Chapter Text
Black Sapphire tried to organize his thoughts, but of course at this point that was nearly hopeless. His mind buzzed with everything that had happened in a matter of just hours.
Master Shadow Milk had hardly been himself that morning when he’d returned from his nightly activities. Not even Black Sapphire could get him to speak. He’d always assumed he was Master’s favorite, considering the occasional compliments he’d been given. Unlike his sister, Candy Apple—who was ridiculously obsessive over Master—he had the right mind to know when Shadow Milk wanted to be left alone.
Black Sapphire had been attempting to distract his sister when he heard the banging and shouting voices from the base of the Spire. Upon Master’s defeated sigh and Candy Apple’s startled gasp, Black Sapphire had had two choices: run and hide, or protect Master, who clearly wouldn’t do so himself.
As it turned out, staying to defend Shadow Milk had been one of the worst choices in his entire life. He’d severely underestimated the forces that had come storming through the Spire, with Pure Vanilla himself at the very head of it.
It had only taken moments for Shadow Milk and Candy Apple to disappear in masses of soldiers, while he was seized away from them and separated quickly, despite his desperate protests.
Rough hands jostled Black Sapphire’s arms, ripping him out of his dread-lined memories. He shouldn’t have stayed. He hadn’t seen Candy Apple since, and for the first time, Black Sapphire was more concerned about finding her than rescuing his Master. Master had saved him and Candy Apple when they were young, but Candy Apple was still his sister. Shadow Milk had never truly been even remotely close to the father figure Black Sapphire had wanted his whole life. Not even remotely close to the father figure that Candy Apple had needed. Instead, she’d only gotten Black Sapphire.
“Walk!” came a harsh command from a burly voice. Black Sapphire scowled, twisting in the soldier’s tight grips and kicking out. They didn’t even flinch. Soldiers surrounded him from every side, holding him firmly beside them.
Black Sapphire stumbled down what he guessed were stairs. Almost instantly, sunlight burst from the sky overhead, blinding Black Sapphire. He tripped, quickly masking his rather foolish mistake with another attempt to kick and squirm free.
The light from the sun overhead was not only blinding, but incredibly hot. Black Sapphire had only left the Spire every once in a while, and it was never for more than a few minutes, here and there, whenever Master needed help. The intensity of the sun, and even the feeling of air wafting past, was vastly unfamiliar.
The noises were the second strange sensation to reach Black Sapphire. Aside from the bustling and commanding voices of the soldiers, he could hear other cookies speaking loudly, their tones ranging from curiosity to downright disgust.
Pure Vanilla’s calm voice came from somewhere amongst the painfully loud chaos. The lack of concern in his voice only strengthened Black Sapphire’s urge to strangle the stupid cookie. How could he be so calm? What about him? What about Candy Apple? His sister! And Shadow Milk? Pure Vanilla had flipped Black Sapphire’s life upside down and ripped his confidence apart, then had the audacity to be relaxed about the situation?
Black Sapphire wrenched his arms back to try and free himself from their holds again. Their hands only tightened around his arms, to the point where he was convinced they would shatter him into pieces. He gave a hiss of pain before he was forced to subside. In his brief moment of submission, something sharp pricked his shoulder. He yelped instinctively, struggling to turn around, but the soldiers held him locked in place.
The sudden wave of dizziness surfaced in seconds, quickly followed by his surroundings blurring. The soldiers in front of him parted, then, slowly, so did the rest of the ones around him. Their wretched Vanilla Kingdom armor melted gradually into the greenery behind them.
“Silverbell?” Pure Vanilla’s voice called expectantly.
Black Sapphire tried to trace Pure Vanilla’s voice, but a new cookie pushing carefully past the crowd caught his attention first. To Black Sapphire, he was nothing more than a blur of white and silver, with pale tan skin.
It felt as though Black Sapphire had only managed to blink in the time it took the cookie, probably Silverbell, to reach him. A soft hand cradled his wrists together, rousing a startled flinch from Black Sapphire. Only now that Silverbell was so close to him did Black Sapphire realize how badly he needed the extra support to remain standing straight. His knees threatened to buckle underneath him.
The nausea beating at Black Sapphire grew stronger, his mind swimming dangerously as the drugs tightened their grip on his consciousness. Silverbell’s other hand ended up under Black Sapphire’s chin, lifting his hopelessly blurry gaze to meet Silverbell’s. Black Sapphire could feel his pupils dilating, both from the sun and from whatever drugs the soldiers had gotten inside of him. His eyes fluttered drowsily as his breaths started to require much more effort from his heaving lungs. His wings twitched against his sides.
Silverbell glanced once more at Black Sapphire’s face, then tilted his head gently downward. His forehead was pressed against Silverbell’s chest, and he felt Silverbell’s heartbeat echoing loudly in his ears. Or… was that his own heartbeat? Black Sapphire had no idea. Through his quieting mind, Black Sapphire could only remember ever being this close to someone when Candy Apple had forcefully tackled him to the ground.
Black Sapphire was faintly aware that Silverbell was speaking to someone, but he couldn’t focus on who the other was or what they were saying. Was it Pure Vanilla? Who else would Silverbell be talking to? More importantly, who was Silverbell?
Silverbell’s soft grip on Black Sapphire’s wrists shifted, and Black Sapphire instinctively tried to lift his head and pull back. Silverbell slipped his fingers under Black Sapphire’s chin again, tucking it carefully against him. Black Sapphire strained with whatever weak remnants of energy he could scrape together, though judging by Silverbell’s lack of reaction, he assumed that was little to nothing. Silverbell leaned his head close to Black Sapphire’s ear, whispering something indistinguishable to him.
Black Sapphire’s eyes fluttered heavily, his eyes growing harder to keep open as they drooped threateningly. He gave a tiny, feeble whimper, before the world lurched out from under him and everything crumbled into darkness.