pure Vanilla! Can you help him?!"
Pure Vanilla rushed to Gingerbrave's aid.
Healing magic enveloped his body, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to help.
Maybe he shouldn't have stopped, but he had to see that everyone was okay.
"Relax, it's all over now.... We'll be on our way... We'll take you to the hospital..."
Pure Vanilla said with a teary face.
White Lily squeezed him tighter in her protective embrace, terrified.
But Gingerbrave just smiled.
"Don't you see?..."
Gingerbrave asked, looking at his mom.
"I did it, Mom, I did it..."
He said with the brightest smile he could muster.
"I couldn't save them... Them..."
He remembered his siblings.
Gingerbright and Dozer.
He couldn't save them, he didn't make it in time.
If he had run faster, he would have saved them....
"But I saved you.... My friends..."
Tears of happiness fell from his eyes.
"Mom, I was able to save you!"
He watched as everyone began to cry.
Gingerbrave's life was extinguishing, it was obvious, but he wasn't scared.
He was happy.
"... I'm so proud of you..."
White Lily whispered as she hugged him.
"You were good boy, you did great..."
Each word that came out of her was heavier than the last.
"You can rest now, I'll be here.... We'll all be here."
Strawberry and Wizard approached with tears in their eyes.
The ancients also approached.
Even those from the republic and kingdoms were approaching.
"You did very well, you can close your little eyes now.... My child..."
White Lily hugs him tighter and started humming a song.
Gingerbrave felt at peace.
At last it's all over...
It's all over...
He looked up at the sky and saw the sunrise for the last time.
He remembers when he saw it for the first time.
On a hill, where the breeze hit his face.
He saw the sun.
It was round, bright and yellow.
It warmed his mass but in a nicer way.
He touched the grass for the first time.
It stung and smelled funny.
But it was beautiful.
This was what freedom was like?.....
He raised his hand to the sky.
Feeling the wind and the warmth.
He was free.
He and everyone.
"How I wish they had seen this too..."
He thought with a smile.
"I will live as you told me and be thankful every day that I am alive."
So he said to himself.
Now, he had seen everything.
Even the tallest buildings, the greenest fields, the brightest gold to the smallest insects and the most rustic villages.
He knew thousands of cookies.
Some good ones.
Some bad ones.
But he saw, he learned, he laughed, he played, he cried and he lived.
He had no regrets.
Not of his past, not of his present.
He did everything he wanted.
But now it was time to go.
But not before saying his last words.
"Thank you."
That surprised everyone, well, at least everyone who wasn't from the witch's house.
"Thank you for giving me these memories, thank you for loving me, thank you.... Thank you for giving me a reason to keep running."
White Lily cried even more.
And kissed him on the forehead.
"Thanks to you for making it this far."
Gingerbrave finally closed his eyes.
Feeling the love and freedom he always loved.
Now he could see his siblings...
≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪
All of Earthbread was in mourning.
The news that the child who helped so many died affected the cookies in many ways.
Some of those who were helped offered mourning and respect.
Those who did not have a good relationship with him, just paid their respects.
Those who never knew him, just mourned for a moment and then went on with their lives.
At the Vanilla Kingdom, a stained glass window was made of that boy, with the caption.
"Gingerbrave, hero of Earthbread."
In Dark Cacao Kingdom.
Gingerbrave's name was given to the Altar of the Fallen, so that he would be remembered as a warrior.
At the Hollyberry Kingdom.
There was a Gingerbrave painting and a big party that would last for days.
At Golden Cheese Kingdom.
A sarcophagus was made for him, which was filled with gold, food and good wishes.
The queen was very generous.
And in the Faerie Kingdom.
A statue of Gingerbrave was placed where the fallen knights were.
But Gingerbrave was not taken to any other kingdom than his home.
He was buried, on the same hill where he began his life, where he was to end it.
The truth about the origin of the Cookie Kingdom was made public to everyone.
There was no longer any point in hiding the past.
White Lily was the first and last to thank Gingerbrave.
Her magic grew lilies that surrounded the tombstone.
"Gingerbrave, friend, brother, hero, son, leader."
"A child who deserved the world and the stars".
"A child."
White Lily told the truth to her friends, how Dark Enchantress was created and why.
She looked at her son's tombstone.
And she thought she saw him but he wasn't looking at her.
Gingerbrave was running to the other side, where there were two other cookies.
Now she understood.
"They waited for you, they always waited for you."