Chapter Text
Though slipping through shadows under cover of the night cloaked in intricate disguise was by no means his favorite way to spend his evenings, Black Sapphire couldn’t truly say that he didn’t enjoy it. Under the guise of Grape Hyacinth Cookie, a persona weaved delicately over time, a humble traveler who lived on the outskirts of the faerie kingdom, Black Sapphire waltzed between looming silver trees, tugging restlessly at the fabric on his sleeves, pale lavender and sewn to hold the shape of bellflowers.
He was not particularly in the faerie kingdom because he wanted to be. He never was, really, though usually his presence there was on behalf of an order, not of his own volition like tonight. Tonight, he thought himself akin to a hunter searching for prey, eyes flitting lazily at the gaps between the trees, looking for lone faeries with their guards down. An easy target, that was all he wanted. ..Well, “target” was rather violent, he thought. He just wanted an easy meal, no harm no foul. Nobody had to die or anything.
Though, of course, perhaps because it was the faerie kingdom, there was nobody out. Black Sapphire knew good and well that it was rather late—not for him, but for the average cookie, sure—but was there not a single faerie in this kingdom who stayed awake past the moonset? How inconvenient this ordeal would end up if he had to come back in the light, where no shadows could hide him from the prying public eye under the spotlight of the moon. Perhaps it wasn’t helping that he was conducting the majority of his search on the kingdom’s outskirts, far from the arrays of humble buildings that made up this place’s excuse of a town, because every noise from the forest he heard made him stop in his tracks and swivel his head around, only to be met with the sight of a small animal, or sometimes, just plainly, the wind. Each time the woods caught him off guard he sighed, quite overdramatically, before he continued onwards, each diligent step crunching dead leaves beneath him.
When he had walked almost a complete circle around the easternmost sector of forest that bordered the faerie kingdom, Black Sapphire decided to take a moment to rest, crossing his arms and leaning up against the thick trunk of a decaying tree. He’d earned this much, he thought, at least for the effort, letting his eyes fall shut as his head instinctively tilted to the side, considering with great care what he ought to do next. It was becoming apparent that there was not anybody in this forest. It was perhaps idiotic to assume that there would be at this hour, wasn’t it? Should he search another corner? Maybe it was more common for night owl faeries to trail south, or west? Or did they not leave the city central at night? For such reserved individuals, that made a great deal of sense to him. He didn’t fancy traveling into town, though, even with the layer of security Grape Hyacinth Cookie brought him.
Amidst the constant noise of thought in his mind, Black Sapphire thought that, for a moment, he heard something. Another trick of the forest, surely. He furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to consider his options, mulling things over in his mind with little care. As fruitless as this search was turning out to be, he didn’t want to go home hungry, not after all the effort.
...There it was again. Black Sapphire’s eyes groggily opened, gaze darting around wooded surroundings. There was a clearing through the trees ahead of him—he’d been there a few times, actually, a pleasant spot to unwind on his journey back to the spire from the faerie kingdom, though he hadn’t thought to look for any cookies there.
Craning his neck forward, gently pushing himself up off the tree he rested against, Black Sapphire slowed his breaths and strained his listening and found that, indeed, what he heard was not an illusion. It was singing. A pleasant lullaby, hummed quaintly to an audience of one that the performer did not know was there. Black Sapphire recognized the cookie the singing was coming from, though they’d only met once or twice, and always as Grape Hyacinth. After all the work he’d put into his disguise’s spotless reputation, he didn’t much feel like using it as leverage to gain this cookie’s trust, if it was all to be ruined in, what, half an hour, anyways? So with a flick of his wrist, Black Sapphire dissolved the disguise into thin air. He’d go as himself. An excuse certainly would not be hard to find.
Tentatively, pushing silver branches aside with his hands, Black Sapphire approached.. Silverbell, was it? He sat in front of the pond that filled most of the clearing, one knee to his chest and the other leg stretched out in front of him, singing to a small white flower that he held delicately in his hand.
“Pardon me for interrupting.” Bent down at the waist so they were closer to eye level, Black Sapphire placed his hands behind his back and smiled, something amicable and horribly, horribly fake. “You’ve got quite the voice. Do you mind if I accompany you tonight?”
Instantly, Silverbell jumped, free hand flying to the bow that lay next to him in the grass, clutching it tightly though not yet drawing the string. “Who are you?”
Black Sapphire remained composed—it was what he did best. “Oh, you wouldn’t know me. I’m just visiting. Simply passing through for the week. Lovely kingdom you’ve got, by the way.”
