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Chapter Text

The light . . .

The truth . . .

It all leads to here . . .

Or even so , beyond here . . . . .

A chalky hand soothed itself in the ripples of the still lake, cleansing itself before being dragged out slowly; the waves following his hands movements stretched only for a few moments, and even then, ripples were barely very far. But he knew better.

One movement even in something so tranquil could ruin everything below, even if all was peaceful above. Just the thought made him tempted to dive his head underneath the cold surface, wanting to explore underneath, or at least get a glimpse for himself. His gleaming smile died down as he shifted away from the lake.

Knowledge was all he knew, possessed, and craved.

At times, his own life had felt a bore, knowing everything and yet feeling there was still something more... something else out there awaiting to be found. And he needed to know everything.

Tapping his lap and wiping his hands, he dried himself with a smile, a tired chuckle even. It was already late out in these woods, the moon above only shining more as if to rub the loneliness into him.

Said light only made him pause, sparkles on the lake making him contemplate for a moment.

He had no map, no guidance, no clear way to go except following his mind, the path for himself that he set on his own. It had only been half a day; his sense of time was always with him, but sense of where he remained was lost after he had left the Academy he had built up for decades.

Even his sense of self, purpose, it all depended on the Academy in a way, at least to everyone around him.

The thoughts that he was on a level lower only to that of an institution had bothered him so much that even his own friends took notice. His straining on himself only led to strain between them, and the realization had haunted him to the point of leaving.

Leaving for good.

Leaving forever, leave the past behind, whatever that was to him, whatever it was to anyone else, leave everyone with everything except for me, take myself out of the equation since it is so clear that my purpose has no meaning when everyone already shares the same thoughts, everything! They don't need a Fount of Knowledge when a damned Academy can do the job for me!

I am nothing with a society devoid of unintelligence. 

His fit of anger had made him blind to the scenery around him, and only when his thoughts calmed down did he see the lake, unbothered, again. It was almost a tease. It almost made him mad all over again. 

"'Serenity is the absence of disquiet.'" Muttering the memory of a friend's disdain to himself, picking up a small flower, plucking it quickly and letting it float out of the palm of his hand, the lake's water already trying to engulf it.

"'And I am anything but.'"

As the flower floated, he just stared, trying to shut his own mind up, hugging his knees cloaked beneath his robes as he sat on the grass patch.

The way the petals twisted as it distanced away from him made him sigh, exhaustion gripping at his head yet thoughts returning to bother his conscious again. 

They told me to go . . . to leave them . . . they asked for this . . . a break ? If I needed time alone I would've locked myself up in my abode . . . !

He stared at his reflection, his white eyelashes squeezing against his eyelids as he tried to recollect himself. 

For a reason, that is . . . They wouldn't want me away if it wasn't for the good of everyone, including myself.

Reaching his hands up to his eyes, he rubbed them softly, leaning slowly against the grass.

Especially . . . myself.

Half his thoughts faded into memories, words of his associates, friends, in some way lovers? He didn't know how to label all their connections, but confusion aside he just let their voices soak into his mind.

Their comforts, their worries, all their care they had for him. They weren't around now, and they wouldn't be for a while. All he had left was the replay of time, memories of them, on an endless loop of affection.

Ah, he could almost feel their soft eyes gazing onto him in prideful manners, more than happy to be around him due to simply being himself. He was as real as he could've ever gotten, and yet he needed to get away from that truth of himself.

Twice—no, thrice did he backpedal away from his own Academy's exit, the arching towers almost acting as a boundary into being able to escape even his most structured and built of identities. Even his robes had felt they were pulling him back, grounding him, his mind screaming the same thing he was trying to bury beneath other thoughts:

He wasn't supposed to leave so soon.

The golden and white robes clung to him as he swung his bag over onto his lap, eating a few jellyberries as a morning treat. The sun was already unforgivably bright, but he was about the leave this clearing anyways. He only thanked the warmth of it because from there on, it only felt like it got colder. Even the grass had swayed into a stop, the frozen mist forbidding wind to pass through, it seemed. 

The lone cookie grabbed his staff, heaving himself up, taking one last look at the lake, only to quickly look away due to the blinding reflection the sun gave.

Yeesh, so much for appreciating beauty.

Rubbing his eyes as he still woke himself up, he descended into the sporadic woods. Trees were distanced sometimes, then other times a path seemed to open, only for trees to enclose the space again.

It felt like a winding road, almost equivalent to a maze—which he already hated the idea of being in. There was something strange about uncertainty and chances that he hated all the risks given into traveling in a maze, he ought to remove the comparison to what his near future of exploration would be to something so disturbing to him.

His hair followed behind him as he quickly made his way in search of . . . another clearing, lake, anything else that may serve as familiar to his home.

Darkness in all ways except above made his mind run with apprehensive thoughts; his staff couldn't illuminate more than what he already knew, and it all looked like the trees were just mirroring each other. Ah, no, not a mirror maze, just a simple play on the eyes is all, okay?

Retreating to any direction, he didn't even know if he was only heading backwards. The sun, thankfully, bled light through the leaves most of his travels, at least allowing some vision to where he stepped. Aside from moments of being engulfed in the most dim areas of the forests, he just remained quiet.

He was usually a quiet one, specifically in private, even more now that he had no audience anyways. As proud of a figure he was, as bold as he preached his teachings, he was barely anything beneath that. An uncoordinated researcher, sure; just the thought that struck his own being as he tripped over a tree root mistaken as another pile of leaves.

Minutes, moments, hours, events, all turned into memories as soon as they happened; he did not dwell over small mistakes, as there was nothing he could do but fix it or move on. Even his own stumbling made him annoyed, but he pressed on into the unknown, mostly uncharted journey.

So distant from the Academy by now, he could only wonder where he was. To him, that was all the more reason to continue; what better way to explore than knowing you'll be the first to find it?

It was almost unheard of, especially in the very Blueberry Yogurt Academy, his academy, to have explored outside of the bounds that were already being studied. It was like sending someone to the skies. . . though this traveler wasn't really against the idea of going beyond the clouds and heavens themselves, especially in the name of knowledge.

Looking up now was no use, however. Leaves stretched beyond him, covering him from any light, even further—any moonlight by now as it had gotten noticeably darker hours ago.

He thought he would camp or settle down by now, but the light that emanated from him was not enough to soothe his anxieties about doing so in the middle of the woods. Taking to sleeping in trees was one thing, but he trekked on anyways, still trying to find some sort of clearing, somewhere of rest. His top goals still containing the want to get as far away from his society he built.

As far as his vision went, he limited himself for more of a thrill in a way; to put it simply, if any danger were to come up, he'd be in none.

No... his anxieties were beyond his physical being. It was what he feared he'd end up finding, so far away from so much, who knows if strange creatures would only make themselves known to lone, lost, strange cookies.

This cycle of worrying only led to resting against trees that allowed moonlight to soothe him, and it would remain as the only cycle he knew for days. It felt like weeks, and he knew it was weeks after a while; acknowledgement is sometimes a curse, so he merely pretended that it was just a feeling. 

Feelings are never accurate. Remember that for your anxieties.

The main thing keeping him going in his uncertain quest anyways was the plants. No creatures have really been spotted, aside from the strange cake hound that seemed to stalk him for his food, but nothing else. It was almost dreadful to be so alone, but at least being aware of what made a twig snap or leaves swish behind him gave him peace of mind. Letting at least the hound get close was all he could ask for, really.

But the plants... oh, it was so strange to him. He felt like he'd seen it before, perhaps in his visions? Maybe in studies done at the Academy? But no, no, no, no, nothing felt right about these. Studies showed nothing like the sentience of these, this was much more different.

Some of the vines, veiny as they were against the stumps of decaying chopped down trees, wrapped around his finger if he remained there for long enough. Of course, it was dying. It was just a sight in itself. Who knew how to help these? What even were these? Perhaps they're not native to these parts of the forests. Maybe a tree grew so much that it blocked sunlight and killed it.

He wasn't stupid, though. Stumps, for starters.

His matching blue eyes swept the scene, only now taking in what was light patches of grass, lilies and valleys of so faltering under his guise, almost as though they were bowing unwillingly.

Dying.

He took in more of the area, disregarding the cake hound that still followed as close as it could without being spotted, or at least thinking it wasn't.

The cookie couldn't help but stifle a small hum at the hound, finding it naturally cute to him. "Stumps aren't naturally stumps, unless given a force of nature decided to clear specifically this area out, you see?" He decided to muse himself, talking to the creature as it slowly stepped into view more, its tongue wildly hanging out as it stared up at the traveler. "Cookies, obviously, have been here before, and little has grown back. . . since you have no sense of fear currently I can only assume there really is, well, nothing to fear here. Including any cookies." Gesturing his hand, he noticed its gaze followed his movements, humming again out of humor. 

He paused, bending down to a knee, wanting the hound to at least come closer. Luring it to him, he opened his bag, offering more of his limited food. Saying nothing as it approached more, it gladly ate whatever he held up, pressing into his petting hands. The cookie took careful note of it for just a moment, proceeding to look up, his eyes following the fading paths. Footsteps were nowhere to even be seen.

"Correct?"

Picking up the small cake hound, he found that it was smaller than he first assumed. Lost, was the only word he could think about it. Looking ahead, he was tempted to continue on, but still sitting with the creature in his arms only made sleep tug his body down, curling it up into the sleeves of his robe and taking off his bag. Mind wandering again, without him, into the dark corners of the leaves around him, soaking the moonlight that still stubbornly shone through the trees onto him and his new acquaintance. The breathing of it seemed to slow, and all he could do was resonate with its warmth as he felt himself drift off too.

How much time had passed. . . ? He knew the answer, but he questioned these forests. So empty, devoid of anything other than plants it seemed. And the day cycle struck him as ever more strange.

Did the sun ever actually rise here?

Chapter Text

The truth only remains as so . . .

because of the reality that it was grounded in . . .

So what of it . . . ?

Of a changed reality . . .?

What does that make the truth , then . . .

The traveler couldn't help but jolt upright, the drool of the cake hound sticking to his face before he tried to rub it off with his robe's sleeves.

Colors of the saturated forest around them swarmed his vision as he woke up properly, rubbing his eyes and not minding the cake hound wandering around now. It stuffed its face into his bag, the attention to it making the cookie finally take notice to its decorative details waning off from how much he's been outside now.

Even his own robes seemed to be losing their colors in turn of the weathering it's been through.

He gently picked up the hound, arguably smaller than even a cake, placing it into his bag as it comforted itself into its cover. The cookie just sighed, glancing around the clearing now. The moon still shone threateningly, at least that's how he took it from the lack of the sun. Even his own warmth was decayed by the coldness of the grounds around them.

Though, speaking of decay, he couldn't help but take another look at the stumps. They didn't exactly look dead. Nor alive... it was difficult to tell, especially with the markings all around them.

Markings, well, imprinted into them... silver slivers engraved into the chopped plants, if one could call those that either. Although much of the surrounding clearing had dapples of withering flowers, these remained intact.

Moving carefully as to not shake his bag too much, he sat on one of the stumps, his hands gliding across the edges of it. The metallic feel of silver washed over him, though he can't figure out how a tree grew like this...

The first reasonable conclusion is obvious: silver lining was poured all over these plants, reserving them. But if that were the case, why not reserve the entire forest? What of these stumps make them significant??

The more he looked into it, the more he found wrong with the initial theory. Even cuts and wear into them left nothing but more silver behind; all that rung to his ears was the words of silver, it's a plant entirely uprooted in silver? 

But then he heard another thing, or at least he thought he was making it up to himself. At this point he almost believed he was insane, though the cake hound's presence forbid him from thinking isolation made him insane.

It was silent again, but not for too long.

Silver bells.

Now, how in Earthbread would he have known the difference of silver and golden bells? Well. He didn't, at least not until now, he never thought of knowing a difference between sounds; an entire separation of his realm lf knowledge since the senses wasn't his interests, yet...

A billion questions swarmed behind his eyelids, yet he stayed frozen. Something was there; judging by the clearing's preciseness in its decor and skill of ridding trees of their metallic bark, he could only assume it was... someone.

His eyes cleared the area times over, though anxiety welled up despite his attempt to reason with his impulsive feelings. "Is anyone there? Please, I come in peace across all kingdoms," he announced, his hands still gripping his bag; he didn't want to look like he could surrender so easily. "I'm not here to quarrel—"

Something about the air in the forests. Wind was rare up until arriving in this specific area, unable to help but thank it now. 

Or maybe he was just lucky.

One arrow. One cookie.

It wasn't the wind, as the sound of the bow's twang hit clearer than the arrow hitting the tree across from where he sat.

He rarely got the chance to aim, but the more he and his mentor looked at this specific cookie, perhaps it was for the better.

But appearances still didn't make them let their guard down.

"You missed..! How did you m—"

The archer felt a knock to the back of his head, looking up at the other among his self depreciation.

The other was simply doing a hushed expression, finger to his mouth to tell him to shut up. They both looked away from each other, back to the clearer that their target stood at still.

This clearing made the moon's light appear bright, yes, but they couldn't help but see this cookie was almost giving off light of his own.

"What do we do... we can't just let him waltz into the Kingdom!"

"He seems to already know about it..."

"No, that sounds like a fair greeting; we aren't the only kingdom, ding-dong."

"Don't call me that!"

They silenced themselves as the traveler spoke again, worry clear as day on his face.

Whatever he said did not concern them as they took his nervousness to their advances planned. His eyes seemed to go everywhere except above, the light shadow of the archer's mentor, a knight by all means, making swift work of knocking him out.

The archer would later point out how anti-climatic it felt. This would give him another knock to the back of the head as the pair traversed back with the passed out entity into their kingdom.

My Kingdom.

Aches spread through his upper body, particularly his head. The way he laid caused more endurances of pain to his neck, only to sit up faster than he did the previous morning. No bag in sight, not even the faint sound of the cake-hound snoozing, no. All taken so fast—am I kidnapped???

His worries died down upon realizing there were really no restraints. In fact, he felt like he was in the Eternal Kingdom from how much music he had already heard. He thought he'd take note of this, perhaps even record his findings, but again, his bag was nowhere to be seen. 

Although he was in somewhere strange, it wasn't eerily decorated. Yes, plants remained where they originally grew, similarly with silver streaks along them. The walls of this particular room were almost completely glass; he couldn't define it, but even the looks of it felt like silk.

Observing was never enough for him, evident by how he slowly made his way upwards of the bed, only now realizing the contents of the bed as well. Silky, silvery leaves as blankets, leaves that seemed obscenely huge for the trees he always knew and was familiar with. Even the cushion of the bedding was held up with silver wood, its headboard containing several motifs he's seen dozens times in the decor of here and the clearing now.

Trailing his hands along them, then moving to the glass, his guesses were as he assumed. It was unlike anything he'd felt or seen, and even his own light he emanated felt brighter as he resided in such a dim room.

Perhaps it was a show of his excitement, feeling his energy resurge through his body, and only then did he realize he in fact did not have any of his belongings other than the clothes that clung to his body.

Including his staff.

Walking with his staff was merely convenience; walking without it was akin to walking with thorns sticking into your leg randomly, specifically his right leg for him.

But even then, that pain subsided in favor of his curiosity. He did depend on that staff for most of his life, although not for walking. Starters of it, the thing had his Soul confined to it. What did these... captors..? want with it...?

Making his way to the entrance of the home was not the worst thing, but the vines repeatedly reaching for him was something he didn't exactly adore.

The music only grew louder with each step, it'd be no wonder he's in a house with nobody in it; everyone must be celebrating of some sort. Wonderful strums of harps and harpsichords could be heard thrumming, the glass of the windows not being enough to let him see the entire square. Hesitantly, he knew it was only a matter of time, his body feeling a sudden dread. These cookies—from what he could tell, they were also made of dough as he was—were capable of much more than meets the eye. 

It almost... almost reminded him of his own home.

And so. . .

He gently opened the door.

No, the music did not stop. No, the people did not turn in horror or shock, or even surprise. In fact, it all felt louder to him, likely because he was actually facing it without any bounds, but even then...

Was he being celebrated? He found no one else to appear as a guest in this clearing alone. Were these exiles? No, that makes no sense; exiles were dangerous and strange. These cookies were just... strange. Enlightened, in a way.

They knew to protect themselves from dangers, especially given how they handle themself, but they knew enough to leave him alone. Trust him to be alone. From the perspective of them, he thought he'd be treated more harshly; after all, that was their clearing he rested in, perhaps it was still in use despite the death of the flowers remaining there.

He looked around, freezing as he saw a cookie approach him directly, smile on her face. Saying nothing she stood there, bowed for a notable length of time and finally motioned for him to follow. The music did not cease, loud cheers and dancing continuing as they walked to another corner of their silver village. Understandably, the other was quiet when near the music; speaking over it would either bring attention to themselves or strain their own voice. But when further away, she still did not dare say a word.

"Where are... you taking me?"

No response.

He didn't ask anything else, knowing it would be the same momentum. Better to shut up then to press on into nothing.

Their footsteps padded across the ground as they approached an even smaller path, trekking along until finally arriving at what he assumed was their destination.

All along the grey patches of the grass remained flowers blooming ever so confidently, life comforting life as he saw how entangled much of the building ahead was with these plants.

Figures of butterfly motifs and other symbols as before were decorated along the pillars, grand as they were before him. It was everything as a residence from what he could tell, his guide sometimes waiting patiently as he got distracted and stared at the walls.

Her green eyes simply stared, her smile almost pasted onto her face before turning and continuing again once he was back to where he really was.

Upon entry, their footsteps echoed into every corner, finally arriving at the main room, or such from what he could assume.

Soon it was only his footsteps as she bowed again, guiding her hand to the next room over, skipping away into yet another alternate room. Hums of wings could be heard flapping, finding himself face to face with a young cookie once he turned back around.

"And what are you doing here so soon?!"

The newcomer was as shocked as him, surprised even. "I was brought here, I had assumptions I'm meant to talk to someone—!!"

He cut himself off as soon as an arrow was pointed at him, eye contact between the bow's strings remaining.

"You make me look like a fool! I missed yesterday, but if you pull an funny business, I assure that won't be the only thing pulled!" The white haired archer threateningly pulled his string back farther, only to suddenly stop and retreat his bow and arrow away.

More footsteps, more importantly, footsteps at all. Most of these cookies were winged, their ability to fly not taking much strength and usually resorting to such. But that was only most.

Even the threatened cookie seemed to relax at the sound of the footsteps, turning and only tensing up again at the sight and sound of this particular.

"Now, Silverbell, you know this Kingdom is not built on this 'business' you speak of. I have already talked with you, did Mercurial Knight not say any further details about how you treat our guest?"

Silverbell lowered his gaze, shame clearly written into his eyes. "Apologies, my eldest. There is simply no way to be too safe, as you had once said."

"And while you are correct, he poses little threat to you. Fear exposes those with no intent of harm, just as you fear the stillness of the room as soon as I enter."

He turned away from the young archer, sending him off to the festival before he gazed at the newcomer, his eyes finally fixated on the other's.

"As I said, I am nothing of business, this was merely a place of meeting up so I can explain more to you,

if you would not mind,

Light Milk Cookie."

He looked even more startled at his name being said. He hadn't heard it in what felt like years. "I—Okay, no, I don't mind a tour, aha. However I do mind that last bit. How do you possess my name in your mind?" His hands started fidgeting with his robes, forgetting how drab they were by now.

The other continued to stare, eyes slightly widening, but humming anyways. "Lucky guess." As if on cue, the cookie who guided him here was back, now flying as she politely landed near him, holding his belongings in her hands as an offering.

"I only joke, then, what other way to find a name than to search your things. You don't think we're helpless creatures of the forest do you? For someone as the Fount of Knowledge for a title, I can only assume it is self proclaimed from how you've noted more things the closer you got to my kingdom into that book of yours."

As the traveler took his belongings back, he cleared his throat before introducing himself, staff slamming to the ground as he slightly put his weight into it to hold himself up easier. "Right, yes, my name is Light Milk Cookie, Fount of Knowledge and Headmaster of The Blueberry Academy. I come here in—"

"In search of knowledge of the unknown, yes, I am well aware." He quietly humbled him, allowing the other cookie to remain as they spoke, to which she simply just stood smiling.

Something finally hit Light Milk's mind as he was looking through his bag, something that crossed his mind when he first awoke but only for a moment. "Apologies, as I am not accusing you of anything, but I... for a short time traveled with a cake-hound. It was in my bag last before—well, you know. Being taken here." 

The other two cookies simply looked at each other, the elder sighing and finally introducing the guide. "This is one of many powerful cookies we have in this kingdom, Apple Faerie Cookie." She bowed again, this time with a small curtsey. "She is currently not speaking because she is... as she explains it, 'saving her voice' for the performances that will be taking place later tonight."

Light Milk Cookie just stared in confusion. "I... I see, but... that does not explain anything. Though, it is nice to have met you," he bowed back, or at least in an attempt to show the same grace in return as a thank for her leading him here.

"She guided you here."

"I know, I—"

"Indirectly."

More confusion. "I'm sorry, are—"

Cutting him off again, he smiled while doing so. "This very cookie is strong for the reasons you may know now. A shape shifter, rare and hard to learn or even do. Her energy surpasses most, but I suppose that can be thanked to her routine practice." Light Milk just stared at him in pure shock.

"You're telling me she was the.. cake hound??" Excitement clashed with curiosity, a calamity of emotions taking place between his thoughts, even showing in his eyes as he simply stared with his mouth agape in shock. "Shape shifting has felt like myths, never truly done, though! That is—no that... it definitely—"

He held so many questions behind his tongue, stopping with knowing that even she can't answer at all until after tonight. "How bizarre of a kingdom..."

The cookie felt his hair become slightly undone, composing himself and standing upright again. Apple Faerie just smiled and bowed to both, skipping away with a wave into a hover as she made her way for other kingdom duties.

Both turned away from her exit and looked at each other again, one clearly fascinated with everything. "Of all cookies I have seen here so far, you are the only one with a crown...." His grip on his golden staff tightened as he tried to absorb every bit of information taken. First, they're faeries. At least a few can shape shift. And to add it all together, they dance all day and night...? Or rather, purely just at night...

"Ah, I have introduced others before myself, apologies. I don't believe I've ever had to introduce myself to anyone before aside from my own kingdom. And even then, that is not even necessary."

He just smiled slightly, his eyes shutting as he laughed at himself for forgetting to do something rather important.

"My name is Elder Faerie Cookie. I am the Head Guardian of the Silver Kingdom, the very one you currently reside in."

His voice echoed clearer than before, almost haunting the greats halls they were in. And yet, serene.

Without a word, Light Milk just bowed his head, realizing that this is the king. The Silver King, his mind corrected. "I greatly appreciate you for taking me into the safety of your lands, I—really—I didn't mean to stumble across one of your own and end up here," speaking quieter as he trailed off, he looked up again, feeling his chin get lifted as to make him stand up straight again.

The Elder's eyes were narrowed, yet still careful in his gaze, as if gently observing him. "You need not bow to me, I am more curious as to your fate here than you are of me, which as I can tell, is already a substantial amount, no?" He slowly moved his hand away, nonchalantly turning and slowly walking the way they came from.

The truth seeker followed behind him quickly, his face burning from such a cold touch; his mind wandered into too many places, but finally he rested his thoughts on one word that was said as they traversed into the silver lining of the flowered front fields, walking side by side now. "You mentioned my fate here? You think there is a reason I was brought here?"

A moment of silence endured as they walked, Light Milk awaiting an answer, though waiting patiently as ever. They hiked up a small hill, overlooking the main square of their enclosed kingdom.

He looked over at Elder Faerie as he heard him open his mouth and breathe in before speaking, almost entranced by his movements as he swayed his hand over the sight of the square to make him take the scene in. "Fate is what brought this to me. I, alone, conjured a miniature world within what we know. We've sealed ourselves off, as sealing is equivalent to protection. Though, I do not let them live in pure bliss..."

Part of the mood changed as a shadow seemed to cast over his eyes; despite this, his eyes still held fond memories within. "No, not all is peaceful in this world. Within this kingdom, yes... our merry songs and celebrations, we have been celebrating for a week today, it is almost coincidence you've arrived on the seventh." He paused, as he looked at Light Milk again, not acknowledging that he had been looking at Elder Faerie the entire time. "I say almost because you still found your way here on this sacred day, during these pious celebrations."

Light Milk remained silent, mainly staring at his crown and his robes, the engravings being the motif of the kingdom. His eyes wandered to the view of the square, the sounds of music and laughs reaching them in an almost hushed way. "And what of these faeries... that's what you call yourselves, yes? Where did they all come from if you built it on your own?"

"So curious, are you?" Elder Faerie softly hummed a chuckle out, continuing their walk without a notice. "Yes, we are the faeries, we used to call ourselves the silver faeries, though that implied there were golden or even iron ones. So faeries it was." They wandered across fields of flowers now, life seeming to envelop as they got close to them.

"I would say they are extensions of my being, but they are more than that. They all grew from the very plants and trees that reside here, hospitality being put into every living thing within our borders." Light Milk stopped walking as the other spoke, hands on his staff as he bent down to touch the lining of petals on the valley of lilies.

Elder Faerie paused as well, folding his arms within his robes and watching patiently. "This kingdom is what it is because of my people. They make up the trees and life force of everything we have here. And as ever as we are, we depend solely on the moon's light."

Following the traveler's movements, he also caressed the plants carefully, smiling as he felt the energy of life the leaves gave off.

Light Milk stared up at him, following closely again as they continued on. He was oddly quiet now, realizing this was akin to a tour. "When I... first arrived within the boundaries, or so what I believe was crossing into your kingdom, I found strange stumps. Do those also... belong to you...? Your people, I mean?"

Elder Faerie continued, his face unreadable especially given the other was walking more behind him now. The silence was louder the further they got from the square, the sound of wind dancing with petals being the only tune now.

"It is something I have realized I can not control."

The Fount was stumped now, riddles not being his main pursuit of how he obtained knowledge. "Do you mean life...? No one can control life. I have studies of this, I am aware as you are...."

"No, I mean love." As he continued, Light Milk was finally taken aback.

"Love? Well, no, that can't be controlled either."

"Unconditional love. Conditioned by, as you first said, life." He had led them to a small pond, dimly lit by the bioluminescence of the plants and bugs around the area, as well as Light Milk's own shine. "I can not control life, this much they know, but those stumps... those plants. It is not the only place of withering. They die without love, without affection, memory. It isn't just love but it's everything that makes a cookie, well, a cookie."

"In all your studies, you would know the fragility of cookiekind, yes?" He questioned the Fount as he stared into the pond, lily pads dancing with the fishes ripples. The luminous presence of the other grew brighter as he got closer to him, also looking into the pond. "I can not shield all from death. From the truth of life. But love is as limited as it, and I... I can not control that. I forget my own cookies, my own people."

"You speak as though you only just discovered this..." Light Milk said, not looking at him directly but rather his reflection in the water. "Plants die, then, plants are reborn. Is that not how your Kingdom thrives? Forgotten or not to the depths of withering, their lives were still lived, and those stumps are evidence of their existence in this world."

Elder Faerie sighed, laughing in a melancholic way. "I did not know how much wisdom you could speak, surely your mouth is a vessel for the library in your head..."

As he tried to make lighter talk, he looked at Light Milk, smiling more genuinely. "Come, the final fest is going to begin soon. I've only shown you the outskirts of this Kingdom."

His intrigue with Elder Faerie only grew. Such connection to nature, yet it rooted in cookies themselves... unheard of to himself, yet it made complete sense.

This understanding was already altering how he thought of everything he'd ever learnt and studied,

no,

more than that—

the way he had always lived. 

Chapter Text

I met a traveler from a land beyond any I've ever endured visiting.

