Chapter Text
HOLLOW MILK(SHADOW MILK)
Shadow Hollow Milk cannot see. His breath is shaky, coming out in gasps rather than actual breath. Breathe. You'll be fine. Sage's voice rings out, distorted by the water yet still tangible. Fuck you. A thought that is quickly drowned by warmth that envelops him along with the scent of vanilla. He hates how he feels safe here, when he's not safe anywhere in this world. There will always be someone with ill intent. It's only a matter of time… even if he himself is the one with such desires.
He wants to claw every part of the other that touches him. Scars of past Betrayal run deep under his dough, screeching in a desperate effort to avoid another attack from one he once trusted. Something is being spoken, but he doesn't hear over the sound of 'his' own thoughts. Calm down. It's okay. No, it's not. Nothing has been 'okay' since that day thousands of years ago. Something touches his shoulder and he flinches, snapping back to reality and out of the ocean that was once again yearning to swallow him.
He casts aside centuries of past experience as he slowly leans into the touch, claws receding back to their original place. "Breathe."
A few minutes and he can feel his heart return to normal, and his gasping soon follows. A warm hand holding on to his own frigid one.
A simple thank you is mouthed as the two halves parts of Knowledge look into each other's gazes.
I told you. It's fine. Sage murmurs, his voice uncharacteristically soft.
Hollow Milk sits up, facing away from Pure Vanilla. "Do you ever wonder why we were created?" A question he's been asked countless times, whether from Cookies who could not handle the truth or throughout his descents. "I don't mean… that. Why were we placed here…?" His claws dig into his calves, too dull to draw jam but still offering him his twisted sense of comfort. "Everything was doomed to Fall from the beginning… and now look where I ended up. Fallen. Again." He lets out a high pitched giggle. "….I don't know why you bother with such a disgrace…" he mutters, curling in on himself as he falls back onto the bed.
"You're not a disgrace." Hollow Milk can only laugh at that. So certain. So… dead set. "I'm serious. Everyone on Earthbread makes mistakes—" Shadow Milk's pupils become as thin as paper as he cuts Pure Vanilla off. "Gods do not." He rasps. "Who made that decision?" That question gives him pause. "It should be obvious." He snarls, eyes in his hair locking on to Pure Vanilla's own before turning around and lunging, pinning the other to the floor, dulled claws trying in vain to dig into his throat. "You got a chance to live. To be something more than what you were created for. "You got to give up on your supposed purpose without being trapped for millennia." Shadow Milk stops to breathe. "Do you know how many I would have crumbled to have that power?" …not like he hasn't crumbled anyone, of course. "..'m sorry." Is the only thing that gets said. "How many times do I need to tell you I don't want your pity?"
"It's not pity. Merely.. understanding."
In a maneuver one can hardly call graceful, he leaps back up onto the bed. "..whatever."
The other just laughs softly.
FOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE
"Why were we created?"
"What is the meaning of life?"
"How do I know if someone loves me?"
All questions that the Fount did not have an answer cookies wanted to hear in response. It disliked these questions greatly. Truth is more trouble than it's worth, whether it sends a young child crying or a grown cookie mad.
Many have received the truth of this world. None of them took it well, from isolating themselves to genocide.
That was the first lie it told, the first of many to come.
It didn't notice at first, the way cookies whispered as it passed by, how they looked at it with hatred and distrust.
Was it ever a surprise it would end this way?
HOLLOW MILK/SAGE
Sage drifts back to where he usually resides. His job is done for now, Shadow Milk somewhat safe, even if he denied it.
The other-realm does not welcome his presence like it does with his other half. It knows something is wrong and will try to fight to push him out. Sage has, of course, gotten used to it over time, the value of the items in here far exceeds the risks of entry. At least to him.
Shadow Milk hadn't wanted anything to do with this area of their shared space in millennia, the shelves lined with books and scrolls left untouched for all that time.
Some depicting them when they were still… whole.
Others about things that the Beast of Deceit despised. A study on the milkcrown flowers that only grew from their tears. Various spell books that had 'muddied their work'. Even if he despised their past, the pride and joy of their efforts still held some place in his mind.
It was some amount of comfort, at least. Some part of him that Sage could understand, that wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him.
He was a hypocrite. Shadow Milk despised misinformation, yet spread it as easily as fire to dry grass. He merely hated it when other Cookies did what he saw as his job for him.
He sighs before placing the book he was holding back in its rightful place. Time had slipped from him again, it seems.
Drifting back to the exit of the darkness, he pushes his way through and watches the other's movements, he fights the urge to whisper 'I told you so' to the Beast. They're wrapped in the healer's arms, shakily breathing. Neither of them are speaking, but Shadow Milk's thoughts do not stop. Sage wishes he could either join in or hit the Beast with his staff— either one works.
Instead, he just leaves them to have their moment and returns to the Archive.