“Outsiders aren’t welcome in the faerie kingdom.” Silverbell was quick to retort Black Sapphire’s claims. He was somewhat impressed, for how meek he appeared. “How did you pass the gate?”
About time for his trump card, then. “I’m a dear friend of Grape Hyacinth Cookie’s, do you know him? A faerie knight let me in when I explained the situation to them.. I’m afraid I can’t remember their name now.” Black Sapphire figured that, if things turned sour against Grape Hyacinth for this, he’d pretend “Black Sapphire” was an acquaintance whose trust had long been lost. If he could paint himself as using Grape Hyacinth’s name for his own gain—which, in all fairness, he was—Grape Hyacinth could be assumed victim and let off the hook. A fair enough plan, for something he’d come up with on the spot, if he did say so himself.
“..Really?” Black Sapphire watched with a sly sort of amusement as Silverbell appeared to physically shrink in size, shoulders untensing and posture relaxing as soon as “faerie knight” was mentioned. “I’m very sorry, then. I was—”
“It’s quite alright.” Black Sapphire spoke before Silverbell could utter any more hapless apologies, taking the liberty of inviting himself to sit down in the grass, gaze trained on the crystalline pond that dented the ground. Though he still noticed in his peripheral how Silverbell’s hand did not leave his bow. How curious. “I didn’t quite catch your name.”
“Oh, right, right. I’m Silverbell Cookie. I’m a knight for the faerie kingdom, actually.” Black Sapphire, of course, already knew that.
“Is that why you’re out here so late all alone? Do you patrol the forests?”
“No, I’m.. well, yes, I do forest patrol sometimes,” Silverbell fumbled, and Black Sapphire turned to look at him with an apologetic smile. “That’s not why I’m here now, though.”
“Why are you here, then?” Black Sapphire found himself asking with more eagerness than he’d intended, considering he did not care in the slightest.
“Hold on.” Silverbell paused, eyes shifting from where they rested on Black Sapphire’s face. “You never told me your name.”
“Did I not?” Black Sapphire asked with the genuinity of somebody who wasn’t trying to skirt around the topic of their own identity for ulterior reasons. “It’s Black Sapphire Cookie. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Silverbell nodded thoughtfully, chewing on the inside of his mouth as he appeared to mull the name over in his mind. Black Sapphire doubted Silverbell would recognize him beyond a sliver of familiarity, though he still felt the swell of expectancy as Silverbell opened his mouth to speak again.
“I just like to be alone sometimes. That’s it, really. For.. why I’m out here by myself in the middle of the night.” Silverbell’s gaze once again met Black Sapphire’s own, speaking softly with a small, embarrassed chuckle.
Silverbell did not know him. Though Black Sapphire figured he wouldn’t, he still suppressed relief that threatened to spill as a small sigh. Silverbell continued, “It’s hard to find downtime during the day. But it’s quiet at night.”
“Oh, I understand the feeling well,” Black Sapphire gushed. “That is partially why I’m out as well. That, and I was awfully preoccupied catching up with Grape Hyacinth all day today. I hardly had any time to explore the city for myself.”
“Really?” Silverbell asked. Black Sapphire supressed a laugh at how ernest he sounded.
“He’s quite the chatterbox, isn’t he?”
“I suppose so.”
--
Over the span of what felt like forever but was probably closer to 40 minutes, Silverbell and Black Sapphire exhausted the conversation talking about everything and nothing. Black Sapphire became subject to stories about Grape Hyacinth that Silverbell had heard around—the new perspective was quite refreshing, even if the events were a little boring—which eventually evolved into brief introductions to miscellaneous faerie townsfolk. Black Sapphire, in turn, told tales of his “travels”, fantastical stories sculpted around true events he’d witnessed, and Silverbell fell for every word, hook line and sinker. The effortless chatter was not something that terribly interested Black Sapphire, if he was being honest, but the end would justify the means and that was all he cared about. Not once did he stop vying for an opening, though one never presented itself, and he didn’t really want to resort to violence yet, out of convenience alone, so he stayed idle.