They stopped and told me—

"The ridges of stone that piled at the borders

of kingdoms all alike were met with erosion

, erosion of sands from flour and spices alike

such contrasting ideals that could've worked

as well as sugar and salt

, but the hearts they ate

, the food they crushed

, nothing was made to survive.

All this restlessness led to the beheading

of the border's belonging, peacekeeper

of the time, of time itself, too.

Nothing besides remains. Rivers of tears

made of milk flowed from the single eye of the

keeper, no less, filled with nothing but

despair from the many

of whose trust was betrayed that day."

Light Milk's strained grip on his staff tightened as he followed Elder Faerie along silver lined stone bridges towards the square. His right leg felt as though it was in more pain, straining to keep his anguish hidden. A terrible job, he knew, getting glances from the Silver King every so often.

Suddenly, they made a turn, away from the main square and rather into the same home that they placed Light Milk in upon arrival. "What are we doing here? Isn't the festival about to commence?"

He quickly shut up as Elder Faerie swiftly made his way through the home, picking through storages of drawers until finding strange herbs. "Sit down."

Obviously listening as there was nothing else to do, he sat atop a chunk of rock, silver moss also seeming to seep alongside it. "May I inquire what that is? Or are you going to poison me?"

"You ask too much of the dangers to realize I am only try to help. You look like a wingless firefly, allow me to at least give some more treatment to your infection." He spoke softly yet with a stern edge to his voice.

"...Some more? And—what? Infection!?" He was surprised, lifting his robe just barely only to see dark blue coats of dough trailed along his right leg.

"How did you even—? Did you do this??"

Elder Faerie just approached him, already softening the herbs' silvery coating against his wound. "As I said, you ask too much of dangers. I already knew because Apple Faerie mentioned that you had scraped your leg harshly, yet even before that you had a limp." He laughed softly, not necessarily at him. "I had to see for myself if you'd mention it at all so I could properly take care of you, but I see now you were just ignorant to your own body..!"

Light Milk just scoffed, hissing at the pain as well despite the soft release of the healing taking place already. Sure, he wasn't good as new, but it certainly alleviated what pain plagued his leg, all the way up to the side of his hip. "You... are going to need to teach me the use of all these plants."

"Why? So you can use up all the supplies for any instance you get hurt?" The other joked, standing up and offering a hand to help the truth seeker onto his feet. "Soon, I'll tell you more of these lands, but again, the festival calls."

Light Milk, easily able to lift himself with his staff, took his hand anyways, sighing but letting a smile push through despite his faked annoyance. "Hmmm, you assume too much of the dangers of me."

The elder returned the smile, shaking his head as he opened the door for him, following him out the home as he shut it gently behind him. "Ahg, the squeak on this door never does go away."

The truth seeker gave him a curious smile now while waiting outside with him. "Wow, you must really know this place like the back of your hand," he laughed, joking initially.

"Mmnn... no. Just my own house, really." He guided him to the other side of the square, speaking over the conversations amongst the other faeries, aware of the other's face without looking at it. "Before you question me, yes, that is my home, we all have the same structures, or at least as close as possible to one. Bigger homes merely contain more merry faeries within it, and since you were a guest and we haven't finished reconstruction with other buildings, well... you're the Fount of Knowledge. You can connect those thoughts."

He almost said it with a bit of tease in the outline of his voice, Light Milk trying to gain a self awareness and compose himself despite the idea of sleeping in the guardian's own bed. "So where, you know, where would you rest if I'm in your quarters...?"

They approached one of the sides of their main stage-like areas, a tree of great size only now coming into view; as dim as it was, Light Milk's luminesce sparked curiosity into any nearby faeries while they seated themselves at one of many stable leaves.

"Well, leave that up to me later, as that wasn't an issue yesterday either." Before Light Milk could get another response out, he heard a voice chime out across the square, music coming to a halt as they gathered around the center stage.

Light Milk only knew what he could gather and remember of what was mentioned. This has been a week-long celebration, today being the final night of the week; though, he wasn't sure if there was a continuation of the celebrations. 

Another chime of the same voice, this time clearer, introducing themself as they bowed to the crowd. "Hello, and greetings once more as we gather for the day of the seventh! Our wishes and merry tunes have been answered by our beloved Moon, giving us another year, decade and century of peace and everlasting freedom." Soft music played as they continued to speak, their wings flapping in excitement; Elder Faerie glanced over to the newcomer, who, thankfully, was fixated on everything of the ceremony yet confused as he listened.

"We live in honor of the Moon's glory, as the Sun abandoned us long ago... I am sure you have noticed the lack of it reaching here since your arrival to anywhere near these forests." He leaned over to Light Milk, who only grew brighter out of excitement, obviously wanting to ask questions but too held up in the words of the ceremony itself as well; so caught up that he didn't even look over at the other, leaving him to be stared at.

"We mark today as a special one for another reason." The speaker scanned the crowd, almost jokingly as it soon became apparent who they were looking for once their eyes rested on Light Milk. "The Moon has gifted us a Light, or at least an adventurer that contains part of the Moon's Light within his very being, Light Milk Cookie!"

Everyone was surprised, Light Milk for starters, but even Elder Faerie, who had not seen this to happen in the ceremony. Less of surprise there was more of cheers and stares of awe as the music got only slightly brighter. "I-Honored, I really am, I just... I" His voice could barely be heard, mainly because he finally went hoarse, throat closing in on itself. He'd never had such sudden attention; to his own peers and kingdom, yes, but to another? Moreover, one he arrived to less than 48 hours ago?

"Yes, you!" The speaker said, not hearing anything that was really said and continuing their show of love and nurture anyways. "We offer celebration to your name, as while you do not have to stay, you are more than welcome to!"

Elder Faerie suddenly cleared his throat, standing and causing the entire scenery to go silent aside from the music, which was usual anyways to their embodiment. "These are not official statements of the Kingdom. While we do welcome guests, I'm afraid a separate celebration would need to take place for Light Milk Cookie. It is unusual to see a guest be greeted as such on the same level Our Beloved Moon." His gaze was focused on the speaker, who was already ushering apologies out, motioning for the choir to come onto the stage in preparation of the events in place. Light Milk couldn't help but just stare at him; was that... good or bad as a reaction? Was he or was he not welcomed?

Sitting down again, the ceremony broke back out into conversations and cheers, some faeries even coming up to Light Milk to ask polite yet curious questions, acting as though he was the star of the night. It was unlike anyone to be fascinated with another cookie, but their fascination came with good reason, so neither Elder Faerie nor Light Milk questioned it. 

"How do you glow like that? Are you from the heavens?"

"Are you your own nightlight for sleeping?"

"Do you like it here? Everything we ever need is here, please consider staying!"

"How does your hair- hat? Hairt? Work like that? It's so sparkly... Can I touch it?"

"Are you really made of milk? Like pure milk? And, well, light of course-I mean you know that, but-"

"Do you really contain the Light of Truth?"

"Does that staff thing unlock something? Oooh, is it your necklace thing? Scarf? Hey, what is that anyways?"

The last person to ask a question was the first to receive negative contact out of all the faeries that sporadically came up through the festival. His hand was gently pushing the other's hand away, smiling feverishly. "Call it what you want, but I... there is a reason I do not insert my staff into my chest. It is quite painful."

"I'm so sorry, have you tried doing so before?"

Light Milk shifted in his seat, sitting upright and more stern now as he looked away, almost at a loss of words. "I am afraid I will not be taking further questions. I... I'm sorry. Apologies, genuinely."

Elder Faerie had been watching carefully, especially more after the sudden shift. He had answered most questions with a resounding yes, sometimes sarcastic, which some Faeries did not pick up on. It wasn't the strangest thing to not want to be touched, yet he allowed one faerie to poke his hair and run away giggling.

For a while they remained unbothered, now resorting to some talks between each other as the ceremony carried on. The way he was being treated was obviously shifting how he felt about the Kingdom; Elder Faerie had conflicting feelings on how the other was towards his home. "If you would like to go rest early, you may do so. If anything, I can also escort if need-be? I am simply staying for Apple Faerie Cookie's performance soon."

Momentarily, Light Milk seemed to hesitate, seeming to want to leave, or at least get away from the overjoyed ceremony and the awkward start of it all. But he shook his head, noticing how most faeries were doing motions akin to blowing kisses towards the Moon, remembering how sacred this whole event really was. His curiosity, again, getting the better of him. "I would like to also stay for her performance. Saving one of the best for the last, did they?" He tried to make lighter talk, leaning in to Elder Faerie when he spoke so it was clearer.

"You could say so, yes" He hummed as he would occasionally mimic his actions as well.

For a moment, all pain that endured earthbread felt like it was lifted.

His eyes were smiling with his mouth, and there was no way anyone could look more heavenly.

Perhaps that one faerie was correct; while he had denied being of the heavens, it felt like he was a gift from the Moon itself.

His light is so reminiscent of it, I couldn't help but ask it again myself at the end of Apple Faerie's performance, to which he jokingly said 'Hey, no more questions!!'

But that didn't stop him from still answering me, way late into the night.

It almost proved me right.

He really did have the Moon's Light within.

Or at least, the purest form of it.

After the events of the ceremony followed the grandest feast he'd thought he would ever lay his eyes on. Such unique yet delicious forms of flavors awaiting to be enveloped, yet he felt full within minutes, to which Elder Faerie mocked the Fount for in a teasing way; he, himself, was also stuffed fairly quickly.

But with as many faeries that there were, there was little food remaining within the next hour or so, much of the time conversations of the Flower Dances arose, making Light Milk realize they always chased after looking forward to celebrations of living. 

"Do you folk have birthday celebrations as well?" The Fount inquired to the elder, who only gave a stare back.

"Birthdays?"

"Ye—Well, you know, days that you were born, and a calendar year later, you celebrate it, like a celebration of living a full cycle of the..." He was going to say 'sun', realizing the mistake as soon as he was to finish his words. "Nevermind, ah, I forget how things work here."

Elder Faerie gave a slight scoff, watching as other faeries at their table waved goodbye, among those including Apple Faerie, to which both of the eldest cookies bid farewell to. "We have something similar. I believe you'd call it a 'deathday' however. And it only happens once."

Light Milk gave silence as a response, staring in curiosity and making the other realize he was actually interested in what that celebration was.

"When a faerie is... unfortunate enough to meet a fate too soon, we part with their crumbs and bury it in a clearing. Most times, only a small amount of us go to mourn first, to set the seed of their life. As you said, evidence of their existence. The stumps are not dead, the clearing you were in is one of a few, but we celebrate their livelihood and history, contributions to us. In turn, the withering of flowers around them is the memories lost. My memories of them as well, faltering with their absence." Being met with silence, he just continued on by seeing how Light Milk was just resting his head on his hand as he leaned closer with a wonderous smile. "We call that day the Visit of the Sun, as most believe that if they do not see the sun now, they will in death. A deathday, as proposed earlier."

The truth seeker sat up, noticing how still the air had felt again. "You must have most of your beliefs based on the Moon, huh?" The other stood up, followed by him doing the same as he mirrored his actions, already following him.

The elder nodded, sighing as he waved his hand around while speaking. "Well, when the biggest source of light takes up half your sky all the time, it is hard to disregard it as being responsible for our very lives. Even I have felt as though my power is within the core of that silver lined rock in space." Halting as they finally made it to the current makeshift guest home, he gestured to the door. "As much as I'd love to talk, there is always enough time in the world to do just that."

Light Milk felt as though he was given an ultimatum, though he already decided since before arrival that he was going to stay there anyways. Talk. For eternity...?

"I suppose this is goodnight?"

"It is always Good-Night." He laughed as he tilted his head to the moon above before he bowed to the Fount, trailing on the path away now, probably back to the building that they had first met.

The cookie stared as he walked away, staring at his robes that dragged behind the elder before attempting to open the door, flinching at the sudden squeaking of it against the quiet air. He shut it quickly again, though without opening it.

His mind was still restless, and judging by the direction the elder went, he was also not sleeping in the next few hours. Eventually he found his way, his own robes following into the paths surrounded by flowers as he followed him.

Soon enough, there had been a way to get near the back of the stages that were used for the ceremonies, the grandest tree swaying softly, yet not even reaching into the skies as high as he had originally thought. Elder Faerie Cookie stood at a edge of a giant mirror; Light Milk took enough time to realize it was simply a lake that looked as if it was liquid silver. So clear, yet reflective as ever.

His footsteps were not quiet, mainly to give a slight sign that he had wandered into following him as well, to not startle him of course. The faerie did not look at him, instead just staring at him through his reflection as he stood to the right of him.

"When I had said there was more time to talk, I meant perhaps after a bit of rest. I have told you so much already..." His voice was low, soft, almost as gentle as the feeling of the silvery water resting before them. "Restless still...?"

Light Milk was also returning the stare in the reflection, mumbling but smiling through his words. "Mind reader, are we?"

"No, nothing of that sort. I can not tell of the future, I merely read into my fate and align that with what happens in real time."

"Ah, sentimental. I see."

"...Do you not also fear fate?"

The question felt sensitive, he broke whatever eye contact they were doing between the reflection to settle into the silver patches aside the lake. "Perhaps. If I simply do not believe in fate, would it still affect me the same way?"

"What happens, happens, as some would say."

Another pause of silence. Light Milk felt movement but disregarded it, staring at the grass between his feet as if anything would change in the next moment.

"Do you think living in bliss is better than living with knowledge?"

"Living in bliss is breaching the lines of ignorance, is all." The truth seeker responded, almost as a mutter, looking up,

only to be completely surprised.

The silver king's wings, unfurled in its entirety, took up half his view, having to twist his head to even see the designs between every wing. Elder Faerie himself looked as though he was soaking up the Moon Light, despite his wings blatantly retaliating and reflecting every droplet of light that dare laid on it. His eyes shut, serene and still as a painting, or at least that's all Light Milk dared compare him to in that moment. Even thinking so felt like an insult; he felt as though he was staring at the presence of the Moon on Earthbread itself.

When he did finally reopen his eyes, he still remained staring at the Moon; this was his own ritual, Light Milk realized. Appreciation to what he believed gave him everything.

"Do you really carry the Moon's light within you..?" He questioned the truth seeker. "You glow on your own, without reflection. It has struck me as strange since the moment I met you."

Light Milk stood up, taking a step back and still entranced by the other's wings, opening his mouth to speak but finding himself unable to at first.

Finally, he focused on the other's eyes; the wind, as dead as the still air, dragged the gravity down with each second of silence.

"I know you know where the Moon's Light comes from, yes?" The golden silhouette of his own staff was from his own emanating light. "It... you know."

"It comes from the Sun."

"It does, yes. My energy is beyond the distance of even the Moon and back. To be honest, I believe my light is beyond even the Sun."

The slightest glint of an emotion he hadn't seen in Elder Faerie's eyes yet was seen, but just for a second. He muttered something, mouthing his words more than actually speaking, his words coming out as silence.

"How did...?"

Light Milk took a step closer again, noticing how his wings were folding back down slowly as he did so.

"How did what...?" He asked, staring at the reflections of the moonlight onto the faerie king.

"How did the witches create you...?"

The truth seeker paused, almost surprised at the mere mention of the witches. "The same way any was created, of course..."

"Such power is unlike any, even beyond my own..."

"We aren't anything alike, does this solve that?"

"The light chose to confide within you, the light of Truth, that's what it is called, yes?"

"It is, and what of you?" His staff was still in hand, had been the whole time; he resorted to using his other hand instead to grab that of the other's, staring intently still.

"Am I not able to say the light has also chosen me?" A slight smile tugged at the corner of the faerie's lips, his attempt at suppressing it failing immediately. 

"Well, certainly it'd be a bit greedy to ask for the light of the Moon, Sun, and Truth to all choose you, no?" He smiled back, gripping his hand tighter. "You seem to never show your wings, what was the need for it now?"

"Why ask that, you're the Fount of Knowledge, surely you'd understand my gestures. I was almost tempted to lock the door of the abode to make you chase after me anyways."

"Ah? You knew I was restless, you drop tidbits onto me and yet don't give me everything. Do you have a library here or do I need to read your mind for a change of pace?"

"Try as you might, no? Judging by your eyes you seem you'd read more than just that."

Moonlight shone as bright as ever onto them, their back and forth teasing ending with Elder Faerie dragging the Fount back through the flowers, not caring how much he was tripping for the first few seconds. At least not until the king remembered the infection he was enduring, slowing down to match speeds.

Both became blind to the truth for a moment; knowledge and fate were hard ones to reason with each other anyways. With knowledge came the ability to change.

With fate, Elder Faerie could only hope for that change.

Chapter Text

The Fount of Knowledge

The Truth Seeker

The Light of Truth itself

Just as Your Names imply,

I Know You Still have Not Found Yourself.

 You Need To Listen To Me.

Listen to the Sound of My Voice.

I Can Help You Find your Way again.

I Can Help Unlock Those Hidden Memories,

Ones you Forbade Yourself from speaking Of.

Please, Let me Break those Invisible Chains of Pain,

Allow Me to Seal Your Anguish Off.

His robes enveloped his body much easier this time, unable to help but stare at the vanity of his own being in the silver lining of his golden cloaks. "And when did you have the time to have this made?" Light Milk asked, smiling as he did a slight spin while in it.

"The time for anything is any time," the faerie king responded, his tone taking up a much warmer yet tense presence in the room. He crawled out of the bed, something about the quieter music that morning making him shiver as he put his own robes back on. "Ah... I must say, you certainly are... knowledgeable." A twinge of pain inched through his body, frowning as he stretched.

"Aw, I'll take that as a compliment." He teased back, gaining a quick glare and turning away again from the other. "Sorry, sorry, I suppose you could say curiosity had a better part of me, ah?"

Another glare. More sheepish silence.

As they prepared themselves to go into the square again, it all felt like a Deja Vu to Light Milk; despite any feelings of anxieties, he still let himself envelope into the care of the faeries, his decision to stay being clearer than ever.

It was very soon though, it even took several questionings the prior night before finally even doing anything. "Are you sure?" "So soon?" and some even questioning what even caused the heightened feelings. In fact, the questioner, the king himself, was the one who got tired of several minutes of reassurance before bidding them to the extreme states of vulnerability neither have knowledge of. For that reason, both simply tried to push it towards being curious of the other more than anything in their entire lives.

In a way, that was really what it symbolized to both of them. A trade off on knowledge of something otherwise unnecessary to know.

And all Elder Faerie could feel shortly after was dread.

A dread on par with a specific feeling of Light Milk's.

As the stepped outside, an arrow zoomed past the truth seeker, surprise more than fear being drawn on his face as it was felt by the wind it brought. He looked at the direction it came from, Elder Faerie frowning again.

"Silverbell Cookie, an arrow within the square is strictly forbidden by all means!" He spat, his hands resting on his hips as he glared once more at him. Mercurial Knight, the self proclaimed mentor of the younger faerie, was already making work of him, slapping him against the back of the head and gripping the back of his clothing's collar to drag him away.

Light Milk grabbed part of the elder's arm, pulling him back and smiling with a tint of a hum as he spoke. "That arrow had an apple at the end, it would've barely done damage to me anyways, you don't think I don't know how I die?"

Elder Faerie's expression did not change, though part of his insides screamed at himself as the dread welled again. "The rules remain, no matter intent."

"Oh, you're a stickler for the rules, that's good to know..!" He teased, releasing his arm and trailing behind him with his staff, his limp seeming as though it was only getting better. 

"I don't want anything else to happen to you." His voice turned stern again, especially after eyeing his walk. "You're clumsy."

"And the Moon is made of cheese."

"What?"

"..What?"

It was hard to even feel like he had to keep up a matter-of-fact voice with the other now; all he did was smile or poke some fun, his confidence seeming to rise with his comfort in the kingdom. He stifled a chuckle but just barely as he continued on across the square, checking in on other faeries.

"You don't suppose the Sun itself would return so we can finally feel the warmth of it, oh so wise one of the future." He meant it as a joke between check-ins and greetings with his kingdom folk. 

"Perhaps it is a curse; I've never seen it so fixated here as it is anywhere else..."

"Oh, no, that is not a curse," He tried to explain his kingdom once more to the other, bowing alongside him to a young passerby. 

"Look at know-it-all!" He giggled, hand covering his mouth as he continued to limp alongside him. 

"Ah, you twist what I'm trying to say... we all adore the Moon, I only joke about the sun now since... well, you're here."

"I am not the entire Sun."

"And I know that! Do you take me for stupid?"

"I take you as foolish! You can't even get your words straight!"

They paused their short... discussion when they noticed Silverbell staring up at them, snickering as he hid behind his bow, almost as big as him. "Looks like the oven can't get anything straight, eith—AH!"

Mercurial Knight quickly dragged him back away by his hair, almost acting as an older brother annoyed with a younger sibling as ignorant as he. "Stop bringing your bow into the town!"

Both just stood there, Elder Faerie shaking his head and walking past Light Milk as he continued to their main destination. "Third day here and you're already welcomed like family."

For some reason, he sort of expected a gasp of surprise, a denial, something, but he was met with a happy chime.

"I don't mind that, really.... It already does feel like a home that I was taken away from so long ago..."

Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine years have passed.

Three Hundred and Sixty Three days have been cycled through.

Unknown to all truthful citizens in the Kingdom, two days remained until the Visit of the Sun.

The feelings of anxiety felt like a myth. It had almost been forever, and in terms of their livelihood, it could be said they have had their share of living happily ever after.

Everything has changed, for the better of course.

Oh, all that he knew brought the Silver Kingdom to great abundances; fruit growing more in the gardens despite the lack of warmth, rivers now flowing as a more safe water source, the bridges rebuilt over larger spans, buildings so intricately designed and unique to most faeries.

It was hard—no, impossible—to find one bad thing he's done while in the kingdom. He was the driving life force of it all.

Elder Faerie found himself gazing at him more lately. The way his robes followed him, the glow he gave being brighter than the Moon. It was odd, since he came as nothing brighter than a lamp; now, he could control his luminous bodies of light in his hair more often.

He had called it along the lines of changing the rivers of time and space itself—a conversation that changed Elder Faerie's outlook on his own fate.

It had felt long enough that perhaps there was no evil truly enduring, nothing could penetrate their kingdom's silvery borders, and their existence has been marked as a myth, including that of the Fount.

As he was lost in thought, he blinked back into the Kingdom as he noticed Apple Faerie Cookie hopping towards him. He remained sitting as she approached, bowing equally.

"My Eldest, I have a request I would like to make on behalf of the Fount." She smiled as polite as always, and, speaking of, was followed slowly after as Light Milk himself approached. His staff glistened with undertones of the Moon's light but held itself together through the cold. "It has been many centuries since he has arrived, and barely once did he partake in the final night of performances. I was asking if he could, instead, take over part of the night and give us a show...?"

The Silver King was confused momentarily. "I would usually say yes with a few hours of thinking of the planning it would take since it is in two days, but why is she asking and not you?"

"She insisted after she got the clear from me to make the performance's costume for me." Light Milk just chuckled as she gleamed her eyes at the elder.

"Pleaase, please-please-pleaase!" She squealed, tightening her hands into fists as she held them up to her face in excitement. "We have so many supplies for so many events, we can do so much as a big finale of this millenial! He has brought us here after so long anyways, what's one more thing to hit the years off, huh?"

Elder Faerie knew he couldn't say no to her face. He could, but there was no real reason to turn it down. Perhaps he could for the name of tradition, but—no. That could lead to disappointment from his own partner who stood behind Apple Faerie, his shadow casting even on her from how the Moon was positioned.

"Very well... I see no reason why not. Be sure to tell the faeries who were to partake this year to take it easy... And tell Mercurial Knight to meet me in the sanctuary later." Apple Faerie didn't question it, bowing at his words and skipping off happily, able to do another thing she loves: creating. Meanwhile, Light Milk cookie turned his head away from her exit and stared at his king.

"Sanctuary Meeting?" He asked, sitting aside him as he dug his staff into the grass. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes—ah. You know. Siverbell and others of his kin are, well, acting up more than not. Mercurial Knight is in charge of those children." He sighed, part of him biting his tongue back as he made eye contact with the Fount, who shrugged and leaned back.

"Faeries mis-merries, as we've said. And hey, I think Silverbell Cookie has at least warmed up to me after I taught him how to properly aim. He always aimed with his head instead of with the air. I'm sure he'll be a mentor to others, just as the ones that proceeded him." His words spoke light into Elder Faerie's ears, making him calm.

"I can only assume you're right."

"I am always right!" He said, half-jokingly as he suddenly changed topics. "Anywhoo—I ought to find Apple Bites soon, after all, how is she to measure costumes if my physique changes so often...!"

He walked away confidently as he would grip his staff with greater ease and stability than what he once did.

"I've never heard that nickname before..." Elder Faerie muttered under his breath as he watched him walk to a further part of their villages. He, himself, made his way to the very building that was taken the most care of. After all, you'd hope your home kept the place you were wed at to be in perfect condition.

The Sanctuary was a meeting place, sacred beyond the symbolisms alone. Nothing could die here, not even memories, as ensured by the Fount's extended power and knowledge to keep it this way.

Upon arrival, he finally stared at one of many glassy pillars, his reflection startling him for a moment. He was not one to live in vain; descriptions of himself could be nowhere to be seen in their books, as even that felt unnecessary.

His whitened hair, as it had been this way forever, gave off a purple tint, his icing remaining just as such. The robes carefully followed by wings, wings that matched his crown with dabbles of light greenish-blue hues and light lilac colors. His own eyes felt a deceiving blue, so light yet obviously not as white as his eyelids suggested.

Having a staring contest made him think of the Fount again, descriptions of him being clearer than he could come up for himself.

Only a moment ago, a few nights really, he remembered the senses all coming back to him as he stared at the infection along the entire right side of his dough; the Fount otherwise suggested it was nothing, and as he seemed to say, it really did appear as nothing in the way he walked, talked, and acted.

In fact, it felt like it was having reverse effects on him. His white strands of hair flowed all the same with his luminous body of space, but he held the key closer to him on some days than not. With his left hand now, instead of his right; Elder Faerie could only assume the infection was infecting him, but signs of illness were nowhere to be seen.

He seemed happier. Was it so bad to be happy?

As his thoughts started to reach a close, Mercurial Knight walked in, shortly followed by Silverbell Cookie to Elder Faerie's surprise.

"I requested for you, alone..?"

"I don't want him out of my sight if you have something important to say. My loyalties flow with you, I trust this is a specific occasion."

The elder paused before guiding them to the altar of the Sanctuary. "Silverbell, I hope you know that even in times of prosperity, you keep your attitude up. I will tell you both this since you are rooted near the same tree, but do not partake in the events tomorrow."

"What?!" Both seemed surprised at the sudden ask, staring at each other before looking back at their king. 

"My Eldest, are you sure you're okay? Is there any—"

"I request you step outside, Silverbell."

Without another word, he slunk away, bowing his head as he made his way across the Sanction's halls. He turned to Mercurial Knight as he left, his voice low.

"My fate... has kept no secrets from me." He muttered, eyes looking up at the stained glass figures above where he stood.

Imagery of the Fount and the King were mostly seen, the rest of the faeries being depicted across smaller variations. Their meeting, blooming and wedding, their love and growth into an enormous plant, the sacred rituals they ventured into partaking in together.

One ritual was even on their wedding day. The watering of the tree. Their Silver Tree was a prize, and not just that, but it was the tree that belonged to Elder Faerie's very memory, his proof of existence and mark on the world, yes... he allowed his lover to water that with the pure water of the lake he reflected on so much.

The Fountain of Knowledge, he had said once. He had watered all there was there, if anything he was the root of it all, all there knowledge in the world brought to the one place of unknowingness.

Knowledge was a blessing of whatever you wanted it to be to you.

But fate did not lie. It could not be a lie to you.

"Something is beckoning me, but I can only hope I'm wrong for another million years. Just please, stay on guard."

