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“Hypnosis? Is that safe?”, Pure Vanilla asked carefully, his head slightly tilted and his expression one of surprise yet gentle nonetheless. His mismatched eyes met those of his other half, the Cookie sharing the same Soul Jam as him, Shadow Milk, who had just posed a rather odd suggestion.
“Hah, sure is! I’ve been practicing hypnosis ever since my days as the Fount. For example, in order to help alleviate mental disorders and the likes.”, the latter explained, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he floated barely above ground before the blond. His lips were curled into a malicious grin that suggested he was not just here to help with some sort of mental disorder of any kind.
Pure Vanilla scoffed, although he was intrigued by the idea. “I don’t need any kind of help like that. What is it that you’re really after?”
“Tsk tsk. I would hypnotize you to bring Truthless Recluse back, obviously! I’d prefer him over your stupid, overly nice fake personality any day and you know it!”, the Jester exclaimed, bursting out in laughter.
Pure Vanilla couldn’t take him serious like this. Ever since he entered the Vanilla Kingdom, the Beast became all bark and no bite. He had almost become as tame as a lazy house cat who refused to do anything but sleep and play all day long, its claws remaining tucked away in the soft fur of the paws, never to be sharpened again.
“You know what, Shadow Milk? I’ll give into that twisted desire of yours for once. I can assure you it won’t work though. Because Truthless Recluse was never really me to begin with, or have you forgotten? He was just a disguise I made up to fool you.”
“Shut up! He was very real to me!”, Shadow Milk yelled, before quickly regaining his composure and settling down on the ground in front of the other, where he pulled a pendulum out of his pocket. Pure Vanilla’s worried gaze lingered on him as he desperately tried to overplay the faint reddening of his cheeks by acting overly confident.
“So, all you gotta do is stare at this pendulum…”, he ordered, holding the blue disc with a black squiggle in its center attached to a string right in front of the other’s face.
“It’s pretty. You have such a great taste.”, Pure Vanilla interrupted, chuckling as the Jester’s blush grew once more.
“As I said…”, Shadow Milk continued through gritted teeth, “Stare at the damn thing while listening to my voice, okay? It can’t be that hard, even someone as foolish and oblivious as you should be able to follow such a simple command…”
The Healer nodded, adjusting his position on the ground, straightening his posture and pressing his palms onto his thighs. He breathed out, opened his eyes and fixated them onto the object that was held close to his face. “My eyesight isn’t that bad, you don’t have to bring it so close…”, he admitted, and Shadow Milk awkwardly pulled the pendulum a bit further away.
“I thought I’d make it easier for someone as stupid as you to follow the thing…”, the latter uttered, before finally starting to swing the object around.
“For the next six hours, you will listen to me, and to me only. Every command I give, y-“
“Why six hours? I thought it would last forever…”, Pure Vanilla asked, his voice sounding a bit disappointed. He was faking it to mess with the other, which always seemed to work in a strangely adorable way.
The other almost exploded. “Who do you think I am?! A witch with unlimited powers or something? Hypnosis isn’t just psychological, it’s magical too, and no spell lasts forever! I’m not going to waste my precious energy on keeping such a spell up for longer than its natural duration.” He sighed heavily, his breath seething with frustration as he began to swing the pendulum once more.
Pure Vanilla suppressed a chuckle at yet another successful attempt of riling his Beast counterpart up.
“Alright… No interruptions this time, you hear me?! Okay, so… For the next six hours, you will listen to me, and to me only. Every command I give, you have to follow. The only things on your mind will be total obedience and absolute submission.”, the Jester whispered, staring at the other to make sure he was focused.
A complete mistake. The moment his gaze first met the blond’s eyes, he became stuck, unable to snap out of it any longer. His consciousness got lost in the big, deep, pond-like glossy eyes, reflecting the swinging pendulum in them. Before he knew it, he had hypnotized himself.
“Shadow Milk? Are you alright? What happened?”, Pure Vanilla asked, carefully nudging his hand against the other’s forehead. He was frozen still in his position, his hand that had previously held up the pendulum having sunken to the ground, his gaze empty.
The Healer was confused at first, but he quickly caught on. “You’ve accidentally put the spell onto yourself instead of me, haven’t you? Uh... What was it that you said? Follow my every command? Then that means… Alright, I order you to answer my question.”
Shadow Milk quietly nodded.
“That’s… Is there any way to break this hypnosis? I mean look at you, your personality was completely wiped out...”, Pure Vanilla asked, his tone growing more worried by the second. The other didn’t respond.