“..Ah, speaking of which.” When Black Sapphire tuned Silverbell back in, he was on the tail end of a ramble about a historical event Black Sapphire had happened to mention, apparently something that greatly interested Silverbell considering how a lightbulb appeared to turn on behind his eyes as soon as he got permission to rant about it. “Why don’t I just take you to the library right now? You wanted to explore the kingdom yourself anyways, didn’t you? I could show you around, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Perhaps if he hadn’t been sitting in the middle of the woods for an hour, Black Sapphire would’ve said no. It happened, though, that this whole ordeal had left him terribly blasé and ravenously hungry, so he agreed anyway. At the very least, the change of scenery would be nice. And, you know, when he took what he wanted at the end of the night, it’d certainly be much more polite to leave Silverbell near civilization, where he could get medical assistance quicker, as opposed to deserting him in the woods. Black Sapphire considered himself a gentleman, after all.
“Sounds terrific.” Black Sapphire rose to his feet in an instant, dusting himself off and watching with a mellow smile as Silverbell lethargically did the same, stretching his arms up above his head before he fastened his bow to his back. “Lead the way, then, Sir Silverbell Cookie.”
“Oh, I really hate formal titles,” Silverbell laughed, waving his hand in front of his face dismissively. Black Sapphire chuckled in turn, following closely as Silverbell turned to leave.
“Forgive me,” He said, frivolosity still seeping into his tone, teasing smile still spread across his face. “You’re quite easy.”
Black Sapphire let Silverbell do most of the talking on their short hike to the kingdom. He, occasionally, as to not break the illusion, chimed in with an unhelpful nod and hum of acknowledgement, or a pointed “Really?” after a statement he was not meant to believe. He pretended to be impressed as signs of life slowly began bleeding into view, feigning wonder at the architecture—his childlike fascination seemed to charm Silverbell, at the very least, from the way he smiled so curiously at every comment Black Sapphire made about how “different it is here, compared to my homeland”, and other such theatrics. Though he also figured Silverbell would be charmed by any ounce of interest Black Sapphire showed in his home anyways.
The library actually did not interest him much—if he had to be in the city for this, he at least did not want to be in a public facility. He asked Silverbell if they could take a detour at his home for drinks and a short rest, and Silverbell, who had been hovering a few inches above the ground the entire time while Black Sapphire had walked the whole way, did not object.
“It’s a bit messy,” Silverbell admitted, opening the front door and kicking off his shoes in the entryway. “I didn’t expect company.”
“Oh, I really don’t mind.” Black Sapphire felt as though he’d said that a hundred times tonight, standing parlously close to the edge of the doorframe. “May I?”
“Hm?” Silverbell glanced backwards. “Um, of course you can come in, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Splendid. Just making sure.”
Silverbell’s home was rather quaint, and though it was stuffy, crammed with old books and trinkets and dusty furniture, Black Sapphire found that he didn’t mind. Shutting the front door behind him, he too discarded his boots by the entrance and followed Silverbell into his living room. He took a seat on a worn grey couch while Silverbell muttered more apologies and excuses under his breath, all of which Black Sapphire accepted with a grace he didn’t care to put much effort into. When Silverbell excused himself, set his bow against the wall, and disappeared into a small kitchen off the right of the living room, arched entryway draped with silver leaf curtains on either side, Black Sapphire sighed and fell backwards onto the couch cushions, gaze trailing up to the ceiling. What a tiresome excursion this was turning out to be, for jam that probably would not end up tasting very good anyways. Would it be better than rabbit or mouse jam? Probably. But rabbits and mice didn’t play house before letting you kill them. They just died.
“I hope you don’t mind chamomile.” Black Sapphire opened his eyes, sitting upright at the sound of Silverbell setting a tray down on the coffee table. He folded his hands in his lap in front of him and smiled.
“Of course not,” He hummed, picking up one of the dainty silver teacups and taking a slow, drawn out sip, hiding a grimace behind his hand as he set the cup back down. He was not the biggest fan of floral flavors, though he was quite pleased that Silverbell hadn’t seemed to pay him any mind at all.
“You’re quite the collector, aren’t you?” Black Sapphire continued. He was really only speaking to fill the silence, something that always irked him, because a show without dialogue was no good a show at all. Silverbell smiled, stopping mid drink and setting his cup down as he patted his mouth with his sleeve.
He opened his mouth to talk, though whatever he said, eyes awkwardly jumping around, fond laughter peppering his words, Black Sapphire did not hear it. He propped himself up on the back of the couch with his arm, head resting in his hand, and stared attentively at Silverbell, though the other’s voice faded to droning white noise in the background of his mind and there was not a thought behind his practiced smile. It happened that his hunger had gotten inordinately worse the moment he’d stepped foot into Silverbell’s house, because it smelled overwhelmingly of him and Black Sapphire had not expected it. It was beginning to become an issue, and he felt almost feverish.