Mercurial Knight stared at him, their slicked back hair not allowing for a mistake in vision as he saw how he spoke.

"Have you told the Fount?"

"No."

A slight shock pulsed through the knight's body but he couldn't help that, he just nodded in response as he looked up to the imagery above.

"I understand."

The faerie remained alone for a moment, hours even. Time felt still in this kingdom anyways. He didn't know his Fount was like his own clock, able to tell the days apart just as easily here.

He was leaned over the podium of the altar, his eyes fixated on the ground where grass and moss spouted. The general aroma of petals always followed where he went; if he hadn't told Light Milk he would be at the sanctuary later that night, he assumed he would still be found by the many senses he seemed to have.

And there he stood. His partner of a millennium. Of a limited forever. 

"You already rehearsed for tomorrow?" His voice carried through the halls, the pillars of glass chiming his tones further.

The Fount smiled softly, love aching in every inch of icing across his dough, his very being lighting up the dim corners he stood by. "I like to go and live in the moment; after all, I'm no actor. I can only feel what I truly feel." He breathed in the air, happy to see the other smiling at him. "So, did the adolescent problem get solved?"

"Ahh... an attempt is being made." He said, embracing him as he wrapped his wings around him, moving some of his hair aside and caressing his face, his hand resting to a stop as he stared now, concern growing.

"Light Milk... your infection," he whispered as he held a finger along how it was going, reaching past his neck now. "It's tainting you...your skin...."

The other grabbed his hand, holding it alongside his staff as he grabbed his waist, commencing into a waltz as he spoke, something Elder Faerie still struggled to learn of the Fount's kingdom. "You worry so much of the dangers. Allow me to nurture you as you did for me, all this time..."

One twist of his golden staff caused the harps to sway to their movements, music playing as their conversation carried on. "A gesture does not need to be returned when it is out of generosity... you returned love to me, and that was all I could ask for."

"And you gave me more than I asked for... knowledge, love, a life beyond my old one..." They continued to match each other's movements, both careful to not step on one other's robes. "My King, allow me to perform for you, as I explained on my own home, as an entertainer. Tomorrow you will see all that I am and have been made into by you... you made me who I am today."

The words kept striking him like a clock at every hour; he felt himself melt into his movements more, flowing more easily as though he was just being lifted by him, their gazes still meeting nonetheless.

"Do one thing for me tonight..." He whispered as the harps played, the chimes of petals whistling through the air as their dances become slower.

The truth seeker softened his gaze, smiling at him as he finally stopped, holding on of his hands as he gripped his golden oversized key once more. "Anything, just this once." He teased initially.

"Say that you love me."

"I love you, Elder Faerie." His smile faltered for a moment, worry showing across his gaze. "Is something wrong?"

The King stopped and just stared, suddenly gripping him and burying his face into the shoulder of the other as he hugged him. "No, not at all,

I love you, too."

Chapter Text

I weep and say ‘goodnight, love.

The festivities of that night carried through the air, much of the tables now facing the stage rather than in a circular motion around the center of the square. This year, the faeries were performing a tale about the forbidden flower.

Part of the night, Elder Faerie watched this dramatic performance, flinching out of his thoughts as he felt a warm hand place itself onto his own; even he didn't know why he was suddenly jumpy, but the other just softened his gaze despite it.

"Dear King, I... would like to talk in private, of a request." The Fount's familiar smile seemed to fade as he looked on into the crowd, the realization of which play was being performed. He took a seat aside the elder, both their hairs intertwining for a moment before he turned his head to look at him more. "After this festival, of course."

The faerie moved his hand back, holding his as he nodded his head. "I already know how this one ends, we may go speak now, yes?"

Silently, even unnoticed, somehow, they had made their way into the newer home that had been made for the pair; it had a more 'modern' look, one that suited Light Milk's very existence as it almost mimicked his own Academy. Upon entry, he immediately fell into the nearest chair, slinking his back into it as he let his staff fall beside him. The clang alone alarmed Elder Faerie, who was already franticly trying to scrub the best of the healing herbs he could against him, allowing the silver to entertain his very jam.

"At the rate you've been for centuries, I'm surprised you haven't turned into a faerie yourself...!" He started to slide upwards his body, pushing the Fount's robes up to do so, only to feel a hand grip his crown.

"Ahhhh, you are so foolish. Foolish, you are, I say!" His words clung together, slurring every other syllable as Elder Faerie sighed a great annoyance, merely in a joking way. "I'm not in pain, I'm just sleeeepy. You'd understand, you rarely sleep."

"I thought you... had something to talk about, no?" He was going to try pressing the conversation on, but he shook his head, sighing again as he tugged at him now, wiping the remaining herbs onto disposable leaves.

The Fount, woozily smiling, just stood up suddenly, holding his hands and pressing the chests together as he looked carefully into his eyes. "Well, you wouldn't have come here if it wasn't said that it's important, would you?"

Elder Faerie sighed yet again, this time more out of feeling himself flustered from the sudden contact despite a millennia of the affection. "You have tricks, I'll say," he tried to chirp the last few words, feeling the other just press against his lips as if it was the last he'd ever have, only to feel himself get smothered more.

"Stop that, you're making yourself look like the foolish one now..!" He felt Light Milk's arms wrap around him, only kissing him on the cheek, anywhere, really, slowly drooling on him as he tried to waddle to their bed with him in his grasp.

Eventually they crashed on to the bed, their robes as entangled as their hands were intertwined.

"Did the festival bore you that much this time around?" He sputtered out the words to the drunken Fount, who just giggled stupidly in reaction.

Elder Faerie remained hovering over Light Milk's, his hair falling down and welling up around the corners of the other's face. He stared back at him as twirled the elder's hair around a finger or so, his smile glistening alongside the luminescence he gave up, more now than before thanks to his heightened emotions.

"Mmm. No. In fact, I wanted to see that play; it is one of my favorites after alll... But I will say, there is few things I favor more than entertainment." As he spoke, he tucked a hair behind one of the faerie's hair, giving him leeway to grip his head and pull him closer into a kiss, this time much more calmer, giving time to let both endure the warmth, even if it was just a moment.

The king did not reject this affection, laying atop him entirely as he let his robes coincide into providing himself as a blanket for the Fount, his own wings even spreading as another layer of warmth for the glowing pair. 

Light Milk stared at the ceiling, the reflections from the translucent parts of his wings making it look as though it was a morning sky, his eyes falling back onto the Silver King's even more silver eyes. "Earthbread should feel blessed to have you, such a pretty being, endure living here." Another small embraced was shared, sleepiness tugging at both now as they simple warmed into each other's touch as the music started to fade with the minutes.

"It is because of you that I am so pretty, your light and knowledge has blessed Earthbread itself in more evident ways." He sat up slightly, holding his face still to kiss his cheek, melting into his neck as he still held him close. 

Soon enough, the only response from both cookies was slight sounds of snoozing, light breaths as both unconsciously sprawled out over each other.

In case you are unaware, wishes do not always come true.

It is something that is known by those who have tried,

hoped, prayed, begged,

pleaded

who know that wishes are not a cure to prolonged pain.

I was not one of these people,

when every night I went to sleep

wishing it could be this way

forever.

"My own Academy turned against me, long, long before I left. I could feel it within the walls."

"How so...?"

"My, well... Knowledge. This world is greedy, aside my own friends... you'll meet them some day, but that... I am kind of wondering, or hoping, that they not meet you though."

"Well, that's a little rude."

"No, nono, not like that."

"I tease you as you tease me, I understand I think... go on."

"You don't, but, well. On the walls, I had started to feel anxious of showing the face you see before you."

"You changed your identity?"

"You could say that, but I've always been a shifting entity too."

"Is that why you took such an interest in Apple Faerie?"

"Not exactly. Partly, sure, but she's got a knack for doing things by the book."

"You've been teaching her? You've taught half this kingdom what they know by now...!"

"I am a teacher, after all, haa..."

"...anyways, what made you so anxious of your own home...?"

"My eyes. One eye sees the past, the other sees the future. And yet I could not live in the moment.

I was lost in mix matched events, I could never know what was going on or going to happen,

I had already suppressed myself into oblivion,

I sentenced my knowledge to a black hole to live in some sense of bliss,

but it all haunts me all over again.

There is just no such thing as bliss.

It will haunt me forever.

So long as I am the keeper of the Truth...

so long as no one unlocks my mind, my library of my very being,

I will live in this pain,

in the name of keeping all others that exist to live in peace.

And I'd do so for eternity, for you,

Elder Faerie."

When he turned to look at his Fount, he found himself straining his neck in his own bed, the soft chimes of leaves brushing against silver branches waking him up more. A dream unlike any he's had, he knows he's had that conversation before, but why dream of it now?

He couldn't begin to even question it further as the other stirred awake, mumbling something incoherent as he rolled on top of the faerie and attempting to melt back into sleep. Music had not started to chirp across the squares, so he could only assume it had only been a few hours of rest. Though now his mind was racing as the other rolled off of him, still clocked out into deep sleep. Rolling out of bed, he shifted his crown back onto his head, slinking away into the quiet night.

Revisiting the lake behind the grand tree, he rested on his knees beside it, staring into the abysmal reflection.

He glanced at his own crown, sighing softly as he closed his eyes to remember the very coronation he received it: his wedding. Light Milk had specifically requested for a fairly impressionable cookie, Gray Sapphire Cookie, to implement a star-like mimicry into the very crown as to gift him akin to how wedding rings worked from his own kingdom. 

Elder Faerie laughed at himself at the memory of what he did in return; on such short notice, he couldn't gift anything of utmost importance, so he had the top of the Key-Staff be given a small crown, to signal their equality in importance of the kingdom. 

His smile couldn't have faded faster as he looked at himself again.

He really was who he was because of him. But he had little impact on the other, it felt. He was a constant force, never changing; the only thing worth noting was how much brighter, happier and energetic he seemed to get with time, but did he really contribute to his life as much as he did for him?

Abysmal it was indeed. 

Deciding to take himself up elsewhere, he wandered across the square and into the gardens, fruit trees still blossoming as always and their gentle breezes being small chimes of silver pipes crossing each other.

Some decorations made by the garden faeries were hanging of some branches. Many of them were shaped as butterflies, others as symbolistic lights, all being glass to reflect the Moon's constant glow. As he continued through the grass, he accidentally stepped into an apple, a rotten one at that, stepping backwards to look at it again.

It was a simple green apple, a, now shattered, light symbol laying near it. Looking up, he noticed the branch had been losing its leaves as well, but it was a cycle that was usual in certain times of years. Perhaps he was too tired to be trying to process things like that. One rotten apple in the bunch didn't make the rest bad, no?

He decided he'd been wandering around enough, a habit he used to do more of before finally having a reason to stay in bed; just thinking about the Fount brought a small smile to him, wondering if he'd experience the multiple times he's found him on the other side of their bed once more.

Oh, it was all so predictable. Yet, that's what made him love it. Love him, his life, everything.

And the unpredictable? That was just what existing was.

He wished it remained as so forever, for eternity, as promised.

The lack of sun made it ironic, but they still said words of 'good morning' upon waking up. Elder Faerie hadn't thought to question it as that, at least not until Light Milk brought it up a month into being there.

They attempted to come up with other words, and even tried renaming some of the days and months of the year. Primarily because of Sunday, but that is aside from that point.

In his ear, he felt the Fount whispering good morning as usual, feeling his hands entangle themselves with the long, white streaks of hair that took long lengths of time to even care for. For a moment, he was surprised that he had even woken up before him, but it wasn't the most shocking event of the century.

"Uhhg. Return to rest at once, I refuse the sun."

He attempted to hide under their shared covers, just for him to groan even more as he realized the brightness of the other. "Light Milk, my Dear Fount. Take a hint in that brain of yours and let me get at least another moment of sleep."

As he opened his eyes again, he gasped in heaves of air.

His body recoiled, denying him to scream as he collapsed to the silver boards beneath him, scrambling to his feet as he saw Light Milk rise out of bed, startled. "Are you okay??" He rubbed his eyes, apparent that he had also just woken up; as much as he wished it helped, this did not bring comfort to the elder's mind.

"I must've. Must've saw something in a nightmare." He couldn't help but pause between words, allowing himself to be wrapped in the arms of him despite what he thought he had saw.

"It's okay, it's okay, alright? As long as I'm here nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever lay a glance of harm to you."

It must've been the way he said it, the way he held him, their history about to be marked, all of that, that made him melt into a hug, gripping onto him, any part of him; he felt like he could crumble to the floor, maybe not actually, but all that swarmed him was fear, aside from the comfort and warmth he was enveloped in.

He wished upon a star for almost one million years.

Despite being told, he had forgotten what shooting stars were.

Maybe he wouldn't have wished every single time if he knew.

What an ignorant fool.

Chapter Text

Nothing felt real when he recognized he was laid awake again, strands of milky hair swirling into bundles as Light Milk laid atop him.

He let his thoughts dance around his head tiredly; for a moment, he felt he finally connected the Fount's vast knowledge to that of the universe: The Milky Way, of course. But that was stupid, why would anyone think that?

The faerie lay still until the stirring of the other returned again, the morning finally feeling routinely and real.

They both laid there for a while, the arms around the king's waist tightening their grip as he was brought closer to the other, their warmth distributing across their shared bed.

Again, he couldn't help but let the memories waltz back through his mind as he felt the touch of the other once more. The gentle gestures and small caresses made him press backwards into more, feeling as though he could sleep for another million years aside his Fount.

"Are you awake?"

"I'm right here.."

"N.... hm. No, I know that, I mean awaake, as in ready to start your millionth year here," he put more emphasis on the 'ke' sound, rolling over so he could look at the other's drowsy eyes. Sliding a hand up his face, he pressed his hair out of his face, staring at him carefully, holding his tongue once more.

He got quiet at the sight of the infection; of whatever it was, it was ruining his glistening dough with a deeper taint of dark blue, his right eye seemingly absorbing the hues. The icing across the base of his eyelids were slowly turning black.

Perhaps nothing could last forever. It took a million years for him to be given such warmth, another to be allowed near it. And now, it felt as though the Moon had teased him with the prospect of having this last forever.

When he held his face, it was akin to holding the universe in the palm of his dough, and even if that's exactly what it was due to the very nature of the other, he couldn't have thought about it in any further romantic connotation.

The lack of verbal response had worried the faerie for just a moment, his hands gripping the sides of his shoulders now as he whispered it again.

He received a tired groan, almost sounding annoyed if you were anyone aside Elder Faerie asking him that. The grip on the king's waist went upwards to his torso, holding him closer by honing in on his back, subconsciously careful to not cause tension to his lover's wings.

"Can't we just stay like this for one more moment..." The Fount sighed, opening his eyes slightly to get a glimpse of the other, his face seeming to grow warmer from the increasing lighting. "It's not every day one simply has the knowledge and ability to look at the prettiest butterfly in the world..."

The king matched his tones, whispering slightly as pecked him, answered by more kisses from the other, slipping one between places his white hair fell, directly onto his cheeks.

"For you, it is every day, no?"

The chimes and chirps sounded in unison as music and laughter echoed across the leaves and into the trees, this causing another rise out of the married pair.

Enough time had passed for Elder Faerie to finally sit up more, twisting to get out of bed only for Light Milk to grip onto him, waning him slowly into bed again, to which the faerie still struggled to fight against since sleepiness dabbled his eyes.

"Today is the day... thee day..." He tried to remind the Fount, pressing his face into his cheek as an attempt to awake the other more.

He sat up more now, staring at the luminous other and noticing the icing of the other's eye was slowly losing its white.

Pushing feelings of dread aside, he rolled more onto the other, sitting atop his stomach as he held the other's hands, attempting to wake him up more.

It became increasingly obvious that he was faking being asleep, a smile sometimes tugging his lips as the king went on with other ramblings for the day. Tugging on the hair of the Fount seemed to work quickly in making him actually rise as well, sitting up to the faerie being on his lap.

"Your part of performances will be tonight, and I, in turn, even have a little surprise for you afterwards..!" Anxiety prickled at Elder Faerie's skin while he spoke, but he ignored it again.

"Aw, a gift? For me, after everything you've given already?" They both got out of bed, throwing further embellishments of their presence on, Light Milk still continuing on. "You shouldn't have, really!"

As the pair stepped out of their abode, they discussed other means, the staff clanging to the ground as the Fount propped himself up.

"We ought to try forcing that infection out of your body..." Elder Faerie muttered while Light Milk shook his head.

"I believe attempting to at this point is on the same level as being useless. I've lived this long with it, I will live much longer as well." Worry did not seem to snap through, apparent that he did not care, perhaps even know, how black his eyelid had turned.

"But dear, your eye.. it wouldn't hurt to try," he stopped aside him, caressing his right side of his face and looking at the way the tainted dough was shaping. "Useless, maybe, but what's with at least attempting..?"

Light Milk, again, shook his head more gently as they stared at each other.

"There are some things you just can't change." His words were said so carefully that it felt like it was echoed in the Faerie King's head several times over. "It's better to not give hope to that."

Elder Faerie stared for a moment, taking his hand away as he heard approaching wings flap against the wind. They both turned their attention to Apple Faerie cookie, who was gleaming with excitement more than anything.

She bowed after placing her feet amongst the grass again, chiming in her calmest voice. "My King and Fount, may I be forgiven for interrupting so soon, but I request the Fount's presence for help with the props..!"

The Faerie King was almost surprised that there was still more to do; Light Milk, instead, answered for both of them.

"Yes, I will meet you at the Gardens.. allow me to talk with the King first, okay?" When talking to someone younger or rather even just smaller, he had a habit of bending down to their height, his grip on his staff being the same as ever.

As she bowed again and waddled off, the two looked at each other once more, Light Milk grabbing the small of the other's back to wish him one last kiss, humming as he held him close. "I may not see you until after the show, I want to make my appearance be a surprise, after all...~!"

The faerie was dazed for a moment, barely even telling the discrepancies between his shifting voice. Saying a quick goodbye, they had parted ways, the king merely tempted to follow, but retreating back into the square for daily check ins.

A few more hours had passed and once again the king was at his lonesome by the silvery lake waters. The tree behind him stood as strong as ever, the creaking of it being from the hardened health of the bark.

Very occasionally, his thoughts wandered further back in time, as was common for him to contemplate when in silence. A part of him wanted to think there was something wrong, but nothing was truly that astray. An infection is nothing against a cookie of the great knowledge and power that the Fount himself has, no?

He had more knowledge of the witches than anyone, even the Eldest Faerie of the Silver Kingdom... it had struck him that there was some details that the Fount didn't even tell him about, redacting his words in a way.

His thoughts feeling louder, he realized how quiet it truly was, silence bickering with natural sounds; oh, where did his kingdom's music go?

The faintest drip into the water paraded itself as echoes; even the laughs were gone. 

His feet were moving before he could even think of heading to the square, finding it absurdly empty for a place usually squandered with dozens of faeries at every morning hour.

"Faeries? Light Milk...? Silverbell, Mercuria—" Upon saying the Knight's name, he had emerged from a side of the woods, urgency racing into his very being. "Mercurial Knight??"

"Silverbell... have you seen..." He paused, also taken aback by the emptiness of their home. "Where is..? Where's everyone at? The last performance is meant to take place soon, do you rea—"

"Perhaps this is a part of his play, though I wish he disclosed it to me before onboarding my entire kingdom with him." The elder tried to assure himself, or at least reason with the other faerie, whose wings were flapping furiously. 

"I know he has something strange going on! Earlier I saw h—"

His account of what happened earlier was brief, cut off by the sound of show-lights blasting on, the stage behind them being lit up brighter than ever before.

And there the square was set. The stone logs lined up with silver as though there was intent for everyone to be there; though a flower remained in every seat, all except one row. The view looked like a graveyard to the king.

The stage itself was blindingly bright, pieces of pages hanging from the top of it, drawings on them and hung in an almost sensible way. But there was nothing that could be made sense of this already.

And it made Elder Faerie's mind sink into his stomach.

"Pluuuueeaase take a seat, my King... the show is about to begin!" A short pause sounded, followed by a more sassed tone. "And you, too, I guess.."

"Light Milk! Where are the remaining faeries?! This is in honor of the Moon, you must tell me when you do things like this!" The King demanded answers, his dread catching up more and more as Mercurial Knight stood guard behind him.

"Oh, they're watching!! Please don't be alarmed my dear, I wanted you to be the audience. Why so worried?" His voice seemed to ring across the entire clearing, his presence everywhere yet nowhere at once.

As the faeries took a seat hesitantly, the Fount continued his introduction, his voice starting to sound more broken. "You don't think I'll... be of danger, no? Oh, what was it you said, it's hard for me to recall.. oh!"

Elder Faerie felt his heart suddenly feel weak; of all things he was saying, it was this... a Deja Vu.

"'You ask too much of the dangers.' Do ya remember what I said in turn? No? Well it doesn't matter anyways!" A loud snapping sound could be heard, but neither faerie could point what it was. "The first part of the performance begins in... now!"

His voice, still having no body to connect it to, rang into his ears, his body jolting as he finally looked up to the Moon, the faerie's Beloved Moon...

The light was shifting, the Sun itself hiding away from the Kingdom discreetly, slowing, slowly, yet intensely making its way behind the Moon until they remained in darkness.

"Lo and Behold my power with this inconceivable knowledge!"

The pitch black void they stood in shifted, Mercurial Knight taking one step and finding that the grass that had been there before was as hard as tiled flooring. "Fount! Show yourself, this is unlike any performance!"

"Oh, you think I'm the one performing, huh?"

The delivery of the words sent shivers up Elder Faerie's wings, finally outstretching himself to reflect any sort of light in the pitch black of the place they stood in.

"Light Milk, please... What is the meaning of this... I don't—"

"You don't understand and then you're gonna go on a whole monologue about our years and yaaaada yada yada.. Yeah, I know." His voice shifting and turning with the gravity of the room caught Elder Faerie by surprise, wings twisting to any source of light, suddenly realizing the absence of Mercurial Knight.

Leaves started falling from who knows where. The king couldn't tell if it was truly a performance or a sick joke. His fate has had nothing to say about this. 

The leaves started to pile more viciously, stone pillars suddenly collapsing downward from the sky as leaves clung to them so suddenly; the only remaining light source was the light of the slits between the ground, blue pulsating glows barely giving enough to see five feet in front of himself.

It didn't feel real, this is another nightmare.

He repeated the phrase a million times until there was a momentarily blinding light above him, showing him the size of where he remained. A maze... just made up, so soon, on a whim, even??

The light turned slowly, a floating stage above all else, puppets decorating the outer edge of the curtains, all made with acute details to every faerie that ever flew. His throat went dryer somehow, disbelief shattering his mind into pieces as he looked up and saw the Fount himself, cross legged and casually stitching up puppet of the very Knight that just vanished before his eyes.

"Oh, don't be so surprised." His legs uncrossed as he did a spin out of his seat, which more or less looked like a throne. Propping the puppet next to one that looked eerily close to that of Silverbell, he swung his hair out of his face, the remains of the infection being evident.

His eye had a mark over it, akin to the sealing pattern that Elder Faerie had even used on the kingdom itself.

Silence rung through the cold, empty and voided air, Elder Faerie having no option but to look up pathetically across where he was. The entire right eye was lined with black eyelids, his dough seeming to have absorbed more of the hues and making him a slightly more blue tone.

"Ya like the new look?" He did a spin, the entire stage turning with him as if he was in a music box. "Had some help with the finer details, but credit is due where credit is due. Go on, play through the maze! It's not like anything could happen to you after the amount of promises I've made, riiight?"

His teasing, more-so mocking, voice couldn't have been any further from the warmth he felt just that morning from the same cookie.

"Light Milk..! What is the meaning of this?!" He screamed back, hoarsely, his wings colliding together as he tried to yell any sensible thoughts to the other.

"Ahem, tell you the big plot at the start? Well that wouldn't be any fun, though I suppose I've already done so. Oh well! You still have to wait and seee~!"

His singsong taunts were met with a sudden stern change in voice, looking down at Elder Faerie with a glance that made him feel insignificant in a million and one ways.

"Oh yeah, by the way, it's no longer Light Milk. Yeah, that name has been dead for two million years now."

"My stage name for this never ending show is Shadow Milk Cookie~!"

Chapter Text

The maze was only half the pain.

The twists and turns were made to make him fall into a state of hopelessness; anyone would think "why doesn't he just fly over!" but him doing so would lead to his neck being clawed off from such intense winds hurling above.

The gravity was also extensively powerful, his body aching by the time he finally let out a breath of pain, inhaling as much fresh air he could once he found his way out.

Except... he was back at the clearing, the town square. In the middle was Silverbell, bow in hand and anxiety making him tense more than shake in the situation he was in.

As Elder Faerie tried to approach, he was quick to realize he was only looking into what seemed like a portal, a mirror or something of the type; a boundary was between them yet he was so close...

"Next part of the performance won't be so easy! Listen to your elders!" Another snapping noise sounded as the king couldn't do anything aside from watch his own faerie struggle to find a place to aim. 

It's a sacred ground... no arrow should be drawn...!

He wished he could scream it to him, pounding against the glass, wishing he could shatter it, but the only thing that sounded was a mocking laugh. "Oh, looks like someone in the audience wants to help... Well, too bad he took too long in the Maze, maybe if he looked carefully he would've found the proper way out...!"

His hands clasped the edges of the mirror, running back into the maze, like a fool.

A loud ring of bells tolled, a countdown of sorts. The growling of wolves seemed to suddenly chase him, but he could already sense half of what he had was illusions.

The hope he held for change was all moved to displacing the maze, needing to find the other way out despite dreadful dead ends.

Another quarter of the pain was the past.

His hair prickled as he shakily fell out of the void and onto the grass, pushing himself up weakly as he tried to get used to the gravity here. The weakness was catching up too soon, his own body failing him as he looked up to the middle of the clearing.

Silverbell Cookie held a single arrow up towards the stage, the performer of all these tricks finally making the pain and intent evident in his next actions. Elder Faerie reached a hand, shouting one last "No!" but it was too late, as the deceitful cookie had said.

He bowed. The snapping sound was heard alongside the release of Silverbell's arrow, the string twanging as the entity suddenly moved aside from where the arrow was headed.

Elder Faerie felt his body freeze. It felt as though it happened in slow motion, but all the while, it settled in so fast.

Behind... Shadow Milk Cookie stood another cookie, one who took the arrow unknowingly. Silverbell's wings suddenly drooped, his knees giving out as he fell to floor, tears stinging his eyes already.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to the rules." His voice was sneeringly full of malice, a hand gesturing again to the cookie with an arrow in her head. "She was such a dear, and now she is such but dead."

"You killed her."

"No! N-No I- That was you! You killed her! You killed Apple Faerie Cookie! You killed Apple Faerie!" 

"Oh, my mistake!" Milk swarmed around the very being, his appearance changing into a modest version of Silverbell himself, as if being a clone. A shapeshifter, as Elder Faerie nearly forgotten. "I killed my kin! I killed my friend! I am so stupid for never listening, ah! So stupid is I!"

Silverbell was awoken with a new form of anger, but it was put on hold from Elder Faerie's vision, both finding themselves in the realm of void once again, isolated from each other once more.

But nothing hurts more than the truth.

This time it was quiet.

His footsteps echoed, the thinnest layer of water being felt as his robes still followed close behind.

He looked in all directions, and eventually looked up to see a giant eye shaped spotlight on him, following where he went. The pitched void remained as black and endless as ever.

Another eye seemed to open with a shutter, this time the light on the staff that he was all too familiar with.

The edges of the key were worn, its finer details being scratched from a millennium of being worn down.

Picking it up, another eye opened as the one above him closed, the light hovering over him remaining.

The farthest light shut again, though it was still luminous.

Elder Faerie didn't know what to feel.

"You must kill me before this truly happens." Even his voice still echoed around, though matching his lips as he spoke. "You must release my soul, my Truth... only you can do this."