“Can you speak? Oh, right… I have to command you what I want you to do… Is that your fetish, or what? Obedience, submission…? Anyways, answer my questions now!”, he exclaimed almost desperately, raising his voice.
Shadow Milk stirred and breathed out before finally opening his mouth to speak. “There is no way to break the hypnosis. All you can do is wait. And I prefer the word preference, who wouldn’t want to see their other half be completely obedient to them?”, he responded, a sinister grin spreading across his face. Pure Vanilla sighed with relief at the realization that the other’s personality was in fact still there, he just wasn’t allowed to speak without his permission.
“This is honestly… kind of cute. The mighty Beast of Deceit listening to my every request, unable to speak without permission. Who would have thought it would ever come to this. Tell me, what do you honestly think about that?”, he asked, chuckling.
“This is stupid! You better tell me to do actual useful things to kill time while I’m stuck in this state, or I’ll kill you! You have no idea how it-“
“Be quiet and do a flip.”
Shadow Milk immediately stopped in his sentence, floated up from the ground and spun backwards in the air before landing and sitting down in front of the other again.
The Cookie of Truth burst out laughing, to which the other started internally cursing himself out, trying desperately to put an end to the magic that was keeping him in place, but to no avail. It was his own magic that he had used for the spell, and there was no magic that was stronger than his.
He cringed as the other placed a hand on his cheek. “That was so good. Such good comedy. Now, what can I do with you, my friend? How about I use the time wisely… By making you do actual work instead of lazing off all day. Sounds good? Tell me that sounds good.”
“Sounds good.”, Shadow Milk responded almost mechanically before slapping himself in the face. He did not think that idea sounded good at all.
Pure Vanilla nodded victoriously, taking the other’s hands to pull him off the ground. “Alright, since you’re so intrigued by the idea…”, he suppressed a giggle, “We should get going right now. Just follow me.”
…
After a short walk, the two reached a large meadow which was filled with lush green grass. A herd of Cream Sheep was munching on it, their wool glimmering in the soft rays of the late morning sun.
Pure Vanilla started honestly missing Shadow Milk’s snarky remarks, so he gave him a new order: “You are allowed to talk freely under the conditions that you do not curse and remain completely honest. Now, I have a job for you. We have to check each sheep for illness or injury. They are much more likely to get sick since these sheep are allowed to roam the kingdom freely. Don’t worry, I’ll be here. I know you wouldn’t normally do this… I hope it’s not too hard for you. Just tell me if it is.”
“Tending for sheep? That can hardly be considered difficult! You’re so- agh! Why did you have to add those conditions?!”, Shadow Milk cried, the realization that he was unable to use his usual vocabulary hitting him.
The Healer chuckled. He made his way over to the herd. The cream sheep started bleaking happily as they noticed him, some lambs even running over to him. “They’re so cute, don’t you think, Shadow Milk?”, he asked, carefully lifting up one of the lambs and turning it around, checking for any irritations or injuries briefly before setting it back into the grass.
“I guess… I guess they are.”, the other admitted, reluctantly reaching his hand out to pet one of the sheep. It nudged its head against his palm, jumping excitedly as if asking to be picked up.
“This one likes you! She has a bit of a tragic history… Her parents died during a wolf attack while defending the little one. I think… I think you should know that it was the wolf that you released into the kingdom some time ago. It’s okay, I’m not mad anymore. Well, the little one needs to be fed with the bottle because of that. Here, I brought one. I want you to try to do that. You owe her something.”, Pure Vanilla explained, a gentle smile on his face as he handed the bottle to the other.
Shadow Milk averted his gaze. He remembered how upset his other half had been at the discovery of the two dead sheep, how much he had cried about it... Yet, Shadow Milk had never consolidated him, never apologized, just… laughed. He had honestly already forgotten all about it. The memory of this incident alone made him want to run away. But he couldn’t. He hadn’t been asked to leave, after all. So, all he could do was sit down on the grass cross-legged, lift the little sheep on his lap and start ineptly feeding it the milk contained in the small bottle.
Although he struggled quite a lot trying to steady his grip with a constantly moving, hungry lamb on his lap, most of the bottle’s contents landed in the sheep’s stomach after all. Once it was done drinking, the lamb hopped off of him and trotted back to its herd.
“Tsk, not even a little ‘thank you’ or something. What a-“, he complained, angrily grumbling about the fact that he was unable to say the word ‘brat’ due to his hypnosis.
“Well, my dear, it’s a sheep, not a Cookie… It can’t speak, you know.”, Pure Vanilla snickered, lifting up another lamb. The little thing licked his face after he was done checking it. Shadow Milk shot an offended glare at the two.
