Cookies.
They were the only food besides strawberries that Ruby liked, and her family knew it. And they abused it mercilessly.
Need Ruby to do her homework? A cookie for every problem done.
Need Ruby to come down for dinner? Say that you're having cookies for dinner.
It was abused by her family, but Ruby didn't care. It just meant more cookies for her. Delicious, delicious cookies. Chocolate, sugar, snickerdoodle, peanut butter; she didn't care, every cookie was delicious.
One day, Ruby and her mother, Summer, were in the kitchen making a fresh batch of cookies. Ruby had been given the task of putting the dough onto the cookie sheet. Some of the cookies Ruby had made were simple, but others were in the shape of ursa and beowolves. The looked that way because Summer had told her daughter that if she bit the heads off the cookies after they were cooked, she would gain the bravery of a true huntress.
And so Ruby carefully prepared the miniature beowolves, making sure to make the heads as best she could so she could eat them like her mother had said.
"Come here, Little Rose," said Summer to her daughter, "let me see your handiwork."
Ruby excitedly grabbed the cookie sheet to show her mother, tripping over her feet as she did. Ruby looked up at the cookies tossed every which way. Her eyes began to tear up; afraid her mother would be mad that she dropped the cookies.
Instead, Summer lent down next to Ruby, picking her up and dusting her off. She saw Ruby's tears and smiled a warm, caring smile.
"Don't cry, Little Rose."
Ruby looked into her mother's face, heard her mother's soft voice, and her tears stopped their flow. She wiped her cheek free of tears, and looked down saying softly,
"I'm sorry, momma."
"It's ok, my dear darling Ruby."
"You're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad?"
"'Cause I dropped the cookies."
"The cookies can be remade. I'm just glad you're here to help me clean up this mess." Summer laughed a kind laugh, one that could melt even the coldest of hearts on a winter's day.
Seeing her mother laugh gave Ruby a small smile, knowing that everything would be ok.
And so the two set to work, picking up the uncooked beowolves and putting them onto a new sheet.
"Won't these taste bad?" questioned the little Ruby.
"Not once they are cooked." answered a patient Summer.
"Why?"
"Well, my Little Rose, that's because the oven makes all the bad stuff in food go away, if you make it right."
"Woah…"
Summer chuckled at her daughter's amazement, and set about getting the cookies into the oven. She set the timer when she felt Ruby approach her.
"Momma," Ruby tugged at her mother's apron, "don't ever leave."
"Now why would I leave, Little Rose?"
"I had a dream last night, and you weren't there, momma."
"Little Rose," Summer knelt down to Ruby's height and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders, "I will never leave you. Even if I disappear one day, I will never leave you."
"Whats that mean, momma?"
"It means that no matter what happens in life, I will be beside you, even if it is only as a memory."
Ruby thought about this concept for a second, then gave her mother the biggest smile she could. Summer gave the little girl a soft smile right back. She knew that one day she wouldn't be there for Ruby, and she wanted to give Ruby the best memories of her mother she could.
"Now then, let's go get your sister and father to share our cookie bounty with us."
Ruby bounded off into the hallway to find Yang and Tai-yang, leaving her mother smiling sweetly behind her.
Ruby smiled in her sleep, remembering a time of happiness and cookies. She never wanted to wake up from the dream, but she knew she would have to sometime. Despite this, Ruby knew the love her mother had for her would never leave her.
Neither would her cookies.
A/N This little bit of fluff is an apology for misleading people with We Looked. Everyone seems a bit upset about that story and the title of the reddit post i used to broadcast it. Again, really sorry guys. Will be back this weekend with a new chapter for Grimmfall, so look for that.
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