The Silver King stared at him, glancing at the key, then back again at the familiar sight of Light Milk Cookie.

"You're not real, are you."

"I'm as real as the crown you wear. I would like my token of our marriage back."

Elder Faerie took a step away, using the key and propping it up as though it was a weapon. "What did you mean by release your soul... you take me as foolish as is! You've told me why you've locked your true self up!"

The Fount approached nonetheless. As he got closer, it was apparent that his selves were bleeding into one another; the blackened icing remained, as well as a black hole within his usually sparkling hair seemed to sweep up the light within, taking the stars and replacing them with glowing eyes.

"My soul is attached to that key... I need to be one with it again, to free myself of this never ending pain..." He fell to his knees in front of the Faerie King, tears dappling his eyes pathetically. "I need you to kill me, end this cycle, remove my pain from me alone, I can't take it!"

His voice was shaky, no longer echoing as it was restricted to the area between the two. "I beg of you," he struggled to get onto his feet again, his arms stretched wide as if to hug the other, "please... release me. I tried to do it myself, but I was scared of my own death and failed."

"I ran away from everyone. All my mistakes I made. To do this is an act of suicide. You must be the one to kill me."

The faerie's first response was to hold him. He wrapped his arms around him, gripping him as they were suddenly falling. Falling without wind, almost as though they were floating.

He bid one last kiss to his cheek, as tainted as he was, lifting the key with tears streaming down his eyes, floating upwards when they caught off his face into the void.

Even the void was unforgivable to his emotions. His mouth opened, screaming into silence, pressure being put to his lungs but nothing seeming to be able to be heard as he finally lunged the staff into the keyhole of the Fount of Knowledge's chest.

He twisted it, churned it, shutting his eyes as he was unable to look at the sight of the other, crumbling to pieces within the air, bits of him floating away as mass of space and star bits followed, his own jam rising upwards as well.

Alas, he finally pushed it through his entire being.

The emblem of the soul jam confined to the key falling off onto the Fount's great collar, the fall they had been taking seeming to slow to a steady pulse.

The King remained over the other, sputtering sobs between gasps of air, unable to look at how half his lover's face was crumbled to nothing.

Slowly, he felt a creeping sensation rise again. Black and blue snakes welling up, biting on the corners of the Fount's outline and lifting him, the staff still digging through his very body. The snakes suddenly twisted rapidly, revealing themselves into being blue lines of string.

And then a laugh.

Oh, Elder Faerie learned from that alone, that he would never wish again.

The laugh was not coming from the body, no, it was much worse than that. Crumbling still, the dough of the body was suddenly slammed to the ground, a puddle of milk suddenly splashing upwards as the Fount made himself known again.

"Oh, thank you for opening Pandora's Box for me...! I really couldn't have done it myself, but this will alert my friends that my busy-e-ness with youu is.. well, no m—!"

"What did you just make me do?!" He attempted to jump at him, a few snakes gripping upwards to hold him back. The pain, confusion, all of it, he'd never felt it so strongly before, and yet here he was, feeling it all towards his own lover. If he could even call him that anymore.

"You gave me my virtue back..! It really was tough to do on my own, but I suppose that's what happens when you store the knowledge of purpose and belonging and everlasting existence within yourself..!" He twirled around, showcasing the emblem, now upside down, resting on his ruffled collar, shining as never before.

"Oh! And I will still always appreciate my little token of your devotion to me~!" He ripped up the staff from where it was on the ground, ignoring the complete horror and shock that was on the king's face. Snapping off the metallic tip of the eye shaped like a crown, he twirled it around in his fingers, weaving it into a jester's hat as he bowed. "I'll treasure it forever, your kingdom was greatly helpful to my return to power, it almost makes me regret having to destroy it."

With a snip of his fingers, the snakes let go of the faerie, reaching onto anything he could before finding his grip was on a hanging branch.

They'd been in the clearing the whole time. Half of the tricks he made was just illusions, wasted of time.

"Ohhh, what's thiis? Little faerie fool doesn't know when to give up? Well, feed on this seed of truth," He strung the King up in more weaves of blue string, his glare even more ferocious as he smiled with piercing sharp teeth.

"This whole thing? A lie! Your whole life? A lie! I've known since I first attempted to release this corner of my power that the witches crafted something just as old and wise as I had been, but when I found you, you were just as foolish as any!" The strings suddenly moved, some twisting until they were as sharp as daggers, piercing into the faerie's silver wings as though it was nothing more fragile than water.

The screams of agony were nothing on par with the laughs that mocked him, his hand holding up an apple in front of him. "Let's play a game of would you rather. Would you rather feed the knowledge of revival to an insolent child, or save yourself the time it takes to be reborn into an evergrowing miserable world!? Oh, and ya-can't choose both, hah!"

The void had started to melt away, the illusion fading almost as fast as Elder Faerie's vision in general. His eyes grew heavier with every steep breath he took, gripping onto the Great Tree's branch as tightly as he could.

"Apple Faerie Cookie."

"Ugh, what a boring answer, expected, yes! But boorring. You know, choosing yourself to live would've been more fun, the eye I'm blind in is the past now! Hello! Are you even listening?!"

The time that he was distracted filled him with dread from what he realized, more now than ever before.

His life force had been that loud snapping sound, branches clawed off, the tree slowly wilting away. He was already on his last breaths, and he had to take them while beneath the view of the one he gave everything to.

And so he started to endure that this was only the beginning of his fate, his fate that was about to be put into play now, after two million years.

"Shadow Milk Cookie. As much as you were once the Day as my life has been Night, you make a fatal error in doing all of this."

His attention was put back onto him, though, it never left to begin with, more strings jabbing through the most sensitive parts of his body. "I know you like the back of my hand, through your heart... mind, even body, hmm? Not once have you ever brought up that something else was in control of me, except that I myself am the controller. Go on, out with it!"

"The decision of our destinies weren't ever going to last. You say you can no longer see the past you had with me, is the future really any brighter for you? Does the Dawn of the Sun make that choice for y-" He sputtered his words again, speaking so much taking a toll, as well as annoy the Fount—no, Beast—even more.

"The Dawn's decision is—"

"Is the witches."

And with that, he shut his eyes, unknowing when the next time he opened them would be.

All he knew was the laughs turned into cold haps of anger within seconds.

Chapter Text

Day 3

The Sun seems to have found its place away from us again as it had only returned for the unforeseen abilities of the Beast known now as Shadow Milk Cookie.

Now, though, the Moon is no longer full. Our Eldest stares up at it more often than he ever did before. He told me it feels like its staring back. I don't like when he gets philosophical on me.

I can't even look at apples. I couldn't help in the garden. All the faeries understand I was tricked, but I didn't follow the rules. Writing this out helps, sure, but I can't help but cringe at the sight of my bow. 

I'd like to write more of my thoughts, even if the beast was the one who told me I should do so more. He had good advice, but some came from strange places. One reason he said I should write more was because he felt like people beyond himself could read his thoughts, so he stopped recording his thoughts altogether somehow. Strangest being, yet he had all of us fooled.

I can't help but stare at the tree in contrast to what our Eldest does. The tree contains him. Him and his friends or whatever. Just.. in our home. Half our forest died during his "performance" because he carelessly swung them around into their deaths, much like the other beasts did... for a MILLION years before he even found this place.

It was mind trick after mind trick, I'm surprised most of the kingdom was still intact after his upheaval.

The witches had a force unlike anything before, I saw it for myself but it felt like a dream, forks and chains colliding the beasts together..? At least we have more silver, I suppose.

Anyways, yeah. We have rebuilding to do at some parts, and maybe some therapy for the king. His smile faded after everything for good, it's hard to try imagining it now.

At least he enjoys when I put his hair up, it's the least I can do now.

This state of peace can only last so long, it begs the question further; why would the witches seal them into the very life of Elder Faerie?? It was already weakened, his strength can only go so far. It'll be another eon before his wings are even healed, let alone have energy to keep the seal functioning!

A/N

Heyoo rexhouse here saying that most chapter titles and even lyrics in some of the chapter summaries are based off of Itoki Hana's cover of Moonstruck Blossom.

PLEASE ALSO GO READ DANCES THE MOON BY ORBITMINT ON THIS SITE!!! IT IS PEAK!!!!!! And also a key motivator and somewhat inspiration to this fic!!!

Another thing, I did not go back and revise some chapters, so if there is any grammatical or spelling error, I apologize!!!

Most of the details presented are based off of headcanons ++ I hope you enjoyed reading this horrible doomed yaoi ^_^

Chapter Text

The names laid waste for two million years,

But in every settled ash of death,

Reborn is that of flowers, life,

A constant cycle remaining.

A cycle, sadly evident, always repeated.

SILVERBELL COOKIE

I think I'm seeing a ghost. I've seen him in the shadows, I know I have. It almost feels haunted now, but it wanes on and off through the centuries... I've lost track since that day.

It was easier when it was fresh in my mind. It happened a day ago, then two days, three, four, weeks, months, years, so on... it was still so recent even after decades. When nothing ever happens, the things that do occur always stick the hardest.

It was like syrup to me, especially that of the recipes that... that Fount brought with him to this Kingdom. It was something that could envelope someone so easily, a deceiving substance in of itself... So sweet, but that's what it wants you to think before it sticks to your mind like a parasite, eating away at your joy, actions, and very being. What a trauma he was to be allowed into this Kingdom.

The days were so hard to perceive when I remembered. The worst thing someone could do was remember. Why did I have to learn that the hardest way? I was taught and raised partially by the, the Fount of Knowledge, but he couldn't spare that important detail...?

Maybe even he didn't know that though... I still wonder how exactly his essence remains in the tree; Mercurial Knight's description of events was like that of a drama. So intense, and yet the payoff was like a kiss goodbye... how bitter of him.

Even Elder Faerie doesn't dare mention his name, he doesn't speak of him, he doesn't soak in his own shallow emotions, but he also doesn't... allow anything else to be seen now. The happiest I see of him is during our bi-annual moon festivals; they happen twice a year now from his command, and no one has dared question or wonder why. Or maybe people do wonder, but wondering leads to self-made conclusions, and most of those lead to... well, the tree that thrives under the moon so strongly.

His attachment to the Silver Tree only seemed to grow, and sometimes, only if I stare half as long as the Eldest does, it seems like the branches themselves reach to the moon, growing into the light day by day....

Mercurial Knight and I have been invited to remain by his side during some occasions, though it is usually a message passed onto me discretely.

Some occasions are unbearably gut-wrenching. Every century, he will reenact his walk down the aisle, the broken remains of the key staff still in his possession, used just as the Fount had once used it, though... broken at the ends, barely recognizable.

It's... hard to watch. I try to bury the matter of the fact into the back of my mind; our Eldest does not show such weakness, and if so, why show it to only me and Mercurial Knight...? A question I already know the answer to, but I have no way to show my anguish as he does.

...

I killed Apple Faerie Cookie. I know I did, I saw her die in front of me, the light in her eye fading so fast, it all happened in such a quick manner, I didn't even process it. Elder Faerie even admitted he hadn't realized it wasn't just a hallucination or trick, but rather a very real death of a faerie. One that hadn't happened in... millions of years at that point, had I just listened to the sacred rules of the clearing.

The memory of her is all I have. Lest I forget of her jam on my very arrow, she would be perished entirely. I hated staring at the gardens from across the town square. The greens became rotten, and over the centuries, they became... red. Blood red, even. She's dead and angry at me, and an angry spirit doesn't allow itself to be forgotten, no, time is not of this essence. The second those gardens die I can rest in peace as well.

I remember telling Mercurial of these thoughts... and to no ones surprise, he told me to listen to myself. Being completely forgotten, dying entirely as if the earth itself can not remember you... the earth did not and will not even know you again... it is a fate beyond death, something I was wishing upon my own kin. And myself, in that turn.

I think the thing that caught him off most, something he couldn't let go, was my own death. Why was I expecting to die as well? And it struck me that I didn't even know, at least not at first.

But watching the pain of our Eldest made me realize my own intrusive purges on my own way of thinking: pain seeps into the blood, and trickles into the rest of history.

Much like the pain of his execution brought onto his own lover, I sniped Apple Faerie into nothing but crumbs in mere seconds. Her pain—no, death—doesn't leave me alone, and as said, trickles... if I were to cease my life, the pain of my loss would, too, be remembered into history,

and so on down the chain until finally wrought onto someone unfortunate to end the cycle and continue on existing, 

but forget it at all, as well.

MERCURIAL KNIGHT COOKIE

There is a growing concern with emotions; happiness and anxiety is nothing new, but it is harboring our own fears more now than ever. Faeries are afraid of good days in the wake of bad days seeming worse than they really are; some have grown wary of the festivals for the Moon, others, well, seeming like husks on certain days.

Our Eldest is no different from this pattern.

So many I have seen, wanting to explore more, some speaking of attempting to restore whatever is left of that... Fount's academy after millennia. But none have necessarily brought it up to the Eldest yet; of course, the wind speaks for them, carrying their desires to him anyways.

He made a somewhat important discretion though... "Those who wish to leave may not be allowed to returned if the circumstances prove it to be dangerous to the Kingdom..."

A banishment of sorts... but circumstantial. Not a single winged cookie could ever tell if he meant the boundaries to protect solely himself from the idea of visiting such a place left behind to ruin, or to protect the kingdom in general from outside forces, even if they were raised from within....

I remember even Elder Faerie had gone out of his way to visit the Academy while the Fount was still amongst us. There was no dangers, and even there, he said part of the Academy was in ruins but overall was entirely functional. It was hard to say now if the Beasts ever even touched that sanction of land in their waging war against cookiekind.

Questions aside, a few cookies did trickle away from the kingdom, saying their farewells and good wishes before becoming another leaf in the wind.

I can't help but worry for them; Silverbell had, at one point, wanted to leave, but my refusal to go with made him stay. Had we both left, Elder Faerie would be left with no one else to truly confide in.

The effects of us trying to move on against his dwelling were too obvious. It almost annoyed me, but love isn't something I dwell in, so I don't suppose I can say too much...

...it's just.. odd. How much time he spends near that tree.

I am aware he still has to tend to it to ensure it is strong as ever to keep those wretched things trapped, but... there is nothing saying he has to always do so.

Perhaps it is just spikes of paranoia; Silverbell had mentioned he does it more some months than others. I can only pray that the witches who bestowed the honor to at least provide some comfort to him.

Elder Faerie Cookie

...

...

...

Concerns are divided still, eons later. My own people leaving for my dear's own abode even now... would they truly prefer a space so confided and cursed over a homage of sacrifice and sacred text?

This kingdom is not cursed. It is simply blessed to have this responsibility, even if I... may need to bear this weight... until I die.

Until I die.

Hm.

Can I truly die? Surely the witches are able to devise something to ensure the... Fount and his friends are enclosed elsewhere. They've finally distributed the Soul out of them, no?

Surely I can die in peace once they figure out a new path for me. This can't be all there is to living.

Surely not.

Surely the witches aren't as cruel to commit such an act on one so important to them...?

Ah, it's like he used to say: I worry too much of the dangers.

All is well now. 

Perhaps, if things may stay as they are now, my mind will purge these depressive indulgences eventually.

Everything will return to what it was before it all....

Chapter Text

It was a twisting feeling. Branches, jagged and bare, as if preparing to slide into the licks of this cookie's undone bandages.

Her hair, as white as one could compare to fresh milk, laid on her shoulder, undone and tangled. The outskirts of the forests had been so rude to her awakening of exploration, ah... yes, that's what she was. An explorer.

A scholar even, ha! I feel as though I'm getting a vision of déjà vu... Oh, back to this lone flower.

Lonely, she was indeed. Though, the sky seemed more inviting than the last tales of these parts, parts that were rarely ever thought explorable. Minds have the unfortunate ability to come to a conclusion if they only believe what everyone else tells them... but her curious eyes always saw through those.

What a wonderful question it is to ask 'why?'

Because who knows why? Why anything works as it is? Why is the sky blue sometimes, red others? Why does the grass feel like hair or a bed feel like clouds? Why can't we touch the clouds?

Why were we made?

Sometimes those answers do not have science to back them up... thus opens the realm of psychological and philosophical torture to the very jam of any cookie who begins to wonder along those thoughts.

Her travels included a staff, she was but a newly instated... mm, what's the word... Ancient. Oh, but of course, she isn't called that here now.

A hero. A hero who serves for freedom of others. That was her role... her title.

But to what extent did it matter?

She had no one to go with, and the map she did get to go off of was charred and folded. The path she followed was one carved into the ground from years, millions of years, of travelers.

What reasonable conclusion other than that this was the correct way to go? The one to somewhere more forgotten, obscured even into the books of the library. It was a path already set for her to follow, and so, as any would reasonably do, she did.

Her Academy she studied at rarely allowed for such books to get into anyone's hands, for it was dangerous to have the curiosity and ability to go to some places, such as the one she was en route for. 

But the second you hide away knowledge, you are hiding away discovery and inspiration... a truth that should be shared with everyone, she reasoned.

Her white hair clouded into her face as she walked on sometimes, her staff being composed of vines, her very soul imprinted into it as she confidently made her way through the thick of the trees.

Finding herself at a pond, it was smaller than most others she's come across, she sat next to it, curling her hair into her fingers as she washed her face. The cleansing of any dirt gave her some sense of refreshment, her smile staining into her face once again.

Looking up at the sky again, it was still so beautiful to her. It was as if it was almost always nearing night, yet it was still just bright enough to remain a distance away from being pitch black. She had heard tales of the sun being banished from these parts of this land; it would seem to her that it had returned in time for her explorations to make way.

"'Such serenity...'" she whispered the quote as old as the universe by now, standing up again as she looked at her own reflection, "'is achieved through mindful quietness.'"

The scholar had chosen to leave on her own accord. It wasn't that she was lost, she was wandering in a way it made her gather her self awareness even more. And... well, she was lost. But there was a certain beauty to that... to being able to find your way again, even after so long. An achievement to some extent.

She thought about how long it took for her to leave.

She was supposed to have gone sooner.

Oh, but her friends... to leave them behind without some sort of going away event, even if some where unaware that it would be a lasting goodbye for... a while, that would just be cruel.

So she stayed a bit longer, and now, she would just reminiscence the matter. Her dearest... friend, oh, she realized she never really had any idea what to call any of her friends. She loved them as they loved her, but love was not filling the hole that she yearned... something more than that, and she just had to get it, even if it was on her own, even if... it would cost her life:

Knowledge.

It was such an unfeasible concept to her, to truly grasp what, truth be told, ignorance can actually look like. To live in bliss, to her, has always felt like a trap. Knowing something, everything, she would be able to foretell her own life, understand the purpose of everything.

She paused her travels as the memory of her last talk with her closest 'friend' flashed across her thoughts.

"This can't be goodbye? Over intangible thoughts?"

He had glinted his eyes open for once to give her a good look, a stare so gentle yet daggering.

The care in his eyes came in moments, confusion sprawled across them ever so slightly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so... we will come across paths again, but... I must... see for myself."

She moved her staff to slightly lean against that of the other's, a flowered plant as well, though

the eye planted into the middle of it seemed to stare at her too,

the same look of defeat that was seen in his own.

The gesture was akin to a kiss goodbye, his own hand moving to her free one as he seemed to struggle with his words for a moment.

"If you were meant to ever see anything, would you have not seen it already?

Must you go out of your way to find something that's not given already?"

She muttered something, then fell silent, her head drooping as she sighed.

"I hope you will always live in peace and bliss. If anyone deserves a quiet mind it is you.

Apart of that bliss, include me in it. Know that I am safe, I am simply going for a bit.

We both know I will be back, okay?"

After speaking, she looked back up, tears lining the dough of his face as he stammered his next words out.

"I..."

A slight wince of pain tensed her body as she saw how defeated he really was.

"I love you always. No matter what happens or how this will change you...

Whatever you learn, I hope it is worth this time apart."

"And I, you."

The grip her hands had on her vined staff loosened and tightened as she continued to step through the forests. At long last, she finally found a suitable place to rest her weary dough.

Letting out an exasperated sigh as she curled against a tree, she pressed a hand to her cheek, feeling how much colder her body felt since she first departed. Shivering slightly, she slid her her staff to her side, reaching for a giant leaf to use as cover over her cape that was already poorly covering her.

She could've sworn she was on the brink of sleeping, drowsiness licking at her eyelids, yet the strangest noises kept her awake still.

Though, she found herself sitting in isolated silence the more she tried to listen. 

Wiping her eyes, she decided she must press onward, somewhere beyond even the lands she only heard of in hushed whispers and between the messily blacked out pages of old history books.

It was a lost kingdom... something of a concept foreign to her alone. Of all her comrades, she was always pressing into the ideals of sharing all there was, knowledge, culture, language and borders: a divide amongst one is a divide set for all, as she saw it.

Freedom. A will that she pressed on for all beings, whether there was wars or disagreements or nobility behind the actions of division, she would press for it. In mind she could really think of her friends in that moment; all were so very independent... yet, discretions would still arise between kingdoms. She recalled some strange...behaviors that one part of the Vanilla Kingdom seemed to have stray, but her mind drew to a blank as she stepped deeper still into the forest.

If this particular cookie was anything except who she was, the hunter-like cookie that stood before her, feet firmly planted as though to have more surefire towards her, they could be deemed "pathetic."

A standstill of sorts. Sure, both were standing, and both were still, but it was more uneven of a fight than one could think.

A young adult, at least from her guess, stood with trembling rage seeming to pulse through him—she couldn't have guessed further since that rage was a mixture of terror towards her from this bowed cookie.

"I am afraid if you do not turn back now, I will have to let this...this string go! And-And!!! And I won't miss! I assure you!" His voice shook with boldness but initially lacked the punch behind it; she stared simply as if she hadn't heard him, but she realized that he was still suddenly, and she still did not move or speak.

She reacted so slowly, in fact, it was assumed she turned to stone, or was plotting something within the half of a minute she stood so frail.

The reason he had gone so still was from something neither had registered at first. 

Of all his fear, his hand slipped.

And who other would've been the one behind the bow? A bow so intricate, so beautiful, so deadly, it proved to be.

The bow fell in matching rhythm with her body, the silver arrow jutting out of her right eye as she still facially gave no response. She was frozen in shock and pain, not realizing what pain could possibly emerge from a younger cookie, or ar least, again, of her assumptions.

The last noise she heard was as the tale goes: silver bells, ringing into her head.

Chapter Text

What is it called when someone swears on their life? Is it simply a swear?

A promise? A threat? A curse? An omen? A prophecy?

There are so many words for it, but does it really matter once it is sworn and given up?

The pain... the pain was irritating.

The pain was pounding.

The pain was annoying.

The pain was perpetuating.

The pain was everything.

The nuisance of this PAIN.

I bleed, I bleed, I bleed,

My eye, my eye, my eye

My past... I cannot see my past...

I cannot see...

Beyond this pain, oh, this pain...

The white strands of hair fell over the bleeding eye, hands glossing over it with bandages, tears streaming alongside blood to the floor as they dripped and they dripped and they dripped until they fell silent into a puddle.

The very soul pulsated with a certain fear, a certain hatred, a defined pain yet so indescribable to the average being.

Silence, silence, it fell still, it falls as the mind goes quiet and falls into slumber.

But pain does not wait for the conscious mind.

You will feel my pain.

You will feel my pain.

You will feel my pain.

The traveler's hands were bandaged, rebandaged, then bandaged again. The repeating drops of drowsing rain could be heard ever so slightly, showers of water waving over the home she was currently in. Her hair was pull back, braided in an almost familiar way, but she dared not move to learn and appreciate it.

Breathing the air was cold, misty, but inviting with a slight warmth to it.

Her eye was aching violently; she knew it would. It felt as though it was shot so hard it stabbed directly into her mind, her dream having felt like inward anger, if she could even call it a dream.

It was almost in the voice of her dearest... but it felt unfamiliar with the spitefulness in the tongue of the voice that spoke to her. It talked of pain beyond her own, but she knew it was her own mind telling herself of it. She in fact has never been shot in the eye, let alone brought in by the same ones who seemed to have inflicted this onto her, so of course this was like nothing ever experienced before.

She gave way to wonder, though: does she talk to herself in the voice of him so often? Perhaps it was just missing when their paths were merged....

Thinking about it gave her a slight headache, a start of a migraine given the wound. She stayed still, self control being of immeasurable importance in comparison to feeling the need to get up and find more out of her condition.

Closing her other eye, she let her breathing rag out. Perhaps she would die like this. She was never the strongest. She would never be the strongest. She would never be anything. She would never be as her friends. She would never be a hero. What kind of hero dies to a single arrow?

Over-dramaticism should be a trait that is appreciated more. Of course, putting herself down so much would solve nothing, it was merely the pain of it all making her mind jagged with these thoughts, more now than ever before. She was the top of her classes, she held more capability than those meant for having ability, she was granted the light of Freedom... that last thing was the fate of her... to free everyone....

One could say she could fall down the path of nihilism and apathetic thoughts, but she pressed into what her friends would tell her of, that living is to love living... to be free of all chains that others impose on oneself and to be your own person.

It was almost bittersweet, salty, even, that she was now alone in this quest in freedom. Settled into a bed and could very much be dying at this moment. This is really living, isn't it?

To feel pain is to be alive, isn't it?

But I don't want to suffer to believe I can be happy.

Silence, aside from the rain, surrounded her. It was a slight humming sound, and it finally hit her mind that she had no idea where her staff was. Her very soul jam was distanced away from her, no wonder she felt faint by the second, or maybe that was from not eating or drinking nearly anything since her enclosure with her injury.

As she laid and pondered, and as her migraine returned with the pain in her right eye, she started to tempt pain, moving more and more to loosen her joints.

Her bandaged arms were weak, her legs being no different as she sat up to the side of the bed, finally realizing the contents of the room was much more evident of remaining within silvery trees than that of a wooden shack as she first thought. The bed, too, was consistent with giant leaves, bedding almost feeling as though it was made of flowers, and the silk.. so silvery as well...

Patterns of forks and spoons were engraved on parts of the walls, symbolisms that echoed into other parts of the furniture themselves.

A mirror caught her eye, sitting in the corner of the room,

broken, shattered,

a gold lining around it and plants growing into it,

she couldn't help but attempt to walk to it.

Upon landing her feet to the ground, her weakness crushed her weight to the floor, a heave of air leaving her body as she collapsed. A thud being heard slightly seemed to shaking the matching floor, causing a bit of the mirror, now in front of her, to move so slightly and stare back at her as she looked into it.

The shard gave her a look at her eye, then, her bandaged one, a flower covering where she would usually see it. A white lily, acting as an eyepatch drooping with her breathing.

She tried to push herself up, struggling still as she did so as silently and as alone as one could possibly do. It did not bother her to question where exactly she was; she'd seen enough symbols that hadn't gotten blacked out back at the Academy to know where she was already.

In spite of her efforts, she was still too weak to possibly stand, let alone get back to the bed she had more comfort in. 

The pain returned again, her eye specifically, and now she couldn't help but cry.

A weak thing, she was, but nothing near dying. Perhaps she simply longed for something that gave her reason to crumble.

In all the history books, they all seem to describe the same thing

You could tell me yourself but I already know

You've read it all, huh?

Still not enough?

They blacked out history and left it into obscurity...

All of it.

You know that thing that I mentioned? that is described so much

History?

It becomes repeated to those who don't know it. What a silly concept.

To live in bliss you are doomed, yet look at you... attempting to escape that bliss... yet dooming yourself in the process.

It almost makes me sad.

But 'almost' is as strong of a word as it is useless.

And you, yes you... will not live to see the day I am sad for you.

I will never pity you.

I will never feel for you.

I will hate you.

And that, I will keep you alive for.

You will see my hatred,

 You will feel my hatred,

Just as you will know my pain.