“See, that’s what I mean! That counts as a thank you, doesn’t it? I don’t think these sheep like me at all.”, he grumbled, turning away from the other.
The Healer’s gaze softened as he made his way over to the Jester, gently lifting up his chin. The latter blushed heavily at this action, to which he smiled. “Aw, don’t be like that, Shadow Milk. They just don’t know you well enough yet, that’s all. You know, I asked you to come here with me on multiple occasions before, you just refused each time. How about you join me again tomorrow?”
“I’m not going to make a promise, I’ll just see how I feel tomorrow. Don’t expect anything.”, Shadow Milk muttered, averting his gaze as much as possible.
“Aw, come on, say yes!”, Pure Vanilla insisted, having forgotten about the spell the other was under, thus confused as he agreed in a tone too enthusiastic to be natural. “Oh, my apologies, I forgot about that…”
…
After they tended to every single sheep’s needs, Pure Vanilla stated that it was time to have lunch together. The two had never eaten together, so Shadow Milk immediately rejected the idea, but of course he had no say in the matter.
The reason being all the times he had joked about his other half’s eating disorder, how thin he was, how much he struggled to eat back at the Spire… He felt a little bit guilty, although he never even thought he was capable of feeling this way before. It was new to him. It was scary.
So, his tactic was to avoid the issue, and again, he wanted to run away, but Pure Vanilla simply ordered him to stay, and he had no choice but to surrender.
“This is my favorite place, the Jampie Diner. I love the Bear Jelly Burgers they make! Have you ever tried them before?”, Pure Vanilla asked enthusiastically, a wide smile plastered onto his face as he stepped into the restaurant.
Shadow Milk felt like he was being pulled on an invisible leash. Uneasiness spread through his entire body, it felt so unbearable that he finally found the willpower to turn around and leave. Yet, before he could actually disappear through the door, he heard the words “Please, stay” and it was like all of his thoughts were overridden. He turned around again, quietly, almost awkwardly, floating to the table that the blond had chosen for the two.
“I’m sorry, are you unwell? I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, so please, tell me if anything is wrong.”, Pure Vanilla expressed, taking the other’s hands in his gently.
He didn’t want to talk about it. He would never have indulged in this conversation, if not for this stupid hypnosis spell. How could he still possibly call himself one of the five Beast Cookies if he admitted to such a thing? Or worse, to run away from something like this?
“I feel guilty… For making fun of your… problems… like, with food, and, you know, eating…”, he muttered, trying desperately to prevent each word from leaving his mouth. His gaze lingered on the table. There was no denying it anymore. He felt guilty for what he did. Surely, the other would assume that he felt some kind of affection for him now. Or that he had become weak. Domesticated. Like a pet. The other Beasts would never take him back.
Their hands were still intertwined on the table. A gentle squeeze from Pure Vanilla’s side tore him out of his thoughts. Carefully, he looked up.
The last thing he expected to see was the overwhelming gentleness spreading across Pure Vanilla’s face. He really was so easily forgiving. Never holding a single grudge or being angry about something. What a foolish Cookie…
“I know.”, Pure Vanilla smiled, “I just wanted to hear you say that once. After all, this is the only chance I have at a completely honest conversation with the Master of Deceit.”
Shadow Milk stared at him, half-dumbfounded, half-glad about this type of response. It was so like him. So teasing yet gentle in its core. He shook his head and grimaced.
“You enjoy this hypnosis thing way too much, it disgusts me. Do you get some kind of weird pleasure out of having me listen to your every command?”, he hissed, pulling his hands back to himself and rubbing his wrists as if he had just been violated. The other chuckled. He was so resilient in keeping up this façade.
Pure Vanilla would never tell him that he could see right through him. That no matter how much he tried to hide it, how many times he ran away and how many offers at spending time he refused, he still craved the compassionate Cookie’s presence. That with the Cookie of Truth by his side, the Cookie of Deceit’s lies would become transparent.
Of course, he did not want to take advantage of the spell to get the other to be honest with him. He knew that he would advance at his own pace, eventually opening up to him. Still, he could try pushing him a little bit at least, given the opportunity.
He was torn out of his thoughts by the approaching of a waiter, asking the two for their order. Pure Vanilla chose what he had mentioned earlier, a Bear Jelly Burger, while Shadow Milk hissed something along the lines of “the same as him”. While the two waited for their food, the Healer decided to spark up another conversation with his other half.
“So, Shadow Milk, why are you so embarrassed when talking about how you truly feel?”, he asked, locking eyes with the other who immediately averted his gaze. He had been doing that a lot today.
