Chapter Text
The warm caramel sunlight spread its way into the light yellow stained-glass windows, filling the air with the oh-so welcoming embrace of the Vanilla Kingdom. The king, as he always started his morning, was sitting at his desk reading through the documents of what took place following his departure to Beast-Yeast. It was mostly good things, but there were some cases of young cookies injuring themselves while playing in the town square.
He was humming an old lullaby from his childhood as a cookie knocked on the door. “Pure Vanilla Cookie? Are you awake?” GingerBrave asked. He instantly set his papers aside, put his robes and hat on, and answered the door with a smile. “Yes, GingerBrave? What do you need?” “Oh, the other Ancient Heroes are waiting outside the castle doors, they came to check on you!”
Pure Vanilla let out a soft giggle, as he walked out the doorway. “Well, I don’t have a feast prepared for them, but I shall greet them with open arms.” He hurried towards the doors and opened them, revealing his dearest friends.
“Pure Vanilla Cookie! How’ve you been?” Hollyberry Cookie forced him into an embrace, squeezing him so hard he felt as if he was going to pop. “Hollyberry Cookie! Your hugs are still tighter than ever!” he said through gasps for air. “Ah, yes! Apologies!” She set him down on the floor as the others exchanged welcomes with less rib crushing hugs. (All except Dark Cacao).
A little while later, the friend group moved their reunion to the Solarium of Unity, due to it being secluded for some time. “So, Pure Vanilla, how’d your fight with your Beast go?” Golden Cheese Cookie brought up. He froze for a moment, remembering everything that had taken place in the Spire, especially his corruption. White Lily Cookie noticed the discomfort on his face, and whispered to him, “Pure Vanilla Cookie, I can see on your face that you don’t like the question. What did Shadow Milk Cookie do to you in the Spire?” He glanced at her and whispered back, “Nothing, do not worry for me,” then went to answer Golden Cheese Cookie’s question.
“Oh, it was nothing, really! He just tried to manipulate me and… I prevailed!” He said with hesitation. Everyone was skeptical of his response, knowing Pure Vanilla Cookie would always soften his situation in order to help others through their problems.
“Oh, it was nothing, really! He just tried to manipulate me and… I prevailed!” He said with hesitation. Everyone was skeptical of his response, knowing Pure Vanilla Cookie would always soften his situation in order to help others through their problems.
“Well, I think I might’ve faced the lesser side of his wrath! Anyways, does anyone want anything to eat?” Pure Vanilla awkwardly diverted the conversation. They all agreed, and so Pure Vanilla Cookie went to cook meals in the kitchen. As he was chopping up herbs for a soup, his mind drifted to… other thoughts.
“They’re worrying about you again, why couldn’t you act normal for once?”
“You don’t deserve their care.”
“They need a better friend.”
“You’re such a monster.”
“You don’t deserve anything.”
“All their suffering was your fault.”
“It’s your fault.”
Your
Fault.
Swish.
Pure Vanilla Cookie felt an immense pain in his hand, and as he looked downwards, he saw the huge gash on the back of his palm, blood on the cutting board. Shit. He bit his lip so as to not alert the others by screaming, and put his right hand over the cut. However, he could only heal it partly. (I’ll explain in notes). He took some emergency bandages from the cabinet and wrapped them tightly on the wound to stop the bleeding.
When the bleeding had died down, Pure Vanilla Cookie figured it was a bit safer to not cut any more food and to just clean up. He put all of the food on a platter to move them out of the way, and wiped off the blood from the counter and cutting board. Soon the kitchen looked brand new, and brought the food to his friends, who were patiently waiting for him to come back.
“Here, my friends! Sorry for the delay, I had to get more ingredients midway,” he lied as he set down the food in front of each of them. The steaming hot food filled the air with a delicious scent, a courtesy of the Vanilla Kingdom.
“Wait, Nilla, where’s your food?” Hollyberry asked. He remembered that he hadn’t cooked anything for himself. “Oh! I guess I was too focused on cooking and I forgot! I’ll be right back!” Hollyberry gave him a concerned mother look as he swiftly left for the kitchen once again.
Pure Vanilla Cookie didn’t feel like cooking again, and wasting the food he wouldn’t eat, so he took an old meal from two days ago and reheated it to make it seem like he had freshly made it. While he waited, he unwrapped the bandage to check the wound. It wasn’t bleeding, but it looked like a fresh cut mark and hoped Hollyberry Cookie wouldn’t notice.
After some time, he took the plate with the reheated food, walked back in and sat down as if nothing happened. “Alright, I’m back, my friends! Sorry again for taking so long!” Hollyberry Cookie smiled at him and reassured him that it was alright and that he shouldn’t apologize. He responded with, “I know, I have been trying to work on that.”
As they all started eating, White Lily Cookie had noticed that Pure Vanilla had been picking at his food the whole time, taking little bites.”Pure Vanilla, have you eaten anything today? Anything at all?” He looked at her with a smile that didn’t quite match his eyes. “Of course I did, My Lily. Do not worry for me.” She held his left hand underneath the table and noticed the bandage from the cut. “Oh, Lily, that’s nothing, I just accidentally cut myself while cooking!”
Her eyes didn’t look like they believed him, but all she said was, “Can you please eat something for me?” He reluctantly ate five bear jellies and put down his fork. “I ate earlier today, so I’m not that hungry!” White Lily Cookie nodded her head as she went back to her own plate.
…
Pure Vanilla had been lying down on his bed, thinking about how he messed up and attracted White Lily Cookie’s attention. He never wanted to get any of them involved, since they had their own problems and kingdoms to attend to.
“Pure Vanilla Cookie?” He heard a familiar voice as his wife appeared in the doorway. “Yes, my dear? What do you need?” She came over and laid down right next to his embrace. “Please, tell me if anything is wrong. You haven’t told anyone about what happened with Shadow Milk Cookie at the Spire. Even the children won’t tell us what happened. It’s worrying.” He looked at White Lily Cookie, and told her once more, “Again, nothing really happened. It’s not as bad as what everyone else went through.”
There was a moment of silence between the two, until Pure Vanilla got up and left. When he came back, he had Lily’s favorite tea and some vanilla bear jellies. “I know that you loved this whenever you stayed here, so I thought you might want some!” He said warmly, setting the tray in front of her.
“How can you treat me so nicely? After all I’ve done, all the harm I’ve unleashed on Cookiekind, you still treat me with compassion.” Pure Vanilla Cookie moved her closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. “My Lily, how could I ever hate you? The one who did all of that was Dark Enchantress Cookie. You are not Dark Enchantress Cookie. You are your own cookie, and you should not blame yourself for these actions.”
“You’re the only one that has fully welcomed me back as if that tragedy never happened.”
Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled as he took the hairband from her braid and began to brush her smooth, straight, moonlight coloured hair with his fingers. “I shall always welcome you back with open arms and love you fully, no matter what you may do.”
“Forevermore?” she pondered, looking up into Pure Vanilla’s light and welcoming yellow and blue eyes.
“Forevermore, my love.” He then kissed her on her forehead as she fell asleep in her arms.