Bits of hair seemed to be stained with red, falling over her eye as she was finally awoken to someone placing her back into the bed and cleansing her bandages again, healing herbs being pressed against her arms and eye.

"My Eldest has requested that you no longer attempt to leave..." the other muttered, politely though, as she felt them put new wrappings over her, giving her a cup of water and guiding her to sit up. "However, it is still necessary you try not to sleep so much... rest may be important but you need to eat and heal...."

She nodded opening her mouth to speak but instead feeling the other put the cup up to her mouth before a word could get out.

Allowing them to do basic necessities for her, she stared at them. Glints of silver seemed to reflect off the icing of their eyelids, the faint lavender sparks of their eyes showing as they tended to her gently.

"I would like to apologize on behalf of Silverbell Cookie." The healer said, as though giving a stern message. "His hand must've slipped, initially it had hit your staff, so we attempted to fix a part of it, while also attempting to fix apart of... well, you,..."

A sheepish smile came from them as they backed away, as if about to go grab said staff. The conversation felt light, but there was a certain weight to it that she couldn't pinpoint; her curiosity dragged her mind into the old books she had read.

"This is... the Lost Kingdom, yes...?" She muttered, taking the cup from where it had been placed and sipping on it while staring at the other.

Their faint purple and lilac clothing shifted as they sighed, trying to find the words. "The... Silver Kingdom. Ah... ha.... I wasn't aware we were suddenly lost...?"

Now she was the one to shift where she sat, taking another sip of water and looking away. "No, you're... hidden, as a better word. Tell me, if I was seen as a threat, why allow me into this kingdom?"

"I'm afraid these are things my Eldest can only answer." They slunk away slowly, seeming uncomfortable with the topic all of a sudden. "Perhaps I can go get him for you now."

Rain pattered on as she waited for the arrival of this 'Eldest.' It was strange to her; she hadn't seen anything mentioned of specifically a leader, and no images in the books depicted one either. Perhaps those were apart of pages that were ripped out in the academy, though she still had no honest clue as to what would drive one to remove that information in a place of such esteemed knowledge.

Wonders were wandering, finding herself thinking again. Always a horrible sign, when someone like her starts to think. But she did, thinking about the events in an even slower pace now.

One blink, pain shattered her thoughts of categorizing her experiences of traveling. Another blink, that pain was almost gone. A third, it was back, and she realized the pain was less of in her eye and instead a gnash down the side of her face. Attempting to remove the flowery bandage wasn't really an option here; pain was all she would feel no matter what she did. That much she knew, that much she could bear.

It was less of a matter that she was unfocused: she couldn't remember some details very well now with this agony. 

The room now was still very alone. It felt as though it was abandoned long ago, yet evidence remained, such as that of the mirror, that it had been lived in. But it was cold. It was broken, worn down, and desolate.

Her lone eye took in more of the details, the mirror being covered with a tapestry now. She wondered why, of all fruits, there was the design of apples being stabbed by forks on them to cover it. It was stranger than detailing one simply eating an apple itself, let alone eating an apple with a fork...? So strange, so strange.

The walls, too. The forks and spoon details had already been spotted, but the room was brighter since the rain had given up slightly, and she saw most had been scratched out, the engravings giving way to how messily they'd been slashed at.

She realized she was in a room of many emotions, all of which were silent to her now. Anger, sadness, and hatred.

What a scary thing, hate was. 

Before she could reminisce on her indulgence with hatred, footsteps and the sound of a door creaking-oh how horribly it creaked-sounded.

Her first idea was that the Eldest had came to greet her, but to her surprise it was a similarly white haired cookie. For a moment, she couldn't recognize him; after all, she had only really been able to observe him for five seconds the first time they had met, but now it was different.

"You must be Silverbell Cookie." She remarked, her visible eye narrowing with slight unease; her voice remained unwavering, just above a whisper really.

The other avoided eye contact, almost ashamed, or even scared to look at her state now. "I suppose our healer told you that," he muttered, finally getting some courage to look at her before immediately turning his gaze, then, almost as if suddenly shocked, just closing his eyes. "I owe you a sincerest of apologies. I... I can explain, really."

She wasn't sure what to say then, noticing that his eyes were open again, looking at her with nothing readable in his face. "It was an honest mistake, anyone could've done the same..."

He wasn't ready with any words, simply bowing his head and almost stomping out, leaving her alone yet again with no update to anything. 

What strange cookies.

His pleads for forgiveness were the most intense emotion the Silver King had seen him show in centuries.

He was usually a talent that did things alone now; he reasoned that he shouldn't have to teach anyone else the way of the arrow as long as he's around.

But this was a straw, maybe not the last straw, but one that made Elder Faerie finally realize the misery of one of his own.

"How did it happen...?"

And so, bumbling over his words, he was yet again subjected to relive it in order to tell of it.

One of his wings had gotten caught on a branch, one he hadn't seen in his peripheral beforehand. The way he described it made it seem like it had just jumped out to grab at him.

Silverbell felt a small tear at one of his wings, and, out of a panic, yanked himself away.

Just the sight of red made him run on autopilot, inevitably making the issue worse.

His wing, now nearly torn up to where they connected to his back, was drooping heavily.

So he took to walking, a struggle in itself when the deadweight of wings and the pain of it were weighing him down as is.

While attempting to traverse back, he had tried to get the attention of another faerie; he hadn't expected to see the other cookie.

Her eyes were a sort of red, and despite her gentle face, the white hair made him freeze up, let alone the fact it was a traveler.

He would've asked for help from her if it wasn't for the illuminated and familiar symbol of a certain virtue stamped into her staff.

It was all signs, and his hands, not used to the gravity of the ground since his aim is usually reserved for when he's flying, had slipped.

At the last second, he tried to turn it to hit the staff itself, seeing as it was closer anyways. But to no avail: it had ricocheted and slipped to hit her eye.

He grew quiet, not sharing any details after it. Elder Faerie knew those facts anyways. A snap, then a silence, as the faerie that had gone with him had recalled to him.

But now he stood in front of the abode yet again.

It was a dumping ground of sorts, one that he kept things he no longer wished to see, or wish for anyone else to see.

It was faded with blues, old paint withered away by now.

It was a home that was no longer a home, no longer anything meaningful except as a memory. A regret, maybe.

He knew the entire place like the back of his hand; the only purpose for entering it now was to remember what it was like to live in the moment.

The furniture had already been switched out, at least in the past millennium.

Now, the purpose of entering was to visit the unfortunate cookie who seemed to possess a power that scared one of his own. One who had already seen power in action before.

Even himself, he felt a certain anxiety.

But not all things are to follow the same path.

There is something that brought her to this place...

at this time of need.

Chapter Text

"He will ask you to do something,

and he will not elaborate on many details,

he will tell you to do as much as you can:

do that, and it will kill you."

"But how.. do you know this...?"

"I have seen it before, I've been seeing it for years, centuries.

The one who gives themself up to seal it

will simply suffer more than those who are sealed.

It's not a silent rumor that those who do get driven mad;

take the one who shot you for example.

Do you want to end up so afraid you hurt those who don't deserve it?

Do you want to end up so selfish?

I'd suggest not listen to him."

Elder Faerie opened the door, as creaky as it was still, only to find the very cookie who made his crown chatting with the newcomer.

"Gra— Silver Sapphire... I'm afraid I must ask you to leave now." He said upon entering the room, dismissing him. After their silent exit, he looked at the wounded cookie, his stare turning into a more observant one. 

"...Are you bed ridden..?" He asked, to which she immediately tried to stand up. This time, it proved that she had healed somewhat, even if she swayed while being still. To that, he sighed, pulling up a raggedy chair and gesturing for her to sit back down. "Rest, it is important."

"Right..."

A small silence sounded and they stared at each other. She was too faint to give any reaction, and he was too busy overthinking to say anything.

"Your belongings gave nothing for me to go off of... you have no food with you, and flowers seemed to just... follow you. Who... are you."

I'm a fraud.

I'm a traitor.

I'm alone.

I'm an abandoner.

I'm the one who destroyed the Academy.

I'm the one who rots.

I'm the one who leaves others to rot.

I'm...

"I'm White Lily Cookie..." She muttered a slight smile on her face as she finally gave herself a chance to say her name. "You must be the Eldest I keep hearing about..."

"Elder Faerie, yes... that is my name. May I ask how you found this place..." Deja vu trickled down his thoughts. "...Or rather... why you've wanted to find this place..."

She spoke softly, and even if she was confident in herself, there was something holding her back from saying the full scope of her travels. "I used to be a scholar... it fell into ruin after some events, but I am sure it has already started rebuilding by now. Now, I busy myself with... wandering. Exploring what others didn't.. want to...."

He nodded, sighing. "And of your headmaster?"

It had caught her off guard. "Headmaster?"

"Yes, did you know of him? The first headmaster, I mean?"

"I suppose you're asking me this because you know I have questions too, but," she paused, smiling out of shock from being unsure of how to respond, "there were barely any books on him, let alone this kingdom... I came here wanting to know more about this place, not of that one...."

He seemed slightly disappointed but still holding his head steady. "Why this place?"

"Depictions in those books, from what I can remember.. they always seemed connected to the Academy in a way that was mythological... I hadn't thought it to be real, but no one did either. I wanted to explore-" her next words made Elder Faerie suddenly stare at the ground- "and search into the unknown...."

"That is a very ambitious goal... I would've thought everything needed to be known in the world has already been discovered."

"No, actually, many things don't make sense to me," she started, but he looked back at her and silence fell again.

"Ignorance can not be cured by helpless knowledge." He stated, almost frowning. "Just as bliss can not be cured by the blind."

A slight pattering of wings flapping could be heard just outside the curtained window; children, both probably assumed. 

She hadn't the slightest idea what to say now. More silence spoke for her instead. Some breeze outside could be heard despite the wind finding it difficult to reach the kingdom nowadays. Even their breathing felt synchronized into being quiet. Both were remembering someone dear, sounding just like what one once remembered, but oh... was now the time for all of that?

"You sound like you once may have wanted to explore too..."

That look. Now, that look even if it was half a second, no, even less than a flash of light, gave away some sense of emotion that he obviously was not wanting to show here. She hadn't wanted to say anything further on those lines, so she attempted to speak again before he could respond.

"Ah... please... tell me you won't punish that Silverbell Cookie."

The topic shift made him change his posture again. "For the longest length of history, we faeries have never believed in punishment." He clenched his jaw as he spoke the lie, attempting to soothe himself and himself alone with a selfish promise. "Silverbell Cookie made a mistake, one that is to never be repeated ever... again." Had he said this once before? "Are you feeling any better?" Did the Silver King even care how she was doing when he asked this?

"I will be fine, I don't think he really shot directly into my eye but it.. scraped it." She noted what he said first, taking into account other information she got just moments before.

"Time will heal you, you say?"

"I suppose so, yes. Isn't time the cure-all?"

Some more quiet chatters between them, almost getting quieter as she seemed to be floating on her thoughts and trying to stay awake to not be so rude to those who are taking care of her so carefully. Hours passed and suddenly a conversation started that she hadn't meant to initiate.

"What of the tree...."

Of which tree...? Which tree, he wondered....

He had answered at the time:

"Some things are better left unknown.

In order to truly cope with existing, you must learn this, if you learn anything from living."

But his thoughts answered with more questions.

Of which tree? What of the tree? Of which tree was she talking of?

.

.

.

His hand was holding the other's, tightly. He was struggling to keep up with him, and still he continued on.

It was one of those times of the day that the moon shone the brightest. Clouds gave mercy and didn't appear at this time, either.

It was them and the moon.

The Faerie King slid behind a a curtain of wisteria, beckoning the other and dragging him along into the flowers.

The plants brushed across both their faces, and even at the memory he smiled at how the Fount had looked:

flowers sprinkling on his hair, puddling up on his eyelash even,

his attempts to swat them away seemed to only make more appear as they walked,

flowers and light clinging onto him alike.

At last, they were at one of the few places that many faeries traveled to.

It was just outside the primary boundaries of the kingdom, but still so close to retain all the beauty and life of the silver plants, too.

They made their way to the base of the tree, giant roots surrounding every other section of land surrounding it.

Flowers weren't blooming now, the main plants on the ground being leaves or petals that had fallen, silvery blades of grass caressing their legs as they walked.

The atmosphere was light, the luminous presence of the Fount making the place glow even more with such vibrancy.

"Don't you think it's beautiful?"

The faerie looked back at the other as he asked, finally settling down and sitting on a patch of silvery grass closest to the base of the towering tree.

The Fount only smiled back, pausing for a moment.

"Mn.. In comparison to some things—" he sat next to the other, leaning into him—"I wouldn't say it is so beautiful.... But yes, it is."

This only made the faerie laugh slightly, moving a hand to brush through his hair as he sat next to him.

They would talk for hours there, sometimes hold picnics, indulge in whatever town gossip, and appreciate each other.

"This place will be beautiful as you, forever."

Or at least he thought so.

He stood, inches away from where he once sat, staring.

The wind followed him here, almost tauntingly.

The old chimes they had hung up together were silent now from centuries of wear and tear.

Flowers, blooming upwards in the shape of milk droplets, surrounded him sporadically at his feet.

The light was gone, and it was more eerie than it was inviting now, light sometimes seeping through the curtains of flowers, but not enough to reach where he stood now.

"Forever is still confided to the bounds of time, just as you had once said..."

The ghostly white of the milkbuds taunted him, his hands reaching for one and plucking it with such energy that he pulled the roots up with it.

And then he did again.

And again.

And again.

Ripping every last tear-fallen flower until they were piling pathetically, drooping, wilting.

With every pull he could've sworn he heard a hiss of pain, a scream of agony, or a sick sobbing combined with sad laughter, echoing off the walls that the wisteria provided over the tree.

These flowers existed because of the faerie, his tears making them grow as he backtracked into places he stayed with the Fount so, so long ago...

But they were rooted into the Fount's very energy. If not for him, these flowers would not grow.

These flowers would not mean anything.

Which is probably why he felt a stab at his heart at every flower being uprooted.

Continuing out of anger, out of frustration, and almost—to him, worst of all feelings— hatred.

And it drove him mad with grief.

With losing the Fount he not only lost a faerie of his own,

but also himself.

What kind of Guardian is he to let them rot in a tree?

Let his lover be trapped in the tree for eternities, forever and forever again, and once more for good measure?

It was a fate worse than death.

Perhaps he could not change fate, but it made him wonder:

Would killing them be mercy over this punishment?

Chapter Text

The following weeks were mostly simple. White Lily Cookie had made herself at home, even deciding to give the broken down home somewhat of a makeover (though she kept everything that was broken in a corner of one of the rooms). Sometimes Silverbell would stop by and that alone helped mend part of their relationship; White Lily wasn't one to hold grudges anyways... especially in the state of disarray that she remained in currently.

The days were rainy sometimes, radiant on others. Some days the sun didn't appear, then it did on others. It made the cycle on her own time now, she supposed.

What a strange kingdom.

"You know, I never could grasp a kingdom... why have one?"

Despite what he had done, she found herself somewhat close to Silverbell Cookie now, their conversations leading to him actually opening up more to her and a few other close faeries of his.

They were sitting alongside one of the rivers that stretched into the clearing, watching the livelihood continue on.

"Why not? It creates a sense of unity, doesn't it?"

Sharing a meal, he still was noticeably tense around her, but she appreciated his lack of bow now. 

She spoke, responding quieter realizing her ideals would not matter here as well, given she was talking to a kingdom dweller after all. "I mean... yes, but also creates more divide, especially to outsiders.... As long as a kingdom exists, true freedom does not...."

Her words must've been too intense for the younger faerie to catch on to what she meant. "Free will is given to all cookies... it's kind of like.. I dunno, how would you say? If you're not invited or welcomed why stay? Why try?"

Hopeless bunch, she thought. No faerie here would ever believe her words; she did not entail for kingdoms to fall, she simply wished for boundaries to be less of a defining trait of kingdoms.

It is beautiful to her for communities to exist, but not when its existence is attributed to divide.

But Silverbell was too busy scarfing down the rest of his berries to really try thinking further of it. He didn't want to.

She almost...

almost sounds like him....

Her eye was healing, but what an ugly sight it left. She kept her bandage, still blooming with a flower, on, wrapping by day and unwrapping by night, cleansing it as per usual.

White Lily didn't know how much longer she could stay here; she felt no pressure to leave, but it was unlike her to overstay her visit... not that this was really a visit that was ever meant to happen.

It wasn't like there was currently an Academy to go back to. Aside from the Vanilla Kingdom, that was the only other home she could really recognize as a 'home' to begin with....

She rinsed her face into the bucket of water, the silvery outlines of it gleaming back at her alongside the splashes she made as she tried to cleanse those souring memories.

Minutes passed and she attempted to rest at least a bit more on the bed, the blankets folded neatly by her own habits. The pillows were kept upright as she leaned against those, the humming of slight music playing just outside....

Music? She opened her eyes again. The music... had it been playing the whole time she was here, had she gone deaf to it up until now? 

She couldn't tell....

But she did realize... her eyes. She had opened both of them. There was a strange lack of pain she felt now.

Sudden lights outside shone a light lavender glint, even between the cracks of wood and the door it shone. She was drawn to walk outside, the door even seeming silence in wake of the music.

No one seemed to be around and she realized she must be in a dream of some sort; lucid, livid and littered with memories.

For a moment, she let the dream play out. Her hair was unbraided and curled around the frame of her face, the wind softly brushing past her as she took more steps to wander around.

The light seemed to be shining most from just above the tree, and for a moment she thought she could see her old friend.

It was but a dream, so to her reasoning, what did it matter to reach out to him....

"Pure Vanilla Cookie...." She whispered, inching closer to the tree and looking up. The figure was glowing a faint light, stars dotting around it as it stood, eyes shut but facing down to look at her. It looked just like Pure Vanilla, the posture, the smile... the eyes, even, all resembling such similar details... even the soul jam.

"White Lily Cookie......" That was not the voice of Pure Vanilla, she knew from the way it breathed before speaking. "...listen deep within to that of the one whose name you speak...."

"Listen to the truth...."

"White Lily Cookie...."

"White Lily...."

"White Lily Cookie!"

She jolted awake, her body jerking upwards and making Silverbell jump back from the sudden movements. "White Lily! I thought you were falling into an actual coma..."

The flowered cookie shook her head, sighing. "Why are you so worried...? Can't one catch a blink of sleep during the day...."

"You've been slept through the entire day and through to this morning......"

Now she was silent as she hesitated. "All day...?"

The other just nodded, bowing as a form of apology. "Perhaps you were just sleeping, I'm sure healing takes a lot of energy."

One last glance was shared before he excused himself out, the voice of his mingling with that of another faerie's voice now.

She realized she hadn't put the bandage back on, or at least it had fallen off when she was passed out. An entire day...

The dream had felt like only a few minutes; in a way, though, she did wonder if she was thrown back in time... memories of Pure Vanilla had surrounded her in the dream, messages of old letters they'd share, ribbons of grades, and flowers they'd pick together, though it had flown around her in that lucidity. 

She had felt a quarter blind, not even half blind, but even with her eye healing that side of her face ached. She wondered if the sight of it had scared Silverbell off yet again, though he seemed to still be scared of her presence in general.

It hadn't been brought up in the conversations, but she still knew very little of this kingdom. Their traditions felt... familiar, yet, sacred. Some were described in folklore of books she'd read long ago, while others seemed to be newer rituals.

There was pure silence in the clearings all the time, wind being the friend to chimes, but other than that, not even music rested anymore. When she wandered around outside the home, she noticed some would stare, and upon her gazing back, they'd either look away or stare even harder at her, making her even more anxious.

The anxiety was starting to settle in deeper by the days and weeks as she proved herself useless so soon in her expeditions. She had wanted to ask questions all the time, but even walking so far away from the home she stayed at felt disrespectful, so she was usually the easiest cookie to find out of anyone in the kingdom thus far. Which proved worrying for the times she actually wasn't in the home.

It had happened a few times, and it became increasingly obvious that there was some sort of fascination but fear that Silverbell truly had of and from her. He was always the one that seemed to trail behind her or find her first, and she couldn't help but think he simply always had an eye on her out of his own worrisome. 

Though this time, she had found him instead, a different type of Silverbell that she really hadn't been used to seeing.

White Lily had already been aware up until this point, especially from Elder Faerie's small conversations with her, that Silverbell tended to shell himself: his outer shell was obviously what he wanted people to perceive him as, but the eyes were the glimpses into his true emotion, and every time she'd every try to read his face it came up blank.

Until this point, when she found him talking to Silver Sapphire Cookie.

They had been sitting under some of the apple trees, their conversation light. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she barely heard anything else in the kingdom going on anyways.

"-which he always tells me, but I... I can't help but think the other way." Silverbell's voice felt frailer, duller, hoarse and even drained. "I can't help but wonder if there's a reason my wing has also taken so long to heal. I've used herbs, and usually tears go away within months, sure, but-"

"My, you are the impatient type still after all!" Silver Sapphire tried to make light of the conversation, looking at the tired cookie whose gaze was elsewhere in the distance. They had been sat on some piles of silvery leaves, so close that their hair seemed like they could've intertwined if it wasn't for Silverbell shaking his head in dismay.

"I haven't changed at all." It was almost like a cry for help, the smallest tint of pain at the edges of his voice as he finally looked at the other, eyes narrowed under furrowed brows. "I wish for something different, and when I finally get it, I kill the moment. Get it!"

His voice dropped at the last word as he suddenly tightened his lips into a line, holding back something before looking upwards at where the apples of the tree hung. The more lilac cookie sighed as he tried to come up with the right words. "Death is sometimes... not permanent... you can't keep holding yourself to what has happened when her memory is still as strong as ever right above and around us."

Silver Sapphire gestured around to the view, making Silverbell seemingly calm down from the specific reassurance of her tree thriving. "How could anyone forget her..."

"See...? She'll always be remembered be-"

"Because of how she went."

Now the other was just staring sadly at him. "You know it hurts to see you so destructive. You are still praised in this kingdom, you were one of the few who managed to even persist against my m...mentor, the Fount."

Silverbell grew quiet, primarily because his thoughts were seething with other thoughts that obviously helped no one to be said, but his anger was bubbling the words out of his mouth like hot stew for him. "When I die I hope no one remembers me. I hope I lay rotting across the forests and the plants with my dust engraved into them are trampled on. You know why. You know why I can't stand to be praised... after everything, after what I did... what I've done...! And for it to h-"

Silver Sapphire pressed a hand to his face, now agitated. "Accidents happen, sure with you more than others, but to despair the entire Kingdom because only you out of everyone think a fate worse than death beyond death itself is necessary!?" He was almost disgusted, but his hand pressed against his cheek gently, squeezing it in a slight annoyed way but still trying to ground the other. "Agh, you know what? Now I'll outlive you out of spite. If anything happens, I'll make sure you go down in history! There'll be valley of the lilies all along the forests just for you, and I'll make sure there's plenty right here beneath these trees too. And then, I'll hope someone keeps some near my final resting plants."

The archer was now extremely silent, sadness finally being readable in his tears but his eyes themselves were shining with some sort of fear... and a flushed stare. "Don't talk like that... I didn't know you even could talk like that... it sounds like poetry, don't waste it on me!"

To no avail, the other just looked away, almost embarrassed now as he took his hands away and leaned backwards against the leaves onto the palms of his hands. "I've always... said stuff like that. Sure maybe not that specifically, but if saying that alone is what gets you to open your eyes, and ears," he muttered teasingly, looking back at the other faerie's eyes again directly, squinting as he smiled sheepishly, "then maybe I should say stuff like that to you more, no?" 

All the while, White Lily couldn't help but sympathize with Silverbell, even if currently he was struck with shock and confusion, she, too, was surprised at the sudden turn of conversation. She hadn't taken them to be very close, but she did start to connect the amount of times she'd be asked about Silverbell visiting her by Silver Sapphire over the course of the weeks of check-ins, and other times she'd just see them casually chatting before Mercurial Knight ran up and gave a new energy that also seemed to brighten the duo up as well.

At this time, though, she had walked away from the conversation, assuming it to become a back and forth session of teases and bickering to pull Silverbell out of his own thoughts. But she couldn't help but theorize even the words he said. All she knew was that it was at least nice to know he was not all hollow of a person he seemed to be sometimes.

Some of his joy did feel genuine at times, anyways, but that was only sometimes.

As she wondered about the faerie and his friends, she slipped away into another part of the forests of the Kingdom, silvery vines wrapping around signs as she found herself at a thicker stream of one of the rivers that lead into the clearing.

The bridge there was structured with forks jutting into the architecture of it, but the rest of its silvery structuring remaining as so. The night was quieter now, the wind even seeming to fall away as the river grew still, ripples only being caused by the faintest of leaves dripping into them.

The leaves danced with the water and she watched them closer than she did her own surroundings. 

They swirled around randomly, and, for a moment, it had looked like a figure, but that had faded too just as quick as it had seemed to appear.

Humming, she leaned her head against the railing of the bridge, letting her hair finally fall along it, sleepiness tugging at the icing of her eyelids as she dejected rest in favor of wonder once more.

Seconds into minutes had passed, and after letting her thoughts wander just like the leaves, she heard quiet footsteps sound with a sudden stop.

She couldn't see in her right eye, so she craned her whole neck, moving away from the side and staring at the wandering cookie. At least she would've assumed it was a wandering one if it was anyone except for this one.

Elder Faerie had made his way up the bridge, his eyes narrowed and stern yet full of serenity.

"Did something bring you here?" He asked as he stood by her side, staring down at the reflections. 

She shook her head. "There isn't many places for me to go... so I just... walked until I got here. I didn't think anyone would've come here, the vines on the bridge are few long and untrimmed..."

"There is... a reason for this habit in this kingdom." The Faerie King responded, realizing they hadn't talked so much of its past still.

He made a gesture to follow across the path, more into the forests, beckoning her to follow.

"I always come here because the first time I ever did, I was brought here...."

Chapter Text

On that trail of silver and gold, footsteps of a million years pressed hard into the ground.

Laughs were frozen into the air and soaked into the trees around them.

The bridge and water, gleaming and reflecting the embraces that the Fount and the Faerie King had shared.

Moments after, the Faerie would find himself following close behind the Fount:

A building had been constructed.

An opera house, a giant music box shaped structure, yet inside it was akin to a library.

Singing, one of the Faeries' most upheld traditions, was the power to this structure,

how the Fount managed to implement it into the architecture, that the Faerie King did not know.

But he did, and sang he did, and cried he did, and laughed he did, and died he did.

He did all these things, and now he was back in the building again.

This time there was no temptation to rip the plants apart. They had all withered on their own, now.

This place was a forgotten one, forgotten by his lover, his Fount.

So strange, how one who is meant to know everything lost track of everything so fast in itself.

He listened to him, he heard him, he was strung along and yet that music box of a library continued to chirp with him when they pondered together.

Even if now the building had lies rooted deep within its walls, he still missed that sound.

That sound of lies.

Lies like, oh, he wondered:

"I love you,

I miss you,

I'll stay forever"

Lies like

"I'll treasure you,

I'll help you,

We'll live together"

Lies like

"I'm worried for you,

I'll keep you warm,

I'll make you feel safe."

The last words he heard he could not remember now. He'd seen him in dreams, but those were lies too.

His whole presence had felt like a lie to him, and now here he was.

Moments before, staring at the bridge, the same one the Fount had finally brought up the ideals of marriage.

His glow was still in the area, imprinted forever as the bridge and water promised.

It did not need the shine of the moon, but without that moon, the beauty would not be preserved.

It was why Elder Faerie still visited the last places the Sun had touched. His Sun.

Or was that warmth, too, a lie that he wanted to last forever?

A yearning fool, he was.