“Because I don’t want to be seen as soft, neither by you nor anyone else, especially not the other Beasts.”, he sighed, internally screeching at the honest words flowing out of his mouth, “If they return at some point only to see what has happened to me, how I’ve been tamed by you, how often I seek out your presence, how friendly I’ve become… Surely they’ll laugh at me. They’d never take me back.”
“Is that all there is to it? I mean, why does it matter? You always complain to me how disgusted you are by Burning Spice’s attitude and how boring you think Mystic Flour is. How many fights you get into with Eternal Sugar. Are those really the Cookies you want to spend your time with?”, Pure Vanilla retorted carefully.
The other’s eyes slightly widened. He felt like he had been caught, not in his own lies, but in his delusion. The spell he was under prevented him from lying, so he must have truly believed this argument was solid. Now that Pure Vanilla pointed out that it wasn’t, he almost felt stupid.
He did not want to admit it. But he was forced to. “You’re right… it does not make much sense, now that I think about it. The Beasts have never cared much about me, why would I care what they think? I’m having much more fun in the kingdom and… with you… than I had ever before.”
“Then why, why are you so appalled by the idea of admitting your true feelings?”, Pure Vanilla asked further. For some reason he himself wasn’t even aware of, he was really keen on digging as deep as he could to push the other over the edge.
He was leaning closer to the other’s face than he wanted to, his elbows pressed onto the table and his pupils fixated on the hypnotized Cookie. Fortunately for the latter, the waiter returned, bringing their meals. Pure Vanilla awkwardly shifted back onto his seat, while Shadow Milk tried to melt into the chair, using his shapeshifting ability to shrink so that the other would not be able to see his face peeking over the burger in front of him.
The two ate in silence. It was evident that Pure Vanilla had been too pushy, making the other uncomfortable. Especially since he was vulnerable due to the hypnosis. Guilt washed over the blond, making him too afraid to speak up at all. He feared the other would be mad at him. His intention was never to upset him…
“I’m done. You did choose this place wisely, the burger was quite delicious. Can we go home now?”, Shadow Milk asked eventually, breaking the silence. Pure Vanilla was glad that he did, and that there was no annoyed undertone in his voice. He smiled.
“No, we aren’t going home yet! There’s one more place I want to take you to as long as you can’t resist.”, he exclaimed enthusiastically, taking the other’s hand in his while strolling out the door.
“You’re taking advantage of this accident way too much! I feel used.”, the Jester complained, but he paid it no mind. He just ordered him to follow, and so he did. Like an obedient little lap dog.
“Aw, don’t act like you hate this! I could see how much you enjoyed yourself earlier when playing with the sheep. I can guarantee you, the next activity will be just as fun.”
…
They reached the infirmary together. Naturally, the first thing Shadow Milk did was complain, saying he had no way to help wounded Cookies, that Pure Vanilla was the one with the healing powers, not him, but the latter just told him to be quiet and do as he said. He just had too much fun in ordering Shadow Milk around.
“I know that you can’t help me with any wounded or ill Cookies, but I do need your advice on something. We’ve been experiencing a bit of a pandemic lately. I always tried to get you to help, you know, but you just never agreed. One of your former Beast friends, Mystic Flour, has spread the “white fog”. At first, Dark Cacao managed to diminish it, but now it has returned. My healing powers won’t do anything against it. I thought you might be able to help.”, he explained, a hint of pleading in his voice. He opened a curtain to the back of the infirmary, revealing a dozen Cookies isolated from anyone else. They seemed to be in a bad state, white spots having spread all over their dough.
“White fog? Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that… You’ve been quite frantic about it.”, Shadow Milk uttered, averting his gaze.
“Yes, because so many Cookies have already lost their lives because of it!”, the other burst out, quickly catching his demeanor. He sighed, took a step closer to the Beast, taking his hands in his once again. He was quite touchy today. “If you know a cure, now’s the time to reveal it.”, he said. Not ordered, just said.
Shadow Milk thought about it for a while. Of course he knew how to cure it, he had been “friends” with Mystic Flour for such a long time. But revealing that felt like a final act of betraying the Beasts. Of leaving them behind. He would prove that he had become a true ally to the Vanilla kingdom and the other ancients. That he had abandoned his past, his friends, moved on.
He didn’t know why Pure Vanilla wasn’t just forcing him. He seemed to have had no trouble ordering him around before. Yet right now, he was just looking up at him with those big bug eyes that he had lost himself in so deeply before- and he was afraid he’d do it again.
“Alright, I’ll tell you.”, he finally broke the silence, “It’s not an actual injury or disease, that’s why you can’t heal it with your abilities. It’s a type of ancient magic that has not been recorded in any book. The only ones who know the spell to get rid of it are us Beasts. Though I’m sure that that brute has definitely already forgotten all about it because of his own- ugh, this hypnosis is starting to seriously tick me off!”
