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Dark Cacao Cookie typically finds the Vanilla Kingdom comforting, a homey reminder of how things used to be. Before the Dark Flour War, before his journey to Beast-Yeast…
Before Shadow Milk Cookie had his own chambers in Pure Vanilla Cookie’s castle.
Despite swearing up and down that he does not mind his friend’s new…associate, Dark Cacao Cookie has felt more than a little on edge since he arrived in the kingdom. He knows that the Beast of Deceit is not his problem and poses no imminent threat, but that doesn’t make his behavior any less troubling.
Shadow Milk Cookie loves to torment Dark Cacao Cookie. He slips deadpan jokes into conversations knowing full well the other Cookie will miss them. He tampers with their physical environment, twisting rugs under Dark Cacao Cookie’s feet or turning his sword into rubber. He even used magic to make Dark Cacao Cookie’s glass of juice even stronger than it already was. That night provided ample entertainment for Shadow Milk Cookie, but not nearly as much as the following morning.
With all of this swirling around in his mind, Dark Cacao Cookie paces the halls of his best friend’s castle. He absently drags his hand along a railing. After a few moments, he looks down and gasps. The entire section of railing he touched has turned into a featureless black shadow. He takes a step back and the ground beneath his feet turns into shadow as well. He repeats words again and again in his mind, trying to regain his composure. Control the fear, control the magic. Control the fear, control the magic.
His nerves only tighten more when he hears the sound of whistling from around the corner.
When Dark Cacao Cookie turns around, Shadow Milk Cookie is hovering in the air.
The Beast flashes him a smile, then turns his attention to the railing. His eyebrows shoot up. “Did you do that?”
Dark Cacao Cookie doesn’t respond.
Shadow Milk Cookie rolls his eyes. “Lying by omission. How uncreative.” He flies over to Dark Cacao Cookie and claps a hand on his back. “Still, I’m proud of you for embracing deceit.”
Dark Cacao Cookie sighs. “Fine. If you’re looking for a confession, then yes, I did this.” He looks down at his hands. “My Soul Jam…gets the better of me sometimes.”
Shadow Milk Cookie mutters through gritted teeth, just loud enough for the other to hear. “That’s because you aren’t supposed to have it.”
Dark Cacao Cookie stretches out his fingers as if trying to suck the shadows back into his hands. “Well, I do now.”
Shadow Milk Cookie flips upside down in the air. “What are you doing? That’s not how you do dark magic. Stop doing that.”
Dark Cacao Cookie gives up in a huff, throwing his hands back down at his sides. “This is why I dislike magic. Swords are predictable. Weapons are predictable. Magic is…” He searches for a word to capture his frustration. “Silly.”
Shadow Milk Cookie laughs, high and piercing. “Now you’re getting it! Magic is silly. It doesn’t know how to follow rules, and it doesn’t care to learn.”
Dark Cacao Cookie takes a few steps away from the Beast, turning more of the floor into shadow. “Then I have no use for it. If it cannot be manipulated with military precision, then it does not serve me.” He turns around and looks down, seeing the trail of black void before him. He shakes his head. “It is only a curse.”
Shadow Milk Cookie places a hand on the railing—through the railing, actually—and thinks out loud. “This is some pretty good shadow manipulation. You know, you could be amazing at dark magic if you didn’t hate yourself for having it.”
Dark Cacao Cookie sighs. He can’t get the darkness to recede. Not when Shadow Milk Cookie’s words are striking a nerve inside him. Has he ever given his dark magic a chance? He’s always despised it. He remembers wishing he could move mountains or heal injuries instead of turning everything he touched into shadows. He remembers having nightmares about his son’s dough fading into black nothingness. He remembers contorting into that…thing after Pomegranate Cookie cast her spell. He looks around and realizes that all this remembering has turned the whole corridor into a dark void.
Shadow Milk Cookie giggles, clapping his hands together. “This is excellent! I don’t understand why you don’t use this tactic in battle!”
Dark Cacao Cookie’s temper flares too quickly for him to control it. “Because it is far too volatile!” His voice echoes through the chamber of black, and the reverberations sound like the cry of a strange animal. He takes a breath to compose himself. “I do not want unnecessary casualties, and I do not want opposing rulers to see me as some kind of…monster.”
Shadow Milk Cookie arches an eyebrow, a knowing look crossing his face. He floats over to Dark Cacao Cookie and stares him dead in the eyecings. “You are a monster, though. At least partially.” He cracks a sharp, glinting smile. “And I think you should try to embrace it.”
Dark Cacao Cookie wants to be offended by this, but his Soul Jam hums pleasantly in the scabbard at his side. He feels a familiar tingling sensation as his left hand morphs into a large black claw. He flexes his fingers, eyeing them with morbid curiosity. “Why does this feel…good?”
Shadow Milk Cookie laughs. “Life gets a lot easier once you stop trying to control everything. That’s a lesson I thought you would never learn.”
Dark Cacao Cookie turns his attention to his right hand, now also fully transformed into a claw. “If magic doesn’t follow rules, then how do you get it to do what you want?”
Shadow Milk Cookie spins around in the air. “You have to communicate with it. Treat it like a living thing. It’ll start to hear you out eventually.”
Dark Cacao Cookie looks around at the seemingly infinite blackness engulfing them. “Hello? Magic?”
Shadow Milk Cookie snorts. He throws a hand over his mouth, but his snickers are still fully audible.
Dark Cacao Cookie scoffs. “I don’t know how else to communicate with it.”
Shadow Milk Cookie wipes the tears from his eyes. “Try in your head, doofus.”
Dark Cacao Cookie ignores him, instead saying some words in his mind. Hello magic it’s me Dark Cacao Cookie. Please stop turning everything into shadows please. Thank you.
Nothing happens for a few seconds. Dark Cacao Cookie is about to try again when the edges of the void suddenly start to recede. He gives it a beat, and sure enough, the shadows disappear.
Shadow Milk Cookie floats down to look at him. “What did I tell you?”
Dark Cacao Cookie nods. “You were right.” He then looks down at his claws. “But when do these go away?”
Shadow Milk Cookie shrugs. “Your magic hasn’t been allowed out in so long. It might be a little reluctant to go back inside.”
If the rational part of Dark Cacao Cookie is upset about that, he can’t hear it over his Soul Jam singing with relief. Without even thinking, he gives the other Cookie a crooked little smile.
Shadow Milk Cookie offers a wide, wicked grin in return. “It is silly, isn’t it?”