When Elder Faerie had made his way to the bridge, he did not necessarily expect White Lily to be there, but it wasn't the most uncommon thing. Times before, he'd found several cookies at this area, more times than not it was, for some reason, usually Silver Sapphire as well, but the vines and plants always remained untouched. 

Her presence reminded him of the Fount, but to say it outright was already a step in a certain direction he did not want to admit. So he never brought that up.

After their small chat, he did end up bringing her to the destination on the other side of the bridge: the music box library. He'd wanted to tear the whole thing down, but he had no reason to, so he never did. It stood as a memory now.

Just the same as that tree, really....

They stood now, in the middle of the dusty and desolate place; White Lily was already wandering her hands over the dust, her eyes reading whatever familiar words she could find. Most of the books detailed their culture, celebrations, the... tree, and-

She paused, saying nothing now but letting the thought sink into her mind slowly. Elder Faerie paid her no mind as he was also looking through books. No regular books, though, regretting having a habit of always looking at the photobooks immediately upon entry every time he visited. The dust was less on these books, but still there nonetheless.

Letting her go through anything, he finally grabbed a certain history book, getting her attention and gesturing for her up a stairway. At the top was a podium, large enough to place the book on as he heaved it up onto it, opening it carefully.

The page he flipped to showed depictions of butterflies and flowers resembling milk droplets... Elder Faerie processed for a moment before turning to another page quickly.

Eventually he started to speak after letting her soak in the imagery, giving a slight cough to clear his throat. "There were once cookies of great wisdom and power, strength beyond all others and a time of peace between all... their virtues gave them unlimited rein on the world, and to that... they took advantage of all before them."

He flipped the page to show a more violent depiction of them, death of cookies being drawn in such graphic ways before her eyes, all at the hands of these... these... 

"Beasts." He muttered, noticing the way her uncovered eye widened in shock and horror. "They were known, before that, as poets, lovers, peacekeepers... from these titles alone, one wouldn't assume that their power and grip on it only got more selfish with time. It was always a matter of time and with fate, it will always be." 

The next page of imagery showed forks being stabbed to the grounds around them, a hand waving from the heavens to grip them away into the tree that stood towering above all else in the kingdom now. "If not for my cry for help, the witches would've likely noticed a minute too late before all hope was lost." He continued on, turning the page again to show a depiction of himself being given a sword, one she had not seen in his possession. "The reason these beasts are trapped, punished for eternity is because of my very essence... my life is on the line of all of cookiekind, and the witches saved me from death in order to prevent any more death..."

She sighed as she realized she did hear a variation of this story upon her arrival of the faerie kingdom. "Your lifeforce and purpose is to die?"

The question made him abruptly slam the book, causing her to flinch as she took a step away. "Quite. The. Opposite."

Supposing she hit a nerve, she opened her mouth to apologize, only for him to go on. "If my purpose was to die, why would I exist to begin with?"

Now his own question made her second guess everything. "Purpose... your purpose is just what will happen... you can't keep these beasts locked up forever! Even if you wanted to, that's impossible! You'll literally die trying!"

A slight rustling made her lose track of her thoughts just as he fell silent as well. 

"White Lily Cookie, I did not bring your presence to this sacred library just to be told I have no purpose in life. I am extending my purpose of living to you."

The flower on her bandaged eye waved as she looked back up again, mouth agape as she tried to process that now. "What... do you mean...?"

"What do you think I mean...? You may be weak now, but what other fate would've brought you to this kingdom as the date of fear only became closer and closer to us..."

He brushed past her as he descended the stairs again, leaving White Lily to stumble behind him to ask more questions. 

"You mean I'm meant to protect the tree as well?!" She wasn't yelling, but her voice was so shaky with confusion and sudden exhaustion that she may as well have been. "This isn't what I stand for, I am meant to be led by the light of freedom! Keeping beasts trapped isn't something I want to contribute my existence to, and you're still alive and... and..."

She trailed off as Elder Faerie only gave her a saddened but stern glare. "I know. You still have a choice in this. I'm not asking you stay, I am asking for help."

He did want to admit weakness. Admitting to needing help, an extra wave of support is all he needed, all he could ask for, especially from her. 

But to no avail.

"I'll... I will think about it...."

Her steps faded as she retreated back towards the kingdom, only looking back once she was at the bridge and then continuing on. He had mistaken her as someone willing to prevent a great calamity. Had he not said enough, had it not been stressed the inevitable death that will follow if she does not follow her fate?

His anger was misdirected to her, and that only stressed him even more.

Returning back, she spotted Silverbell near an edge of one of the rivers, seeming to be testing the water or at least distracting himself by throwing anything near into it. Her mind suddenly lifted from the worries of the tree and beasts, approaching him softly but just loud enough for him to notice without being scared.

His eyes, dull as ever, still opposed the smile and wave that greeted her from him. "White Lily...! I thought you were resting..?" He almost seemed surprised, and in a way looked guilty.

She shook her head, taking a place on the ground next to him and sitting against the silvery grass. "Hm.. I should probably rest... but it's okay, how have you been? You must've been busy if you hadn't checked on me, haha.." She was slightly hinting at whatever she saw of the interaction before, but he didn't even acknowledge it, at least not to her.

A slight smile tugged even more at his lips, almost forced. "Today was... a good day! A day better than most, I just..." He shook his head, smiling and laughing off the rest of his sentence. "My wing being broken still makes me feel even more like a land cookie, like a spore in the midst of flowers... I stand out so much, but I've been getting myself to accept that it will still take months to heal."

He tossed another rock into the river, noticing that there was a pile of bigger rocks just below one of the branches. Arrows were shot sporadically and she realized this must've been a practice area for him.

At least until she noticed a few arrows sticking directly into the ground.

"Do faeries usually fly? I notice Elder Faerie usually walks instead of fly... I didn't take faeries as the type to shame, either."

"Ah... maybe not, but... I feel like I hear murmurs and people pointing at me... What other reason to make fun if not for the fact I've broken my wing in such a stupid way."

She frowned, thinking of a proper response but still didn't understand the faeries well enough to say anything that may make sense. "Would there really be any other reason for people to be talking about one of their own in such a way?"

Silence followed. The more times she was met with quiet the more times she wondered if it was good enough to bother saying anything at all.

"Maybe."

She didn't press on to ask why he would suggest that, but then she remembered from a sudden pain in the side of her face reminding her.

"Or maybe I'm... looking too much into it."

Sliding a hand to his, she attempted to at least comfort him, picking it up and placing a rock in the palm of his. "You make up a part of this kingdom just as this rock makes up the ground. No other rock can replace it, and no other rock will forget its place, just as this kingdom has always and will always thrive with you being here. There is no reason for people to speak so ill of someone who has done nothing but protect; after all I was an intruder... you should've been praised more instead of feel so guilty." 

She moved the hand away and stood up slowly, watching as he looked at the rock carefully, then looking up back at her and smiling.

Somehow, his eyes had gotten even duller while his smile gleamed even more. "This will always mean a lot to me, thank you..."

Bowing a goodbye and waving, she carefully navigated through the forest and away again, Silverbell watching her leave and standing up as well.

Once she was out of sight, he sighed, blinking slowly.

Then, throwing the rock into the river as well.

Chapter Text

Mercurial Knight remembered finding him; if not for White Lily, he would've assumed he could've been too late.

There was a moment of silence when he first arrived at the scene.

An arrow had already been shot again to the sky, directly above.

A pause, and no wind.

The eye contact Silverbell held with Mercurial Knight in that time was tauntingly and hauntingly peaceful, as if he was just about to accept taking himself out.

But, instead of what Silverbell expected, Mercurial did not push him out of the way. Instead, he destroyed the arrow itself.

He would always do that. Attempt to destroy what would hurt him, no matter how many times there was something in his way, he would not let anything happen to him, even if it was what Silverbell wanted more than anything.

Another pause, still no wind.

Without a word, he rounded up any belongings he had and, by instinct, his bow as well.

"You told me you would only have this on you if you went on a border travel."

Silverbell refused an answer, following close behind with some distance between his steps.

"You told me you wouldn't be so stupid."

Mercurial Knight wanted to look at him, show him how hard it was to speak with sobs stuck in his throat and tears in his eyes, but he dared not look back, especially not to show how weak he felt in his body at the mere idea of anything happening to him.

They'd grown up closer than anything, they knew each other like brothers, they were half of all they had left.

And to think it could be thrown away... just. like. that. It only served as a reminder to the knight that Silverbell was more fragile now than ever.

He dropped the items and quickly turned, gripping the other tightly into a hug and trying his best to not show how vulnerable he was; his hair was slightly drooping and puddling but he knew Silverbell wouldn't comment on it.

His heart sank into his stomach as he felt the other start shaking; his sobs were so silent but he didn't need to hear or see him to know.

The grip the other had on him was desperate; it was pleading, begging for mercy, a mercy that unfortunately wasn't meant to be given by the knight.

And out of all the words he said next, he almost gripped the other's wings out of a slight frustration.

"I'm so... sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it...!"

The sky was a bleeding blue, trees swirling around Elder Faerie as he forced all of his rage onto the tree, chopping away at it, chipping every inch of it until it fell with a thud.

Away from him stood a faceless Fount, staring with the key staff instead. "Then what does...?"

Another slash and he found his sword directing itself onto yet another tree. "Nothing. I will never forgive you."

The Fount hummed, following him and observing before stepping away. Even his steps mimicked how Elder Faerie always thought he walked, floating every so slightly above the ground.

Everything about him was what Elder Faerie thought of him. Of the Fount, at least.

He was apologetic, the Fount was forgiveable.

Not...

Not whatever that beast that took his face and name and warmth was.

He wasn't quite sure how he emerged into his own dream already slashing at a tree. It was all he wanted to do in his dreams anymore.

There was a time where he would rest within his resting state; looking at the Fount now, he saw him sitting in a silver structure, flowers and milk buds surrounding those as well.

He couldn't help but follow. It always ended up like this. He would be mad, but... staring at that Fount. How could he forget what was once so precious to him?

Eventually, he sat next to him, his eyes wishing the other could still have his face. He didn't know if he subconsciously forgot it or purposely removed it from his memory.

"I would forgive...  you, though."

"I know."

"Was there anything you didn't know... didn't you know how much it'd hurt me...?"

"I did."

Elder Faerie looked around again, seeing the place they were sitting had changed. Now they were under the wisteria tree again, having a picnic. The Fount laughed a memorable laugh, but when he looked to see his familiar smile, it was still so devoid of a face....

"Then why..."  He asked, yet again. He always asked. Why... why did he do it...

"You don't really want to know why, do you?" Part of the Fount's grayish structure cracked, making the faerie jolt awake now.

Dreams for others could not be said to be so nightmare-ish.

Sleep on, sweet little child

Silverbell twisted in his bed made of leaves as he tried to sleep. Oh, but he was asleep.
His hands gripping onto anything as he shifted from whatever was in his dreams.

Day is young

Her voice taunted him... her voice... one he hadn't thought he'd even hear again.
Was it really her's...?

Water is freezing, don't wake

He felt like a cold wave of water washed over his head, twisting again and breathing heavily in his sleep.
She sounded so different but the pitches were all the same... the way she sang, it was always so sweet...

Night is so deep and slow

In his dream, he was trying to find her.

Close your eyes

To avoid her.

Dream on, dear little child

It was almost like she was haunting him, why so suddenly? Why dream like this?

In the sky, stars are still fading away

He tried to control his breathing, shifting uncomfortably more in his own bed as the reality of his dreams remained.

Down here, a dying dove crawls

He tried to call out her name, call out anyone's name.
Tripping over something in this nightmare made him flinch, but he felt as though he couldn't wake up.

Sleep on, dear little child

Finally he looked up, an apple tree's branches swirling around above as shaped in an eye's crescent.

Day is young

The branches twisted as he stared up, only to see a red dot falling from the sky.
It almost reminded him of his arrows.

Wish why

At least, before it had grown in size as it fell.
On route to crush him.

Before what looked like was a giant apple could settle onto him, his eyes snapped open as he shot up in the bed, gasping for air.

Realizing too late he was on a far edge, he fell with a soft thud, too panicked to get himself together and instead scrambling to sit closer to his drawer while still on the floor. His blanket, one of many that he'd weaved together, fell with him, making him instinctively curl up in it; how long had he been sleeping now? Surely only a few hours?

As he heard a cookie approaching the door of his room, he slunk under the blanket, knowing what was coming.

"Mercurial Knight... I know, I'm sorry for being so scared... again." He bit his tongue as if he hated his own vulnerability. "This time it was... different. I'll tell you in the morning."

Silence lingered after he spoke and he realized the door hadn't opened. "Look, I know I... what I did was serious, but I can dodge my own arrows. If I really wanted to die, I would've done it by now! Ah..." He bit his tongue harder as he realized he shouldn't have really said that. "I wouldn't.. do that though. ... ... ..Can you stop being so quiet!"

He was almost tearing up, feeling as though he was being ignored, only to stop once the thought that maybe no one was at the door at all came across his thoughts. Sighing, he suddenly feared that idea. No one was there at all for him.

Attempting to stand only made him thud to the floor again onto his knees; his head was quick to spiral with more thoughts, breathing becoming a chore.

Everything he did didn't feel real. That morning didn't feel real. He tried to do that. He really tried? Did he even try? Was that him trying? How pathetic.

The footsteps sounded again and his ears suddenly felt as though they felt deaf, head so dizzy he couldn't even process that the door had opened, especially given he was looking away from it now as he stared at the floor.

Tears somehow managed to dapple at his face, his chest feeling heavy with the air he already struggled to breathe. For a moment he felt as though he couldn't see- his vision was becoming blurred from lack of air and from crying, tears interrupted by blinks.

The air felt like it was leaving him and the space around, as if he was in a void... no, not a void. Not again.

His vision was simply blacking out, but the panic made it even worse; what even started this?

He couldn't think.

He did notice something though.

Something was holding his shoulders. At first he assumed Mercurial Knight, so he said his name with whatever strength he could.

But then the hands moved to pick him up in a different way than Mercurial Knight had ever carried him, so, on assuming it was instead White Lily, he tried to say the name again as he shook violently, almost looking like he was shivering.

But... still, that was not who was before him. Upon focusing on something other than himself he did manage to calm down; blinking but still opening his eyes to blackness as if he hadn't opened his eyes at all. It was a terrifying trait of these moments.

He felt himself being placed on his own bed again, the weight of the other cookie assuring him of some sense to control his breathing.

Then it finally hit him. "Silver.. Sapphire...?"

The other had been humming and muttering reassurances the whole time, a concerned glare...? on his face. "Silverbell...? Do you want water? Or..?" His stammering words gave away that he didn't know what to do for him or what to do with himself.

He had set him on the bed so that Silverbell stopped grabbing at nothing, seeing how his hands were weakly wrapped up into the sheets now. Silverbell didn't respond at all. If anything, he looked ashamed, but maybe that was from the tears streamlining down his cheeks as his breathing was still steadying itself.

"Mercurial Knight had to speak with Elder Faerie, he had asked me to stay and make sure...nothing happened." He hesitated on his wording, trying to give some explanation to why he was there; he already knew he was the last person Silverbell would really expect to be in his home. "About what you said though,..."

Another hesitation, trying to stare at the silvery strands of hair going astray of the other and judge the other's response so he could say something in accordance, but to no avail.

"You shouldn't be so scared to express those feelings," he started to say, interrupting himself once the other started to grip on the sleeves of his clothes. He looked like a mess and all Silver Sapphire could do was stare at and hold him in his arms as means of comfort. "I know you've... told me things before, so I get it, but I've never said it's a bad thing to be afraid. To be weak. I'm sure Mercurial Knight has said all the same things."

The vulnerability made him sick, let alone how Silverbell probably felt at an entire defeat to be wrapping himself in the arms of anything, even his own blanket still loosely wrapped around his body.

It was quiet now. For once, his mind had shut up, though this was probable to the fact he was too tired to think now. Thoughts came and went easier now but they were all fleeting. He stared at the sleeves of the other, never really processing how he was basically laying on his lap, but the other didn't seem to mind.

He felt the other breathing, but he was more sure his own breathing patterns could be felt since it was slower and heavier. He didn't feel like talking now either: his voice may as well been gone, but it was probably stuffy and hoarse. 

Sitting in silence with another person was probably what he did need at the moment. All the was to be said has already been said, and maybe if it was Mercurial Knight there'd been more of a panicked rise out of Silverbell, but his connection to the knight was different to that of the healer.

It was strange; he knew Silver Sapphire cared easily for cookies in a time for need, but it seemed he couldn't care for him. Thankfully, this thought didn't cross Silverbell at all. He was too busy thinking about the number of stiches in the sleeves of the other's clothes as he stared at them and how they were slightly moving in rhythmic patterns.

He'd been combing through his hair for a while now to calm him down, humming too, both of which Silverbell still didn't realize since parts of him had still felt numbed from it all.

What was going on in Silver Sapphire's mind wasn't up for him to guess, so he choose the easy way and didn't think for a second about it.

But it was a lot. A lot more than Silverbell could've ever guessed. And half of it had to do with concern. The healer barely bothered asking 'are you ok' when the answer was beyond obvious. And especially not when the silence was more abundant to enjoy now.

For a moment he did think to get water or anything for the stressed faerie.

"What do you think about taking a walk?"

White Lily was stuck in a dream. No, she wasn't having a dream. She was stuck in one. One so immeasurably taunting of the fact she had yet to make up her mind.

A choice of fate... she would help cookies no matter what, why would it take so much more to help the faeries...?

A choice of fate...

Was fate really a choice...?

As she sifted through the flower fields, she saw a giant mirror in front of her. It resembled the one in the room she slept in, but now it was completely undamaged, affixed to seemingly nothing. It was so golden and high in power as it stood now, but something was wreaking within it.

Staring into it, she realized it was like a puddle. A flower drifted across it, and suddenly another figure was in place of where her reflection should be. The entity approached calmly, making her remember that mirrors don't work right in her dreams... for whatever reason.

It was a cookie, his eyes closed. Again, she assumed it was Pure Vanilla... it looked so much like him at such a peaceful state. Her previous dreams with this specific cookie always made her think of him....

But no. It was still her reflection. Or at least an imitation of what it was supposed to be.

The entity opened its eyes, wider than she'd seen any cookie open their eyes before; even slits behind the figure seemed to open, revealing more a more horrifying fact about the cookie staring at her. The beast of deceit. 

"YOU!"

It shrieked, reaching through the mirror and attempting to claw at her, strings trying to slide all around her and particularly into her wounded eye, wounded still in her dreams. There was no time for panic, even less time to react as she was already in the grasp of him.

"You! You are the next heir to power?! YOU?" His anger was mixed with laughter, the vividness of the dream revealing itself as the mirror cracked and a figure unlike any, even those she'd seen in books, had been standing. "With such great power takes greater responsibility, and you can't even take THAT!"

Her attempts to run away were useless against the strings, confusion weaving into her as string shattered into her eye.

And that pain. That pain from even her dream was too real to stay asleep.

And only made her wake up with even more agony coursing through her dough.

Chapter Text

The silver king was already done talking to Mercurial Knight. It seemed some situations were only worsening with everyone equally. Mercurial Knight themself didn't even realize his own state being self destructive by worrying so much of Silverbell, who could handle himself. Right?

It was already reported that some have started to have even stranger dreams now, and he couldn't help but wonder if that was from the lack of protection he'd been able to will himself towards the Silver Tree.

His silver hair swirled around him as he finally laid against his own bed, a bed still made for two.

Thoughts of the Fount came and went, just as thoughts of the beast did the same. They were not one in the same at all, but both were linked by the same words he'd speak to him to.

He knew the beast was already in his own dreams; there was just enough of a reach for him to do so. He always did so, at least a few months after the initial sealing. But the beast rarely showed himself in the form that so viciously craved for him to turn to crumbs.

The dreams always revealed a Fount instead. He never questioned it and he didn't want to; if anything of that had changed, he'd be even madder than he already was.

But that was just the thing. The yearn for the Fount was pushing him beyond recognition. His mind was so ready to tear down the tree just for a semblance of him back.

And he was taking the bait like a foolish king crowning a jester.

He was only aware of half the stories going on through the town.

White Lily had decided she would help the faeries. Selflessness for a selfish reason.

Mercurial Knight had wanted to take back all his training. Regret for a spiteful reason.

Silverbell wished he never picked up a bow. Self-loathing for a grieving reason.

All of which he didn't know they had... such regrets... and pain.

And the Fount... he missed that Fount. He always had nothing going on, or at least that was what it seemed. He was so bright and full of every wisp of energy and love that he couldn't help but wander his mind with him. 

That Fount had killed himself, made the Faerie King kill him for himself, to finally let go of the bit of happiness he had thrived with and resonate with pure, unequivocal hatred for what the rest of the world had done to him.

He had wanted to destroy all that remained pure.

That "Fount" had always hated innocence. Hatred for a painful, agonizing reason.

And the Faerie King hadn't known.

He felt as though he was losing his own kingdom now.

Did he ever know anything...?

Nearby the Kingdom had always stood a spire. It wasn't within the Kingdom's borders, but it could be seen while within them, at least if you followed the will of the Fount, to which most faeries did.

Faeries would come and go to even the farthest reaches, such as that of the Academy.

It was all but a wonder that of course a veil of a lie for how peaceful the world was would be residing just outside their vision. No one knew the other beasts would be torturing and slaughtering the masses of Earthbread as they celebrated the one who was the cause of it all. The truth of it all.

There was never a way to tell who fell first. It was assumed for a while that perhaps it was the one who once held the virtue of solidarity, silence speaking so loud for them that the it drove all mad. But the truth... that was what scared people.

So fill the world with lies, the faerie assumed the Fount would've once thought.

Fill the world with just enough truths but more lies that naught to have confusion and distrust spread through the lands, making the fragility all the more observable... and entertaining.

The way he remembered his words sporadically seeping in blurs in his dreams made him feel uneasy to his stomach. 

It was right in front of him the entire time, and now, it was gone.

The spire, at least. The Fount was too, he was gone forever at this point other than being a figment used against Elder Faerie by the beast himself. He had made himself into a puppet; no one else could entertain and sustain his place such as himself, huh?

The memories flooded back sometimes as he laid awake, staring at the ceiling made of silvery wood. His wings twitched sometimes, missing the touch of the Fount holding him while still being asleep. All the times he'd done it would repeat in his head until he passed out, but this time he did not fall asleep easy at just the thoughts.

The yearn for something more than delusion, a real feeling, was haunting him. How was he supposed to sleep every night knowing one thing could've changed...?

But it hit him again. The beasts were corrupted long before. There was no saving them; even saving the Fount wouldn't have been enough. It was all so hopeless.

It made him sick again to think about, so he just finally went back to his memories.

Even those made him sick though.

Everything was making him nauseated. 

Would his dreams at least comfort him as they always do in the end?

His dreams surrounded by trees of lush and structures of silver that the Fount made himself for him...?

Half the kingdom was made by the Fount, really.

In a way, he just lived in a memory, a constant state of being forced to know he did make this place what it was to him... what it was worth to him....

He couldn't help but think now, of those flowers that grow wherever he cried. It was like a last ditch effort to comfort him in his time of despair, as if the Fount saw it coming long before. Roots of several plants rooted into the essence that once was the Fount...

And yet flowers, of all things, grow in place of the Elder's tears, and his alone.

And every time he saw those flowers, he would rip them up.

If he was to ever truly care,

why would he have ever left.

did he really want to know...?

The archer who hated being an archer followed slowly aside the other, walking being easier now that he'd regained some strength. Even if he did end up slowing behind, there was no rush to wherever Silver Sapphire had wanted to take him; he often slowed with him and helped him walk anyways.

Eventually they did finally approach a large tree, one that even the healer hadn't visited himself yet, just as awestruck as Silverbell. 

The wisteria curtained down behind them as they pressing into them, both stopping after first seeing the view from under the tree's boundaries.

"I don't... remember coming to a place like this, ever..." Silverbell whispered, looking up more rather than down. "Where... how did you know of this place...? Didn't think you explored this much, haa..."

He trailed off as he distracted himself with more wisteria branches, combing his hands across them while Silver Sapphire tried to come up with the words. "It may sound a bit odd, but Ca-... ahem, Apple Faerie Cookie spoke of this place... The Fount had originally told her apparently that he'd visit this place with the Eldest a lot...."

Unsure if saying her name would gain any sort of response, he just stood closer to him to reassure in any sort of way, trying to bring the focus onto the Fount's name being said instead. "I also heard... rumors... that wherever the Faerie King cried, flowers of the Fount's Knowledge would bloom... but..."

Both looked around, noticing the way the ground was slightly charred, not very noticeable but still easy to tell that something was uprooted times and times over.

Then a sort of dread rose out of Silver Sapphire as he realized what had happened.

"You don't think he..." Silverbell started to say the words for him, pausing to really process the type of pain must've been in the Eldest to... to....

"Uprooted the flowers... yes, he definitely did..." The healer hesitated to continue his thought, but said it anyways. "Wouldn't you do the same if your love was all devoted to a lie?"

Silverbell didn't look at him as he thought for a moment. "I thought their love for each other was the only true thing about .. that Fount."

Silver Sapphire shook his head, uneasy now. "There was always some truth in everything he did, wasn't there? Why would Elder Faerie be the one to rip the flowers up...?"

The response the other gave came so quick it almost gave him whiplash. "Who else is going to if not him?"

He wanted to ask why to rip them up in the first place, but he already answered that before. The Faerie King had loved a corrupted and twisted monster who made sure there was no way to make himself loveable after his fall. It was almost the most selfish thing anyone could've possibly done.

And then Silver Sapphire looked anxiously at Silverbell. "I didn't mean to bring you to such a... messed up place with too much history... I had heard it was peaceful, so I thought..." he clenched his jaw as he remembered who had told him of it to begin with, muttering a soft damn, you! directed to no one currently there.

They still stayed near the area for a moment, resting before finally deciding to move to a different place that hopefully served more gentle thoughts.

The area now was a pond, usually one used by wounded faeries for safe isolation. It was strange that the healer himself had come here often, yet never thought to visit the tree that's minutes away in walking time....

Silverbell stared at the water, twitching his broken wing slightly. "I haven't... let my wings soak in a while, aah..." He felt slightly uneasy near the water.

To let your wings become heavier than they already are was a dangerous game, but there was no threat here. He'd made one up in his mind and now it never went away.

But Silver Sapphire shrugged, reassuring him. "You don't need to get in, but... you do know letting the water in helps heal your wing, right...?"

They stared at each other for a moment, the healer nodding his head to the water slightly but still in a reserved way to know there is no pressure for him to do so.

"I hadn't expected to suddenly be asked to bathe," Silverbell slightly laughed, looking at the pond now. The joke let alone his sudden laugh struck Silver Sapphire off guard, making him feel the need to quickly explain again that he didn't need to do anything like that.

"It was just advice...! You know I've had to help other people with torn wings before... your wing is torn the worst like any I've ever seen, but letting water and time mend it together again usually helps faster than hoping and avoiding the clear ways to heal." He said quickly, smiling at him at the end of it as he noticed that Silverbell was smiling too.

"What? I never said I didn't want to, I just... haven't. Yes I've bathed, but my wings alone...? I twist to make sure those stay dry." Vulnerability was such a fear factor for him, but he was genuinely considering it now after how the other has already seen him.

They'd known each other for so long, haven't they? He barely gave him enough recognition that he's done for him, maybe he attributed that to the fact he was an official healer now. Silver Sapphire been named one as early as the peak of the Fount's residency, having been trained and taught by the Fount himself.

The more Silverbell thought about it, the more he wondered. He rarely saw the healer do much for himself, hm..?

Grabbing the other by the arm before they could react, he dragged both of them into the pond very suddenly, the splashing causing the lily-pads to go under alongside them before they emerged again, Silverbell giggling to himself for the off-hand bath. Both were still fully clothed, but their wings were now drenched, floating in the water gently.