Shadow Milk pulled his hands back from the other, angrily grumbling as he once again realized he was unable to curse. He floated to the sickest-looking victim, his hand hovering over their head as he closed his eyes, mumbling a few words in a foreign language. Soon, the white spots on their dough would vanish, and their pained expression would become soft.
“Hah, looks like I have just made myself an important asset to the Ancient Heros. Are you proud?”, he asked, half-joking, half oozing with pride.
“You’ve already been that to me before.”, the blond replied, smiling. “The only thing that changed is that you just showed the courage to deal with your past and to emancipate yourself from the other Beasts. And for that, yes, I am proud of you. Very proud.”
Shadow Milk blushed at this response, quickly turning around and tending to the other Cookies as if the words didn’t affect him. Pure Vanilla couldn’t help but to watch in awe at the utmost care his other half displayed when dealing with sick Cookies. It was so unlike him. So new. Yet, he had always known that it was there, deep down, buried beneath layers of lies, deceit and pride.
“Phew, I’m done with every single one now. They should be ready to be discharged soon. Can we go home now?”, the magician asked, looking visibly exhausted- although he was probably just faking it to finally have a moment of rest after being forced to be out and about the past few hours.
“Wow, Shadow Milk, for such a devoted entertainer you sure are introverted.”, Pure Vanilla giggled, feeling the other’s annoyed stare against his nape as he turned around to leave the facility. “But yes, let’s go home. You sure did more work today than you have ever done before.”
“Oh what do you know? Back in my days as the Fount of Knowledge I did a lot more than this! I just don’t see the point in it anymore, because in the end, you can’t make everyone happy and your people will still turn against you.”, Shadow Milk complained, following the other out. Even though he had just brought those memories back by himself, he seemed upset.
“Speaking from experience are we? Don’t worry, I won’t let this happen again. All Cookies of the Vanilla kingdom will respect you, that I’ll make sure of.”, Pure Vanilla retorted softly, adjusting his pace so the two could walk next to each other.
Shadow Milk was unsure as to what to respond, but he cherished the way his worries weren’t dismissed. He was scared of being abandoned once again more than anything, the memories alone making him sick. Thus, he was incredibly grateful when the two reached their chambers, and he immediately let himself sink into the couch.
“Ahh, finally I can rest, nearly worked myself to death there. Don’t you dare force me to do anything else today! There shouldn’t even be much time left, is there?”, the Jester asked, lazily crossing his arms while shooting a suspicious glare at the other.
“Hmm… No, I’d say I’ve used this spell quite enough. Poor thing had to leave his comfort zone, oh, what will we do with him?”, Pure Vanilla teased, strolling over to the sofa the other lay on and sitting down next to him. He had a grin on his face, one that told Shadow Milk that he definitely wasn’t off the hook just yet. Confused, he gazed at the other opening his arms.
“The spell should wear off any second now, I’ve kept an eye on the time. Your last task will be… to do what you’ve been craving to do for so, so long.”, the blond explained. It was vague. Up for interpretation. His body language naturally suggested otherwise; with his open arms, it seemed as if he expected a hug. But then, why didn’t he just say “give me a hug”? Most likely because he wanted to suggest that Shadow Milk was the one who wanted this, not just him. Because he thought he knew him so very well that he was convinced a hug was all he craved from time to time.
He was wrong. Not in the way that Shadow Milk rejected him, not that he didn’t need a hug- but that he needed something more. And thus, his eyes opened wide in surprise as the other’s lips met his, the two clashing in a delicate kiss for what felt like an hour but in reality was only two or at most three seconds, before the blue-hued Cookie, whose face was now laced with a reddish blush, regained his full senses, his spell broken in that exact second, and stormed out the door faster than a bolt of lightning.
Pure Vanilla watched in shock, not the kind that makes your heart stop beating, but rather, the kind that pleasantly surprises you, as the Cookie who had just kissed him ran off, not because of disgust, but because he himself was scared of the consequences this action would leave. Sure, he couldn’t control himself in that moment, it wasn’t his fault, rather, it was Pure Vanilla’s for posing such a vague request. That’s what he was going to tell himself from now on, at least.
A warm smile spread across the healer’s face. Of course the other would run off after doing something like this. He placed his fingers on his lips. They were still slightly warmer than usual, the difference so small that only a Cookie who had to rely on his other senses due to being half-blind could feel. He knew exactly what this action meant. And next time, he would make sure to repeat it.