“Black Sapphire Cookie?” His name being repeated, for a moment, drew Black Sapphire from the train of thought he’d retreated into. Apparently Silverbell had asked him something. “Did you hear me?”
“I did not,” Black Sapphire stated plainly. Was the facade still there? He didn’t know. Wasn’t thinking about it.
“I asked if you’d ever read.. um..” Silverbell trailed off as Black Sapphire Cookie stood, something he himself did not realize he was doing until he was walking over to the fauteuil Silverbell rested in. He sat down precariously on the armrest, and Silverbell inched away in turn, face flushed as his eyes trailed off somewhere distant that Black Sapphire did not follow.
“Are you..? I mean, I don’t mind.. if you want to—” Silverbell was promptly cut off amidst his hasty mutterings by a hand clasped over his mouth, pushing his head into the back of the chair, though in Black Sapphire’s defense he hadn’t meant to do that; he’d sort of expected Silverbell to be less fragile.
“That’s enough, now. You’ve no more lines in this scene.” Their proximity did not help with the fervent buzzing behind his eyes. Black Sapphire shifted himself downwards, propped up with one knee on the cushion next to where Silverbell’s legs laid limply, his eyes wide and perhaps more confused than afraid.
Silverbell attempted to say something, tone distressed and unsure and, though Black Sapphire thought he might be imagining it, still somehow clumsily affable. He didn’t care. He wasn’t listening. Palm still clutched urgently over Silverbell’s mouth, Black Sapphire moved his free hand to yank down his collar, resting his head in the crook of his neck, rushedly breaking dough with his teeth.
When Silverbell realized what was going on—when he realized what this entire ploy had been for, he tried very hard to free himself. Black Sapphire tuned out whatever it was he was attempting to plead, oblivious to the fact he was even making noise until he noticed the feeling of lips moving against his hand, rushed and panicky. Every strike landed on Black Sapphire’s chest only made him burrow his teeth deeper, every kick to his shins fading into the background, blossoming bruises no more than a dull throb in the swirl of his fading senses.
Silverbell tasted divine. His jam was saccharine and savory and metallic and strongly tasted of flowers, though not in the cheap tea sort of way, not in the sort of way Black Sapphire minded. To say he was elated would’ve been an understatement. And it was intensely relieving, having a real meal after so, so long, and if Silverbell wasn’t still relentlessly fighting beneath him, Black Sapphire might’ve drained him completely by accident. He reigned himself in when the weak punches stopped; whether Silverbell had become too light headed to keep fighting, or whether he’d stopped caring, Black Sapphire didn’t know, but when he felt Silverbell’s head fall forward onto his shoulder, he figured he’d had his fill and gently dislodged himself from Silverbell’s dough. He gave the wound a final, exultant once over with his tongue before he pulled away and inspected the damage, dabbling jam that dripped down his chin with his sleeve.
As soon as it left where it had rested on Black Sapphire’s shoulder, Silverbell’s head lolled forward, glassy eyes rapidly blinking, befuddled and tired and—to Black Sapphire’s absolute delight—betrayed.
“You..” Silverbell stammered. His voice was weak and Black Sapphire wondered just how long he’d spent crying for help. “Who.. you lied—”
Black Sapphire suddenly leaned down and kissed him to shut him up.
He hadn’t the faintest idea why he’d done that.
Without a second thought, Black Sapphire was gone as fast as he’d arrived, vanished in an instant—he could’ve been a hallucination if Silverbell didn’t have the trophy to prove it. He returned hastily to the spire, the chill of the night eating through his dough, the taste of jam still fresh on his tongue, uncomfortably hot and strikingly present at the forefront of his mind even after he’d collapsed onto his bed, staring at the ceiling with his hands placed on his chest. Whenever the hum of thought in his mind faded, he found himself wandering back to the image of Silverbell’s face, the unmistakable look of dejection, the last thing he’d seen before he left.
He did not feel bad about it. He knew that, though he found he could not place the swelling in his chest if it was not guilt.
Whatever. Black Sapphire closed his eyes—this would not matter tomorrow. None of this would matter tomorrow. In a week, he would return to the faerie kingdom as Grape Hyacinth, explain away the troubles he’d caused, clean his disguise’s reputation, and all would return to normal. Grape Hyacinth was collected, he was docile, and he would figure everything out for himself.
In the meantime, Black Sapphire would spend God knows how long chasing the night’s high. Replaying the events in his mind. A personal stage play.
How embarrassingly trivial.