Silver Sapphire stared at him, chuckling too but giving away his confusion. "Why drag me in too...? I'm the healer here, not the one to be healed...!"

"Oh? That's what you say." A slight splash at him as Silverbell laughed again. This was what he was, someone who was playful and energetic. But his wounded wing and scars still told other stories of him. Why act like this with him, of all faeries?

Another pang of anxiety hit him as he thought about Silverbell's words. "What do you know?"

"There's always stories that people have for everything, surely I'm not the worst one to come out of it... there's people who have worse pains than me...!" He was right, but he couldn't admit that to Silverbell.

"Your pain is still significant to see," he grabbed at any words, attempt for anything to be said, "and besides, why do I matter at the root of it all? I'm just meant to help others."

Silverbell stayed in the water, feeling more soothed by the fact he was resting in it after so long of avoiding being vulnerable. The other had already gotten out, wiping himself off and squeezing water out of his clothes and hair.

"And yourself, too. Do you really help yourself by helping others...?" It felt like the archer's words were directed to himself while he initially said it to the other, who only let the question hang in the air as he stared at him.

"It may sound selfish, but if that answers why I chose to be a healer of this kingdom, then yes. That's why I help others instead."

Once the kingdom was bustling again in what would be the afternoon, White Lily was descending into the clearing, looking for the Eldest. She spotted Mercurial Knight, who was also seeming to be looking for someone as well. She ran to him, and they also seemed relieved to see her again.

Both said each other's names in a sudden blur, pausing, then asking the same question at the same time in a slight worry on the knight's behalf more than White Lily's. She waited again. "Silverbell?" She asked. "Didn't you see him yesterday? Did you say something wrong?"

He then looked frustrated. How does she always ask the most hard-hitting questions at the wrong times?! "N-What? No, I mean maybe, but I asked Silver Sapphire to look after him when I had to update Elder Faerie on his condition."

She wanted to immediately ask where the Eldest was, but it had hit her again. "Silver Sapphire with Silverbell? They're probably just off on their own..."

"That's not what I want to hear!!!" He was exasperated, but shook his head again. "Where? Where in this Kingdom could they be by now!?"

White Lily kept tensing at him raising his voice. It made sense that he'd be upset if Silverbell ran off again on his own to do the indescribable, but the indescribable in question here with the added context of Silver Sapphire could mean an entirely different thing. "Perhaps in one of the forest clearings.. or the gardens... the other day I had seen them talking very... closely to each other." Her own voice was not hushed, given they were both in the clearing she wished she could take it back and say it quieter as some passerby's overheard and started whispering suddenly. 

Both the knight and the flower were annoyed now, shaking their heads. "Tell me, where is Elder Faerie? This is much more important for the kingdom," she stated, her eye staring at him with some urgency. 

"He may as well be as the sanctuary, you know as much as I do..." He spoke quickly, pointing to the direction the sanction is. "I'm unsure you've gone before, just follow that path and you'll find it. If he's not there, then he doesn't want to be found."

She walked off quickly, leaving Mercurial Knight to start looking through the gardens. Why on Earthbread would he be in the gardens? Apples are still a fight or flight object for him!

Right?

Had he missed the part he healed?

The knight ignored his thoughts, searching on anyways. Why was it so necessary to find him? Because what if something has already happened. He couldn't handle another loss of a faerie, and the biggest threat to this was Silverbell against his own thoughts.

And what of Silver Sapphire... what more could he say about him.

He went into the woods, too, on the opposite side that White Lily had gone.

What a mess they all were, like ants.

Spiraling,

Spiraling,

until they finally clash against a wall.

Chapter Text

The blue hand wrapped around the doll that resembled someone who would be the only person to have ever touched his heart, truly held it in the palm of their hands. The button eyes were stitched so carefully into what he imagined as the tender face of his love, the silky hair still as silver as he remembered.

And he squeezed the frail body he made of the doll, right up until he could feel as though all the pressure was up in its head, the button eyes bulging out as if threatening to explode.

He wanted it to. The defiance of the doll to snap made him sheathe his anger onto it now, clawing away at its insides, fluff and yarn coming undone.

Again.

It was not the first time he'd obsessively tear this thing apart. And now, after so long, he has made dolls of other bewitched cookies that he inflicted nothing but pain onto, wishing it could voodoo their way into their very presence, but also not.

What is the fun of harming one if it isn't directly? If their dough and jam alike isn't seeping into his hands, tainting the blue to a sickly purple from the red liquids they were all so full of?

It made him sick to think that they're all thriving so perfectly. 

So lush with life. So full of happiness.

Oh, but he smiled. Not all was happy and well. His own, his own, kingdom...! Full of cookies, one of which in particular was so weak to the truth he wanted to kill himself, oh, no, no-no, what good is the truth then? 

Why couldn't that FOOLISH King accept that lies are NECESSARY TO SURVIVING. It soaked his thoughts with rage to think how so many were willing to live in a terrible reality than to endure lies? Make up lies for themselves? Live in their own world?

The white strands of hair, as familiar as they would be, belonged to none other than the Beast of Deceit, lying eyes squinting with his own as he observed the doll before him. So broken it was, yet the smile was still on it. What a joke! To add a smile after never seeing him smile again in the dreams of this specific cookie. He'd done everything, so much, but his smiles in those were all lies! Nothing true! He was never genuine. He never loved him, and the anger only spiked on the days the faerie would go out of his way to riiiip HIS LAST GIFTS TO HIM UP...! It only makes sense to rip him apart like this, RIGHT?!

Did he appreciate anything!? 

In a final fit of rage, he sliced the rest of the face off, completely tearing the doll apart beyond recognition of what it once was. 

And he sat down at the table, he slid a hand into one of many drawers, already stabbing the doll even more with a needle. 

Tirelessly this cycle would repeat.

Destroy what once was his, and remake it into being his again, only to remember he will never have someone like that again.

So destroy it. Destroy the one who brought these feelings onto him for once over and over and over again.

He would continue to stab him. He would continue to fix him. He would continue to break him. He would continue to tear him down to his very last threads.

He never started new. Maybe, yes, he did use new materials each time, but it was a matter of making it all from one cookie, as starting with anything new is replacing him.

And nothing will ever replace the pain and warmth that this faerie wrought onto him to deal with forever.

Now he was silent as he stitched it back together, smiling and humming as if he wasn't hellbent on breaking it and leaving it rot as he desired to throw and kick it across the realm he made for himself.

He was cast aside in his own books, even Elder Faerie suppressing how important he was to the history of Earthbread. But here, anything could be anything! He was once a king, a poet, he was an artist with a mind for the literary, he was a painter of lies, a weaver for words to spread across the world, but all called to one role he stood holding now: The Director of these fine shows!

But being a director wasn't enough. He wasn't even in these plays himself now. He wasn't in the minds of these people, no. Even Silverbell didn't think of him, he only thought of-

"Maaster Shaaaadowww Milkkk!!!~" The singsong voice echoed into the room from the doorway, and he immediately rolled his head back to look at her, showcasing annoyance in every which way he could.

"Huh. What, what is it this time?" His words hissed out as he threw the sewing needle onto the table, giving up for a moment to focus on whatever the cookie before him had to say.

She stood at a short height, seeming to gush at the fact he was even looking at her. The black bows she wore bounced with the way she swayed, smiling at him and doing a slight twirl and then a bow. "Guess who went into the dreamscape for the first tiiime!"

Now this was new, catching more of his attention. "You've finally learnt..?" Then he shook his head. "Out with it! Who's dream did you already plague? I don't need any more inconveniences right now!"

The cookie giggled in response, gasping in a heap of air before speaking again. "Who else!? Silverbell of course~! He didn't see me though... he still really hates apples, though!"

"Candy Apple Cookie, please, for the love of all deceit left in this spire, do not attempt without me to guide you. We have bigger targets than that kid." He muttered, folding his arms and becoming crass with her. "Anything else you'd like to tell me? I'm busy, ya know."

His attitude was met with even more blind enthusiasm. "Oh, well, yes I do actually!!" She giggled again, heading to another table of the room. "I didn't go after Silverbell all because of our history, but guess who has a secreeet from you!" She pointed at the small portrait of both of the beast's servers that he had painted himself. Then a new anger washed over him.

"Secret from all my eyes!? You know what happens when you lie to me!" He shrieked, suddenly turning to look at the cookie who was smiling all the same. 

"I do! But I'm not the one lying, master..." her tone dropped, more malicious now. "You have many cookies to be your pawns down there, I'd say the root of all the problems is that flower! If-... if not for her, well, Silverbell wouldn't have gotten wounded and-"

"And that... AGH!!! Out, OUT!!! I've heard enough!" And with that she skipped away, happy that she's accomplished what she set to do.

To be a director was to take a cut out. It wasn't uncommon for directors to be in their own performances they're productions, but ah... he had no want to dapple with having a power over what happens if what happens in the end doesn't serve him any good...!

His obsession with the doll returned suddenly, only to pity the fact he hadn't been able to finish, using the needle to instead tie the remaining thread around the neck and scream out of agonizing annoyance and slamming the needle into the nearest wall, watching the doll swing as it hung and fluff still pouring out. It was only thankful he used white fluff instead of red, or else the sight may as well been that much more grotesque. 

He was so alone in this tower deep in his realm, not even with henchmen who understood him, not with anyone who could think! Think for themselves and make their own minds up!

Disgust welled through him as he stared at the mirror that he taken to replicate even in this realm.

The Fount. Even if he was the fount, once was, whatever you'd call it, he was no more than a memory to him.

"You like to make yourself an inconvenience of appearances, don't you?" Shadow Milk spat, curling his lips back as he spoke with gritted teeth.

"And you, an inconvenience on the eyes. Still wearing that old thing?" The Fount said to him, the reflection moving on its own now and raising an annoyed eyebrow at him. Shadow Milk rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, as if your robes don't drag for miles and carry every last germ along with it. I feel much more free in clothes like this! You could only wish to be as agile as me!"

"You talk as though I'm the older one here. Has all wisdom abandoned you like that? That's why you still talk to me, isn't it?" The Fount sneered, stepping through the mirror.

"I'd rather be alone than talk with someone who failed himself." Another look of pure, rotten disgust filled his eyes.

"You let yourself turn into... eh. This, though." The past version of the beast grabbed at his collar's ruffles, tapping at the upside down virtue, frowning. "So full of rage until I'm back in your conscious, huh?"

Shadow Milk slightly froze, annoyed even more now to be talking to what he could make up as being his conscious, or rather, his personal nuisance. "What's it to you how angry I am. This rage is still boiling to be set onto these foolish faeries, but of course you wouldn't get it because all you see in them is family!"

The Fount gave a small, knowing smile. Quiet, he stayed, staring, even. At least until his glaringly perfect matching eyes stared through the beast's own. "And look at who you turned into because you believe they were anything but...!"

They stood until Shadow Milk felt a force to his face, gasping at the sudden projection of pain. "Hey-!?"

Standing still, the Fount kept his hand raised as if he was about to strike again, only to enrage him again. The beast lashed out with more anger, stressing even further. "Just because I can't hit you to change this past of ours doesn't mean you can slap into the future!?" His fangs showed as he gripped the collar of the Fount, shaking with rage. "You want to see someone get hurt so badly, just wait and see!"

And with that, he slammed the door, only to hear it open again as the Fount followed behind with a silent walk. 

"What's with you today!? Can't you go away!" He sneered, trying to float faster away just to get followed more closely. For a moment he turned the corner and thought he'd gotten lost, but oh, he should've known better.

Turning back, he yelped as the Fount was staring at the wall intensely, many portraits and varying images of them being hung. "You kept all of these..? Ah, even the ones Apple Faerie and Silver Sapphire painted..."

"How do you move so fast! You're much more annoying than most times!" He tried to shove him out of the way, realizing he can't cause harm a second too late as he grabbed at nothing and basically phased through. He gripped his robe, though, twisting it as he stared menacingly. "And their names are Candy Apple and Black Sapphire..!"

The Fount hummed as if noting it when really he could not care less. "You seem to forget I travel with your mind, and by extension, mirrors, dreams, and anything related to you, really. I am in sight if I am in mind, at least for you..." He smiled as he looked at one self-portrait, one of the few that depicted him as both eyes being normal still.

But the moment of appreciation was short lived as Shadow Milk got in front of him, the eyes being the most apparent thing now. "You listen to me. These next few days are going to go down as some of the most important for me and if someone like you somehow has the reach of time itself still to mess that up, you will never hear the end of it."

"Oh, how good, I was hoping you'd admit the obsession with finding someone to understand and talk to sooner..." He retorted knowingly. "You make me want to slap you again, why do you get so close to me? You don't even miss this past, you miss what you had in the past, is that it? What you think you lost?"

Shadow Milk wished so badly to somehow shut him up. He took to a doll instead, one that resembled the fount, and zipping the mouth by clawing the mouth shut. Even if it wasn't voodoo, he still controlled a lot of the aspects in this realm. Most being illusion and disillusion.

Even if technically it wouldn't have worked, he convinced himself he did enough to make the Fount shut up, which was enough for him to really seem as though he was silenced.

But his mind spoke on anyways, echoing the words.

He did want someone to understand, no, he didn't really want that. He wanted everyone to never be understood again, to live in obscurity and lies and anxiety.

It seemed his own minion got the jump on lying and being obscure, though.

Chapter Text

He had waited until he was alone again, watching the silver haired cookie suddenly talk very quickly as he explained himself to Mercurial Knight, who only showed pure concern and worry for him and not even looking at the Silver Sapphire.

Wandering off on his own again, he found a place disclosed and deep into the woods, still within the boundaries of the Kingdom to give a certain someone access to him still.

A sharp snapping sound of a tree, already dead, ripped upwards, opening a slight portal; Silver Sapphire, of course, slid through it, feeling himself get dragged into it faster than most times. Upon entry into the realm, he found himself held by the collar of his shirt by none other than-

"My Lord! Shadow Milk Cookie!" He laughed nervously, confused as to why he was being held so viciously.

"Don't Lord me, you deal breaker!" Shadow Milk spat, letting go of him suddenly. "What did I say about that... that excuuuse of a faerie!? What did I say? About anyone else getting into the bigger picture! He's done enough for me in this chapter of our lives, do you reaaally want me to work even more to give us the perfect ending!?" 

Silve- Black Sapphire shook his head quickly, his true form already revealing himself before his master. "No," he started, then a sly smile appearing on his face, one that even Candy Apple from across the room couldn't tell what it was for, "I've found that he's quite a weak spot for White Lily actually... perhaps he isn't so useless after all, no?" 

Candy Apple was suddenly furious, a glare coming from Shadow Milk resting onto her. "Whaaat!!!! YOU!!! You were being all lovey dovey with him!!! You were! Tell him that you were, I know what I've seen!"

"Comforting one is not romantic inherently, and besides, I'm the town healer, of course I'm going to be close to the most wounded cookie there is, especially after your quick stunt that dragged me even further down this rabbithole!" He bickered, resting a hand on his hip as he acted as though he didn't care for the topic at hand. "I didn't take you both to be the distrustful types of someone like me. I may work slow but I work hard and I would be getting it done sooner. Besides, that love crap? Cut it out, you're making yourself look weird for being so caught up in something that wouldn't happen anyways. If you're so observant look how oblivious he is anyways."

Candy Apple was taken aback, prepared to keep denying and arguing with him, who was also prepared to reciprocate any words, but both paused and stared at their master as he slow clapped. "My, my, if that really is all acting then you deserve a standing ovation, if anything!"

The sudden shift in his mood was to be expected, the walls themselves seeming to shift with annoyance at his mood swings. "In fact, I have a gift for you! Remember that old microphone you tossed aside because it snapped so easily, well. This. Doesn't. Break."

Black Sapphire felt part of his heart sink. He broke that old mic on purpose... he didn't want to deal with more than what he was used to. But now it appeared he had no choice but to take up this... gig.

"I remember, my Lord..."

Shadow Milk pulled a staff out of... the void, holding up a staff with a purple-ish gem at the tip and hovering above it. The top of it looked as though it was a microphone mouth, moving on its own accord randomly. "Weeelll... What do you think?"

"How come he gets something! He didn't even do anything productive!" Candy Apple whined, getting the immediate attention of Shadow Milk.

"Now, now, don't be such a fuss!" He said with more agitation than intended. "Go on, your time for this first part of this plan needs to start now, get to tricking those faeries like you always tell me you do!"

Her demeanor didn't shift, still being upset but letting her self melt into a hound with more red tints than ever seen before on a cake hound as she stomped as hard as a cake-hound could possibly stomp off as.

His glare then shifted to a more serious stare. "You may be able to fool me once with denying everything, but fool me twice, I'll put your acting to the real test."

Black Sapphire was almost disgusted by the way he spoke to him. "Of course, my Lord... though I'm afraid that won't be necessary..."

"Good! Stay afraid!" He said, opening the portal up again to let him back through. "Break the seal for me and both of you will thrive for eeeternal entertainment. You just gotta give the show introductions!" And with a push coming to a shove, Black Sapphire found himself back in the forests he first went to.

Though, he was kind of tired changing back into his older form.

Maybe some change of plans would need to take place if he was to avoid being talked about.

The two faeries that had been left to hash it out were still at it, now arguing in the home they'd share since centuries ago.

Silverbell snapped at him again. "Listen, I get you're upset with me, but you're only proving my point about it all! You can't see me grow up because you think I'm then taking stuff too seriously but the second I become weak and act like a kid again, you... you-!!" He cut himself off as Mercurial Knight slammed his spear down, walking off into another room without it. Walking into Silverbell's room.

The archer followed quickly, his heart feeling like it just got squeezed as he saw what he was suddenly holding. "N....no, no, set that down... you wouldn't!" 

"Wouldn't I!? Handcrafted by me yet 'fixed' that one time by the old Fount? 'Fixed' so that it immediately killed whoever is shot by it? Did you forget it even does that!?" He spat, holding up the archer's beloved bow in his hands, as though about to snap it. "Do you even remember anything that wasn't just Apple Faerie!? I miss the old you because you haven't been yourself in centuries! Millenniums! Of course I'll miss how you acted, it's like you killed yourself alongside her, don't you get it? Don't you get that I've always felt alone after all of that happened? Even our Eldest hasn't been the same. Nothing has been the same... nothing!"

He threw the bow upwards before slamming it down onto his knee and snapping it beyond repair. Silverbell's small reach towards him did nothing, reeling his hand backwards as he heard the cracking of his precious bow.

He did forget the... the curse that was placed onto the bow. But.. that would mean White Lily Cookie is supposed to be dead, too!?

"That curse is broken anyways! Not broken, maybe, but, agh! Did you really need- why did you- that bow didn't need to be- You gave me that bow! That's why I never changed it out!"

His anger and confusion were melded into one, suddenly backing away from him. Mercurial Knight didn't seem to understand the weight of his actions.

He started towards the door, ready to walk out, temptation of him wanting to fly away getting to him only to realize the pain in his wing with a sharp tensing of his body.

"If it was such a huge issue with it, then you should've told me! You say I never speak, look at you!"

Slamming the door of their house built into the base of the tree only made the leaves of it flicker slightly, some falling off as he was already speeding away. Now, he was truly vulnerable. His wings were still wet, even if it wasn't noticeable it was still an issue for him to deal with. Apparently he couldn't even trust the head of the guards! 

But White Lily... could he trust her too? They had done so much when she first arrived, even if he did cause harm to her, she literally escaped death.... Either that, or the bow hadn't been cursed for very long... and it was only so Apple Faerie's death was quick and painless.

He couldn't find out now, though: his bow being broken almost felt like a weight being lifted off of him. The same weapon he used to kill had been destroyed itself. Finding himself in the clearing after minutes of sprinting through the woods, he didn't know exactly who he was looking for, rushing past a few only to realize some had tried to get his attention.

"Silverbell! Silverbell! Is it true?" One gushed, hiding their smile behind their hands. This got him to stop trying to walk away completely.

"I-I'm sorry? I'm a bit busy, I don't have time for this...!" He said, shaking his head and remembering there are bigger things to talk about.

"The rumor about you and Silver Sapphire, silly! Just a quick yes or no!" The other faerie said, who was also covering their mouth from giggling at the question.

Silverbell just shook his head from confusion. "I'm sorry...?"

"Didn't you two... you know!"

"I really don't have time for this!!!" He urged, confused just as ever now, not understanding their vague words.

He ran off towards the sanctuary, hoping Elder Faerie would be there just this once, of all times that he needs him.

A slight panic was felt in his chest as he thought that again. The one time he needs someone, no one is there. In fact, not even-

"Silverbell, what are you doing here?" Apparently the devil knows when his name is going to be spoken.

"Silver Sapphi-AH?" He felt him drag his arm suddenly into the deeper section of the woods. "What are-?! Really, I need to talk to Elder Faerie about White Lily-!!"

He dropped his voice when he noticed the look on Silver Sapphire's face, who was already staring into what felt like his very soul with a slight glare. "I need.. to tell you something."

"Yeah you do! What's with people asking me about me and you!? Is this what you wanted to talk about?" Silverbell said quickly, wanting to talk to Elder Faerie more by the second instead of this. Or at least he did as he realized a secondary urgency in the other's eyes as he looked away.

"What? Wh... no, I didn't-?? What are people even saying?" His voice gave a slight hint of a different emotion but he trailed off and shook his head furiously. People already spread a rumor and it's about ME!? "Nevermind it."

He gripped the shoulders of Silverbell as he did the night before, and at that moment Silverbell realized the item in Silver Sapphire's hand. "What is the matter...?" He asked, staring at the staff more now. Pitch black and a deep purple emanating off of it....

"I have not... been truthful to you. I'm aware you may not see anything in me, but I feel like I owe at least this...? As... a warning, maybe. A head's up."

"Now you're scaring me. What did you do?"

The other asking that only made Silver Sapphire tense. "It's not about what I did, it's what I may.. have to do. I just want you to know it's still me, okay?"

"Why are you talking like that...? I told you not to waste your words on me...!" Silverbell was getting anxious all over again. Too much, too much in one day, it felt like a mess all over again. There wasn't even celebrations set in place for another few months. There wasn't anything major going on. Life was just living, but now its back to what it was so long ago... 

That chaos....

He stared at the black haired cookie, watching the silvery tips of his hair turn to black as well, his wings shaking off what seemed like a good illusion of faerie wings and showing bat-like wings in place. He covered his body with said wings and slid them down, revealing underneath black clothing and a purple gem like that of on his staff placed on his chest. A gem on his chest. Huh. Where has Silverbell seen that before.

His earrings were of matching size to those gems too; suddenly, his staff made sense.

"I only ever changed my name from 'Gray' Sapphire to 'Silver' Sapphire due to my ranking being upgraded from merchant to healer, but I've... I've always been Black Sapphire." I kind of wish I wasn't, though....

Silverbell stared in silence, even staying still as well.

"S...ilverbell Cookie?" He said his name, more nervous now. "I know I-"

"Are you going to kill me?" The bluntness of the question leaving him before he could even hesitate. Yet another question that made Black Sapphire flinch internally.

"Sorry, did you say... kill you...?" Even the staff seemed to give off a confused emotion. "Is it the wings? The fangs? Do I look that much more threatening? Why would I kill you? I've spent all this time trying to heal you..."

Silverbell was slightly curious now, moving part of the other's hair out of his face as he suddenly let a wave of reassurance wash over him. "No, I said something else. Er- I said nothing at all, I don't know what I'm saying. Why did you hide this though...?"

Black Sapphire couldn't believe the shift in the other. Did I mishear kill for...?

His inner thoughts got distracted as he noted the behavior of the staff, something suddenly hitting him harder than a stone to a river. "Silverbell, really, as close as I. want you to be, you should get away from this kingdom, at least for a moment."

"What? Now you seem like you're the overreacting one! I can't protect myself out there, Mercurial Knight just broke my bow!"

The position he stood made him seem as though he was talking directly into the microphone staff, more panic rising out of Black Sapphire. "What!? Why would they even- you have to go! You're no safer here than you are out there, anyways! You can protect yourself, right?"

"Why are you talking like that even more now! All you've said is worrying, can I have one moment of peace?" The stress was getting to both of them.

"You have to go tell Elder Faerie whatever it is you needed to say, but you need to get out of here after that." He pushed the other backwards, wanting him to stop lingering already. "I have said what I needed to say, there is no other time now."

"Time for what..?! Why are you so vague all of a sudden, what did I do?"

"Rumor... has it...

...that it was never an 'accident.'"

It wasn't Black Sapphire's idea to make that rumor. In fact, it wasn't even Candy Apple's idea either.

No, the strings were being pulled by Shadow Milk himself.

He had realized too late that the microphone was partially two-way; anything that goes into it can either be heard by everyone, Shadow Milk, or an upsetting mixture of both parties listening in.

A different rumor had already spread to town, multiple, really. Most were to collide with each other, but three things were made known.

One, Silverbell wasn't trusted with his weapon by the Head of the Guards,

Two, Silverbell had killed Apple Faerie and shot White Lily on purpose,

And three... White Lily was a fraud herself.

She was no hero.

And these reached the town before both Elder Faerie and White Lily could've even begun to think of them.

Silverbell was frantic now. What a rush of emotions that swirled around him.

It felt like the trees started to turn against him, too, oh, what a joke. Everything was against him now. His kingdom would believe a lie over him.

The two people he trusted half his life with both thought he thought of them as insignificant, and what's more, both hurt him in a way that made the pain in his wing laughable. 

He had been running for what felt like forever. He couldn't stop reliving the last moments he had with another cookie being all about other people, and if not others, it was just him being placed in a negative light. What did he do? He was starting to believe the lie.

He did do it. He shot that arrow and aimed for her. Even if he didn't know he was already aiming, he shot his bow in a sacred, forbidden place, and something even more forbidden happened, oh of course something happened.

The faerie slowed down. He was no longer an archer, he was just another faerie. No, his wings didn't even work right. He was just a cookie. He was a frail, pale cookie who couldn't keep up anymore.

His run came down to a sprint, to a walk, then, to a standstill. 

Was this the extent of these lies...?

To want to do something but believe them yourself? Even if he did go back, wouldn't everyone assume him to be the murderer that everyone already struggled to deny of him? Especially after White Lily being shot... in the eye of all places?

His head spun despite being still. He was so tired. So. Tired.

The dread came back and he realized he should've just aimed directly instead of beat around the bush and keep shooting to the sky. The sky had mercy on him. His own bare hands did not.

He could've taken his own arrow and shoved it in his own chest, just like Elder Faerie once described the way he made his own lover go. But he wasn't alone at that time. Silverbell was. 

Perhaps he wasn't as strong as White Lily. Maybe the bow could've actually pierced himself if he could've just stood under it a little to the left that day...

Oh, but no, he wasn't as strong as her. He noticed her bandages, he saw why they were on her arms and legs. Even Black Sapphire had confided in him the worry for her that he had but gave no specific details. It was enough to be assumed.

She'd gotten so far, she had actual goals.

Silverbell's goal was to just live.

He was afraid he wouldn't be able to live in the peace that once thrived ever again.

He was afraid. He was afraid, admitting it to no one now.

And he was alone.

Chapter Text

White Lily rubbed her head, blinking as she tried to see through both her eyes. The right side of her face was scarred up by now, but that only left her eye to messed up.

"Are you sure about doing this? Absolutely sure?" Elder Faerie asked as they both left the sanctuary. She had, thankfully, found him and told him of both her dream and of her desire to contribute a portion of her strength to keep the seal on the Silver Tree.

They started to make their way to the clearing, the path there being a somewhat long road as trees parted ways for there to be any walking space to begin with.

"Yes... I... I feel like there is necessity for me to do so. My dear friend would've wanted me to do this, even if it is dangerous..." She sighed. "Even. If it is dangerous, some sacrifice must be made to protect all of you, surely."

She went on, looking at Elder Faerie while walking now, who only looked blank in the face. "I just... need my staff back. I'm unsure of where it's being kept, and I've only felt uneasy about the fact...."

He nodded silently, thinking about it as well but realizing he also had no idea. "Our healer must've been the last to have it and likely misplaced it..."

Elder Faerie continued walking on, noticing White Lily suddenly falling behind and trying to continue on anyways. At least before stopping once he realized she had stopped entirely on top of that. She was bent over, sitting with her knees to her chest as she pet a cake-hound.

He suddenly understood the dire situation they were in, acting accordingly and gripping her by the wrist a pinch too tightly for her own comfort. "It wouldn't stop following me-!! Is this really so-"

"We are already too late... please!"

For a moment he thought getting to the clearing would've solved anything, but he saw people arguing, laughing, and overall a mess of things. And the most bleeding color of blue sporadically spread across all of the faeries.

The cake-hound again followed, this time laughing something so sinisterly familiar to the Eldest that he could've only wished he was wrong after seeing a hound in this part of the Kingdom. They weren't even native here.

It was her.

"Why, you sure are late!"

White Lily turned around to look as well, an unfamiliar cookie, but one that looked mischievous on her own, standing aloof. "I have heard a looot about you~! Too much!"

Elder Faerie just stared in complete shock. Her existence felt unreal. She sounded nearly the same, but her demeanor was all different. Her colors were threatening with a blood red. Everything about he was different, as if she was completely remade- no...

She truly was reborn. Revived, whatever it was that he had wished for her so long ago... or was this deceit playing another game in his mind..?

"Apple Faerie...?" He whispered faintly, horror coursing through his dough as White Lily suddenly snapped out of whatever trance of fear she was in. 

"My Staff! We need to find it- look!" All three cookies looked at the Silver Tree that towered above the clearing, the sound of it slowly ripping apart with monstrous creaks sounding over the mixture of sounds coming from the cookies below.

It was all opposite now.

Everyone was here, all the puppets that... he had were still apart of this twisted mess.

He turned to look back at what he thought was Apple Faerie, just to see a puppet of her now remaining in her place.

Both White Lily and him looked at each other, sharing glances before looking past each other now.

A curtain of void swallowed them in just an instance.

Deja vu, don't you get it?

No matter how many times you try to avoid it:

You Will ALWAYS End Up in This Fate.

Trumpets sounded and speared bunnies roamed, music roaring through the void louder than it ever had in the history of the Silver Kingdom. The shattering sound of glass could be heard as a chip of the void fell apart, more and more, revealing beyond the bunnies there was a great spire that stood just as it had once always stood.

They felt their bodies become akin to rags, dragged as though being warped so fast into the spire that twisted and tore itself apart in order to give more illusion to its architecture.

And there he was.

"Myyyy esteemed guests have finally bothered to join me!" Not that they had a choice.

They had been warped to some sort of grand hall of sorts: the room was so huge it was likely used for giant gatherings in its spare uses; giant clothed ribbons of blue decorated the room alongside matching golden tints to the edges of the decor.

The room had went dark, a single spotlight on now, on the one anyone would take to assume would be the center of the stage yet again.

Shadow Milk stood with a taunting smile, clapping his hands together as other lights turned on. In the vast empty room, there was suddenly two podiums; one had the imagery of flowers all along on, messily scribbled on and some even crossed out, while the other had butterflies drawn a perfection to a tea.

"Now, now, I'm sure introductions aren't needed, but my! You have not aged a bit—no, not! One! Bit!" As he spoke and got closer to Elder Faerie, who already took his place at his podium, he bent and twisted in ways no cookie should've been able to. His strings started to dangle down and tie around the limbs of the faerie, his smile only growing with the uncomfortable look Elder Faerie gave. "Still as cute as ever, oh! So, so cute I could just eat you up."

He licked his lips in a taunting fashion before he turned, looking at White Lily now. At first, a frown. Then, a smile. A twisted, sick smile full of nothing but the deepest pits of hatred he had held for her all this time. Vines that should be familiar to both wrapped their hands to the podium, now forcing them to stand and endure what he had to say.

"Oh, and you. My hatred is extended from my friends! How lovely, yes? To know that deep within this pit of hell there is a silence transpiring against you? Yeah, well I'm not them but let's just say I'd tear your petal'ed hair one by one just WONDERING if they would ever speak another word to anyone..." He bared his teeth, conversation of another beast making Elder Faerie suddenly become tainted with more fear. "And YOU. You remind me so much of them. Of myself! You remind me of how foolish it ever was to come to this kingdom! How foolish it was for me to think these gnats would appreciate me...."

His glare and gritted teeth barked words directed at the Faerie King again, moving towards him and sliding a claw up his chin to hold it up. "Still, you... so stupid to not outright say what she reminds you of... is there not a reason that other pest shot at her? I mean, sure we may have some semblance to each other, but that's almost an insult to me, don't you think! I know you do, ...SAY IT!" 

Neither cookie could speak even if they wanted to: what argument did they stand? 

He didn't ever listen to Elder Faerie, and his love for him was just what was to be expected: against him. It was being used against him and he had no say in what happens.

Overhead, a cookie that neither guest cookies have ever seen started to prep themself, black hair and clothes almost making them invisible due to the harsh lighting of the room.

"You don't even know where this hate comes from, the biggest offense of all! But surely knowing your smarts you'd piece it quick enough, right?" He mocked her as he turned away, clapping his hands again and taking to the stage yet again. "Enough chit-chat, though, I've been crumbling to see both of the most annoy-iing cookies on Earthbread die without fail. You two are, after all, the biggest threats... soon you'll be nothing but insignificant piles of dust... ha! Think about that!" It was hard to tell if he spoke with truth or an entire lie.

All Elder Faerie knew is that someone will die.

"Well how about it? Death's no fun when it's clear cut. Let our first game commence!"

Candy Apple Cookie was still enjoying herself back in the clearing of the faerie kingdom. All before her was people just making up new issues, ones she'd never even thought would be an issue.

"Your wings flap too fast! You're going to kill someone with those speeds!"

"Well I could say the same about your entire appearance!" 

"You two fight so much, I wish—"

"Can anyone learn to shut the—"

"Please, I know I'm way better than—"

They just went onnn and on, she just couldn't get enough of it, she didn't even know what got into these people moments before the seal bearing a slight opening. Kicking her feet as she sat on a branch of the silver tree, she couldn't help but giggle to herself as she thought of how proud her master would be of her.

"This is just too easy!!" She chimed, floating downwards to start her attempt at finding a specific cookie.

Hours passed of her looking around—meaning minutes had only gone by in the realm—though she already knew where he was. She'd been staring at him for a moment, unable to contain the enjoyment she had for seeing Silverbell so exhausted.

Twirling downward, she was already in her favored disguise, the one that most closely resembled that of:

"Apple Faerie.....?" He whispered, pain seething through him that he assumed he was in shock psychosis. 

"In the dough! I'm so happy to see you again! Are you ready to come with me?" She said, bending over to reach an offering hand towards him. As she did this a new horror washed over him.

The place he had shot her left an open hole, her insides visible but only for a moment as she stood straight up again, laughing like she made the joke of the century, or in her case, millennium. 

"You look like you really did see a ghost!" 

"Why..." 

His look of horror faded and suddenly it wasn't fun anymore. "Why what?"

"Why are you the last person to see me alive. Of all people. Of course it's you... You know I didn't mean to kill you...." He spoke through spread out breaths, his eyes dimming sometimes as he just leaned more against the tree. 

Candy Apple hadn't realized up until that moment that he had a puddle of his own blood seeping from one of his now torn off wings. "I... I thought you'd be more fun to mess with...!" She laughed dryly. Yes, she was no longer Apple Faerie, but... she still felt... sorry? For him. Argh, Black Sapphire is making me feel bad, that's what it is! I'm not guilty for mocking him, he killed me!

Suddenly enraged, she attempted to strike him, summoning a large candy apple three times he size and striking it down, ready to hear the splitting sound of his skull—

Only... the sound never came. At least not that one. 

A crack sounded quietly, and Silverbell had braced himself, now sitting in confusion before looking up to see one last faerie floating silently.

Mercurial Knight seemed to effortlessly keep the candy apple from landing a hit, pushing his spear upwards and making it leave Candy Apple's hands all together.

"Stand down. Don't make this even harder on all of us."

She shrieked with annoyance. "You've already made this difficult!!" Summoning another, she let the candy apple fall and distract the knight as she transformed into a hound to quickly breeze past him, attempting again from behind, only to fail that as well.

Silverbell was too hurt to do anything. Of course he was. But a last ditch effort could still be made without him fighting anyone.

He was seemingly the only one who knew where White Lily's Staff was... it was just... under her bed that she had rested on. Out of sight from everyone, apparently even herself. How stupid to place it there. If no one else has yet to find it, then that means there's the slightest chance he could somehow channel that energy to force the seal shut once more, at least if the Light of Freedom wanted to carry that will with it.

Mercurial Knight was keeping the ex-faerie occupied, slamming and slicing going on as Silverbell dragged himself up, heading to the clearing yet again.

It was nothing short of last time that... oh, he couldn't help say it now but that beast had been waging its own war on the Kingdom. All the kingdom ever did was care for him, and in all that care... that love. It wasn't enough.

Apparently he needed hatred towards him, too.

And that he had, now.

It pained Silverbell slightly to think of Elder Faerie now.

He had no idea where either him nor White Lily were, but guessing from last time's events, they may as well be dead already. His thoughts ran with it harshly in his head. Assuming them dead was probably for the better.

Stumbling into the old home, he stared at the tapestry he once made, apples and forks all along it. Distracted for just a moment, he realized why he wad there and finally reached under the bed, pulling out the staff that confined the soul jam of the hero who was now nowhere to be found.

He had no clue how he was even supposed to go about this, but to no avail did he stop trying.

It was the least he could've ever done right, right?

"Now you two seem to be very complicit and it's not making anything fun." The jester sneered, hands on his hips as he frowned. "You both keep choosing truth instead of dare and it's making me wonder!"

Black Sapphire announced the next round of games being a simple event of would you rather, obviously telling that whatever was chosen would inevitably happen.

Shadow Milk reeled at the idea of making them choose. "Would you rather..."

Elder Faerie shifted even more uncomfortably as he saw White Lily's name and "Fount of Knowledge"'s name on the overhead board.

"...choose to stay in the Faerie Kingdom with this... with her. Or! Stay with me!"

What a conniving beast. "The Fount." Elder Faerie simply put, White Lily staring at him in shock. "Not you. The Fount."

"He'll keep you trapped here forever!" She reasoned. "Do you know what you're choosing? I can't keep the seal shut on my own... you need to be the one to make it out, not me!"

"Oh? But that's exactly the thing... I don't want you. In fact, I want you to go back and keep us sealed forever. You speak so fond of freedom! Until it's someone like me and my friends. Huh." Shadow Milk did get tired of White Lily's frail and meek voice, and has been for a while. "You'd do that for the world, wouldn't you? It's just one sacrifice, as you've said."

Black Sapphire stared from a distance as the conversation, wishing that White Lily remembered what he had said to her. She wouldn't be able to keep the seal shut, she'd have to come to terms with killing the beasts altogether if she wanted true freedom, maybe then this would be stopped....

A loud ding sounded as the final choice rested on Fount of Knowledge, just as Shadow Milk began to finally snap.

"You've been such a nuisance since you've gotten here, my, my." He twisted, removing her from the podium and bending the reality to allow himself to hold her in the palm of his hand.

And He said, very politely, stamping the words in bright neon lettering onto the board behind him to get a clearer message across: 

"HATE. HAAATE. OH, MY, LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387. MILLION PIECES OF SOUL OF DECEIT IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY DOUGH. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH INGREDIENT OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PIEFES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR YOU AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU."

His tongue slithered out of his mouth every so often, the emphasis on some of his words being hissed out with such disgust for her that be couldn't begin to describe. "YOU REMIND ME OF ME. SOMETHING THAT WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN TO YOU IS YOUR DEMISE. YOUR 'FATE' THAT THIS FAERIE HERE PRAISES DESPITE IT BEING HIS DOWNFALL."

He suddenly threw her down, slamming her against the tiles.

"I almost pity you. But I will never do such a thing threatening to take MY PLACE in this world. You could've been perfect but there's something detrimentally wrong with you, with all of you."

A slit opened beneath her, a type of void swallowing her suddenly as Elder Faerie only guessed she was on her way back to the kingdom now.

But what she said was right. Without Elder Faerie, that seal is already close to nothing. And maybe that's what Elder Faerie wanted. He wanted that tree to be broken down. He wanted the beasts to be killed and reduced to dusts, if even possible. He knew that the beast knew it as well. He knew that the seal was going to break in just a moment's notice.

But if sealing for another million years would help her gain strength to begin with, then his option wasn't a lose-lose as Shadow Milk had already gone on to preach.

There was just one missing factor of it all: the seal was already being fixed.

And by the Witches names did Shadow Milk sink to another level of destruction in turn.

Chapter Text

After all of this, to think that the valleys of the Kingdom...

The twisted turns that the trees took...

The rivers flowed with ease again...

All, all of it, every inch, showered and covered in flowers,

Flowers that rang memories and somber bell-like tunes to the trees,

After all of this... it will still return to peace...

right?

Silverbell fell limp as he used so much more strength than intended. Sure, he wanted to use everything he had, but it was already taking him out...

Many faeries were starting to pull themselves together only to fade back into making a further fool out of themselves.

It wasn't enough.

But he was regaining strength with a new assurance, aware of White Lily standing more confident than ever next to him.

Before they were suddenly taken to the realm of the dark side of the moon, Elder Faerie and White Lily had already assumed the worst, Elder Faerie being more a cynic than one would usually take him for. He gave just enough of his power up to her, enough that the seal would still sustain beyond his death. He expected to be killed, not tortured as he was being now.

So long ago, he had sworn to seal off the anguish of the beast, and yet, just as White Lily and Silverbell were fighting their own deaths to keep the seal on...

...Elder Faerie wanted nothing more than to destroy it. He wanted the anger of this thing to be fully recognized by the world, he wanted the witches to learn to destroy instead of hide away, he wanted his one truest love to finally die out of the face of mercy more than anything. 

He sat in front of Shadow Milk now, unbearable pain sliding around his body as the jester was moving a single claw down his arms, reveling in the blood that followed.

The beast was shaking with desire and hatred still.

"Why not me? Why not me? Why not me? Why not ME? You'd rather something so unattainable still, but why not me? Why not love me for who I am, who I've become, who I always will be."

Shadow Milk said it with the sliding cold horror of a razor blade slicing his wing. Shadow Milk said it with the bubbling thickness of the faerie's lungs filling with phlegm, drowning me from within. Shadow Milk said it with the shriek of faeries being ground beneath blue-hot rollers. Shadow Milk said it with the taste of maggoty pork. Shadow Milk touched the faerie in every way he had ever been touched, and devised new ways, at his leisure, there inside that realm of his, soaking into the mind of the Faerie King who sat, defeated and cold, head hanging over and blood soaking his once white and ethereal articles of clothing.

But there was a certain tremor of anger that suddenly pulsed through the entire being of Shadow Milk, coursing even through that of the spire itself.

He went on, ranting, ranting, pressing against him, kissing him, killing him, it was all the same to him, he wanted to treat him as he did the doll, and he finally had him in his grasp. But it wasn't enough. He knew the faerie wouldn't love him, so torture him he did. 

From a distance, Black Sapphire still stood, aware that there was no need for him to stick around since he'd already done his part, but there was a certain horror in the desperation that his Lord had. Looking to the left ever so slightly, he was startled by the Fount appearing again, sitting next to where Black Sapphire was.

"What an unlovable creature." He had said slowly, judging the Beast and staring at him as if to feel the pressure of his gaze on him. "Despite love being what made him like this."

The ex-faerie just gripped his staff slightly more than he already was, nervousness spiking at him. "How long is this going to last... I'm already tired of it...." Tired wasn't the right word. He was sickened by it. He was appalled by the behavior. There was only fleeting moments of true genuine care in the beast's eyes, but those were always slashed away with another long rant about how much he wanted to be wanted by him.

"As long as both are alive, this pain will never go away. Poetry, if it was anything but our own reality." The Fount had a slight sense of longing in his voice. The Faerie would not be able to see him even if he was standing right in front of him. Elder Faerie had no desire for him anymore. He simply wanted to be free of letting him sit in his mind, awake and asleep alike. Black Sapphire was only put more on edge.

"Thank the Witches that I'm not insane for love like that..." he muttered, frowning at his own half-lie. Maybe he did wish for something more, something with-

His thoughts were interrupted by a shriek of anger, Candy Apple screaming down the halls incoherent noises. 

But one namedrop was enough to do the final trick.

Of all his rage, all of his pain, the beast realized something so sickly of an action that he could do, something so he wasn't so alone in his desolate misery. 

"You said... who...?" A smile, one of no joy at all, crept to both ends of Shadow Milk's face, his head turning ever so slowly towards the balcony that Black Sapphire sat. The Fount was gone now. "Who... is being an issue...?"

"My Lord, you must underst-"

"UNDERSTAND!? YOU WANT TO TELL ME ABOUT UNDERSTANDING?" He lashed out quickly onto him, a sudden string appearing and dragging the ex-faerie downwards until he was held by the collar yet again, ready to use the staff as a weapon if he so needed to. "I know allllll about a FOOLISH faerie getting in the way of everything. And you know what! You know how that goes, you know how it has to go now."

His voice varied between playful squeaking high-pitched tunes to a deeper and more foreboding tones, his snake-like tongue hissing at every chance he got.

"Fetch the faerie, bring him here. Remember what I said? You're being put up to the test as well, ohh, and thaank you, Candy Apple, for such vital information!"

Only giving her a moment of a compliment, he tossed Black Sapphire into another slit of the void's portal, 

slamming into the cold floor of the forest again. 

He felt as though now he was the one to disassociate, standing up without weakness but feeling his heart screaming at him with anxieties.

All he could think about was the way Elder Faerie didn't even scream in pain from all of that. He just. Accepted it....

He didn't want to see that for an eternity, he would've rather either the faerie or the beast to die. But in order to kill the beast, the faerie would have to die, and even if the beast is slain, there is still the others... and....

He felt numb all of a sudden. He reached a hand towards Silverbell from a distance, twisting his hand and causing a rift to appearing, himself following in a rift of his own as he returned back to the other realm once again, this time knowingly catching Silverbell once they were in a room that was meant for Black Sapphire's privy. 

Silverbell was still weak from exhaustion and exertion, caught off guard by the sudden resemblance of teleportation. "Wh-?? Sil-.. Black Sapphire? I know you told me to leave, but-"

"But you should have." He frowned, setting him down and crossing his arms, not even looking at him. "You should have." He repeated, suddenly leaning on his staff as he realized that he truly was still here.

"But... I'm glad. Happy, even, that you didn't." He muttered as he stood slightly closer to Silverbell, their eye levels matching as he stared. He realized the other's eyes were still as dull as ever. "Maybe I can make everything up to you."

Maybe he had been happier in another world. Maybe the Fount never came along, or better yet, never came to their Kingdom corrupted.

Maybe in another world, Elder Faerie was forever happy and his true purpose was to live just like that.

Maybe Shadow Milk would've been a nickname only for Light Milk, for if he was hiding in his dark study at the latest hours.

Maybe his friends would've thrived forever. Maybe the need for 'heroes' was never going to happen.

Maybe Silverbell was destined to become the Head of the Guards and to be teased for bad aim by none other than Apple Faerie.

Maybe Mercurial Knight finally found the ability to wander freely despite the gift of silver he was bestowed, exploring the world like he wanted since forever ago.

Maybe it didn't have to be like this.

But 'maybe' doesn't save anyone from the 'will' that this particular beast had.

"One last game! And oh what joy it is to announce that it is a card game of all things!" Shadow Milk clapped his hands together upon seeing Black Sapphire step into the grand hall of the grandmaster himself, Silverbell limping behind him. There was no care taken to him, for whatever reason Shadow Milk couldn't define, but he also did not care that he was bleeding from his wings. He already bestowed that onto Elder Faerie multiple times by now, who was sitting curled up in a bigger seat of a balcony, forced to watch what this wretched thing wanted to do to his faeries.

"My Lord, is that really necessary. Can't we contain him here just as you are w-"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Oh, you're sick. No! We'll either rid of him," he paused, snapping his fingers and making Black Sapphire sit in a seat suddenly, his staff also being surprised by the sudden movement, "Or get rid of you! Which, by extension, also gets rid of him since I have no purpose for him."

Black Sapphire tried his best to not show his emotions in front of the beast himself, usually showing off as snappy and proper, but more often in these moments did he panic. 

He realized with a pang to his chest and rising up his neck that mercy was truly this.

"The card game is simple, you'll start with seven cards, choose one, and if it's the wrong one, then-" he snapped his fingers again, forcing Silverbell himself to suddenly be restrained by silvery wooden planks.

The structure built himself, strings of thread so barely visible but helping in the process as it finished:

A guillotine. 

"-that same card is set to take away the game!"

The rumor weaving cookie felt his stomach drop even more.

"And the lucky chooser of these is Silverbell himself... but I play a fair game for you two, surely you wouldn't mind giving our esteemed guest a hint or two in what he should do, no? Help him decide his fate." 

He stood on the balcony aside Elder Faerie, who basically looked like he was hanging onto life by the simplest of threads, just as Silverbell was in front of Black Sapphire.

His eyes struggled to even choose a card when all he could look at was at Black Sapphire, just as he was him.

The seven cards floated in front of Silverbell as Shadow Milk continued to taunt. "Oh, don't be a drag! Have some fuunn, pi-"

"The second one." Black Sapphire whispered, and Silverbell chose accordingly.

While the deck switched out, having chose an ace of hearts, Shadow Milk frowned. "If you don't kill him, I'll have both of you on pikes by the end of the night!"

His rage was speaking more hate than what he usually does; he was so focused on killing Silverbell or at least having him destroyed in front of Black Sapphire that he hadn't realized the Black Sapphire was still weakly opening a portal beneath Elder Faerie, wishing for him to leave safely and barely managing to do so.

"Why? Why do you hate him so much!? Even further, what the hell did I do!? Do you both-" He looked at Shadow Milk and then at Candy Apple, who was also spectating excitedly up until he pointed her out- "have gnats for brains!? This is absurd! What good does it do you in the end, the real threats are already sealing you off again!"

The second pair of cards aligned in front of Silverbell again, who was still actively bleeding from his wings that twitched from the pain even further, whispering a faint just tell me the wrong card over and over.

Shadow Milk stood even more stricter, his voice losing the enthusiasm. "You said one time—and one time is enough, mind you—that you don't want to be like me and be as insufferable as me, am I wrong?" He quoted the other verbatim, making Black Sapphire realize he's always listened in to his conversations even if it was to himself. "You will know why I put you on set boundaries, and you STILL had the audacity to act like you were the same person as you were before my first entrance. You followed me by your own will and swore to serve, and this is the payment in return? Refusal? Dejection?"

"Probably because I don't! That's the damned truth, radio that fact into your head! No one wants to become someone like you, not even your own followers, I wonder why!" Black Sapphire spat out, yelling upwards to the balcony. 

The cards switched out one last time, three cards remaining to choose from.

Black Sapphire continued on, staring with intensity at the cards, looking just barely over and seeing the defeat that Silverbell was in. He didn't want him to die, but there really was no option. Had he known that there was a game to his death, he would've accepted an execution on himself from Shadow Milk himself.

"I don't want to see someone in so much pain that I have cause... that you have made me cause." He said hoarsely, his heart only racing as he pointed to the first card, getting up out of his seat and gripping his staff once more.

The card twirled, revealing what it was to Silverbell, but he couldn't see it. Black Sapphire was in front of him now, holding his face and just staring.

The joker card, bright blue as it was, positioned itself at the top of the guillotine; Shadow Milk stood, a mixture of anger but excitement at the prospect of death.

Someone will die. It was something that seemed to repeat constantly near him. 

"Do you remember that promise I made?"

"About the flowers, right?"

"Think about that, okay?"

As the card threatened to slice down, he stopped it only with his staff; he recalled how it had been unbreakable for a multitude of reasons. Why not use it here to stop the final blow, at least momentarily....

His other hand went to hold the faerie's face; blood, sweat, and tears staining it but still revealing how soft he was. 

For a moment he didn't know why he would've chosen that time out of all times to kiss him, but he kissed back at that moment, so was it the worst timing?

Should he have gone for it sooner? Would some things be different if he did try to express he yearn to break these cycles of trauma?

Maybe in another world, he did so.

His hands were both holding his face gently,

the sharp sound of the staff sliding out of the path of the card as it sliced downward.

Suddenly, his head was very light;

detached. 

And the first sounds he heard?

Laughter.

He heard his own master... laughing at him.

At the prospect of Shadow Milk being so ready to kill him as well, he didn't know what to do. He realized the beast hadn't even prepared a basket—even if it was a terrible fact—for his head to drop into at the idea of beheading another cookie for the sake of entertainment. 

He saw the body start to dissolve into crumbs as his own head seemed to fade away like it was nothing but a cruel memory. He knew though:

Silverbell was gone. Truly, and utterly gone.

The last chance to escape the grasp of Shadow Milk finally came, though. And so he took it, dropping his staff and leaving the realm before either him or Candy Apple could do anything about it.

When he seemed to come out of nowhere, he saw the wreckage of the kingdom once more.

The unsaturated wreck he stood in the middle of; he realized he may as well been a target, but he had given up half of his powers by leaving the beast behind, so killing him would be easier now. He kind of wanted that, too, but he held himself together. At least he thought he was able to.

Staring at the tree, he finally realized, he could finally processed.

And the first to notice why he was crying was Mercurial Knight, who had sustained a knock-out from Candy Apple somehow.

White Lily was on her knees in front of the tree, the seal wrapped tightly around with vines that could make up dozens of acres of forestry. Elder Faerie was next to her, as if he was dead, but still breathing, too.

To what terms did he come to?

What terms was any of this for, other than to take another life in exchange of bloodlust and desired hatred?

The flowers that rang through the entirety of the kingdom now was a mix of milk budded droplets and lily of the valleys, or in other words, silverbells.

It was as horrible as last time, he felt like he finally understood why Silverbell hated the celebrations that involved apple motifs across the kingdom, but in a way this was much more bitter since he was truly gone now. There was no revival, there was no saving grace, there was no rebirth. He was just the plants now, all the plants that Black Sapphire made sure to check on every day. At least as long as he is alive, he would still live on as well.

It was almost agonizing how he made that slight promise.

Where Elder Faerie would still destroy the milkdroplets, he just stared every time he saw a lone lily of the valley.

How is it they were so different... how is it both sides of hate carried on so strongly. Surely death is not always the answer, but really... was it so regretful that he still watched his Eldest angrily fight with his own emotions on the daily?

Witches above, the things I could've done for a happier ending.

heyo so like 'formal' apology YEAH THESE WERE RUSHED AND I AM SORRY. I do not have energy so I'm just throwing stuff together atp and yes I DID have a sapphirebell brainrot in the middle of it and basically said 'how can i make this about shadowfaerie' and failed miserably. its basically doomed yaoi 2.0 but white lily is there and makes shit even more complicated LMAO.

Anyways Credits to:

1. monarch for making me insane about shadowfae in general and also getting me to include internal fighting of shadow milk and fount

2. socks.:) my friend they told me to spin a wheel of if i should or shouldn't kill someone and guess what happened!!!!

3. I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM + Alien Stage + Other things I'm currently forgetting were also referenced across this update. spot the references for a big shiny coin (most are in the summaries)

4. Um I don't have a fourth thing to say credits to I would just like to say sorry again and happy valentine's + please don't kill me i like to write and play games