Chapter Text
Steps echoed through the hallways of The Grand Dust Hotel.
Well, not quite his.
Currently, Shadow Milk had subdued himself to the unbearable torture of having to ask a small child for a cup of wine every 3 sips. His other Beast comrades were likely getting along at the other lounge areas, but clearly the one room he’d reserved for himself was suddenly misinterpreted as off-limits. Well, that’s really not what he had meant, was it? But whether or not the others got the hint was seemingly up to him to decide- they were either avoiding him or just didn’t have as fine of a taste for alcohol as him.
Okay. Well maybe not quite a “fine taste” either.
The flavour of cheap vino burned distastefully on his tongue. Quite honestly, he couldn’t believe it was possible for wine of all things to have such poor quality. A drink designed to spoil the rich and savour the gods, suddenly having such a bitter after-taste to his tastebuds. It almost felt like an insult. He was a god. He deserved fine treatment. It was as if Dark Enchantress herself was taunting him, knowing that he couldn’t order more from her, or so much as to bicker. The feeling of shame etched itself deeper than the wish of quality fit for The one, The only, Fount of Knowledge.
Yes. Shame.
He felt utterly humiliated.
He, out of all people, had cooped himself up in some wide, dimly lit room, sprawled halfway onto the countertop of the bar. The stool he sat on felt too compact. The glass he held felt far too fragile for his hold. His dough laid hot on his body. His hair dripped unceremoniously onto the ground below him.
Shadow Milk looked down.
His hair had flowed onto the floor, the same way water does from the source of a river. He wasn’t sure if he could spot any of the eyes. They were possibly closed, since his vision felt horrendously blurry. Albeit he felt too weak to argue with the thought.
But he was sure that the goo-ish liquid seemed to travel all the way down to the second row of tables, which undoubtedly, bothered him more than it should’ve.
It wasn’t like was trying to be territorial or something. He just.. oh-so happened to feel detached today. Out of place, even. But he didn’t wish to insinuate he wanted to be left alone.
Maybe the others had been honest about their dislike for him. He would’ve been happy to have someone to rant to right now.
Well, everyone except his two faithful minions.
Who.. just so happened to be taking their first “afternoon nap”.
Maybe that was better.
Maybe they didn’t have to see him in this state.
Maybe it wasn’t they who he needed to visit so desperately.
Who he needed to see right now was that wretched hero.
Witches, he wanted him gone. He might even start praying again over it.
‘Dear Creators, please do not spare thee the honour of smiting that Vanilla Cookie down. If you will, thy hand shall smite myself down in said process.’
He let out a laugh. He sounded so edgy right now. Did he always sound like that? He swore he was the funniest person in the room last time he checked.
Or maybe that’s because right now it was just him, and Pawn Black Cookie- who stared down at him with a good amount of disdain. The poor child probably thought he was going mental, which he probably was. With the amount of awfully crafted alcohol he’d consumed in the last..
Hour? A few hours? Only if there was a window nearby.
Anyway.
It was the very first time he’d actually seen the other Cookie apart from their sibling. The two were probably assigned to watch over him and.. Burning Spice, he supposed. That sounded about right.
With a shaky voice and weak slam, Shadow Milk threw one of his hands on the bar top.
“Give’me another..” He managed to slur out, words bending with one another into one messy request.
“No.. I feel like you’ve had too many.”
The reply he received made him want to scream until the nearest window, which oh so decided to not be around, shattered.
He was a VIP. He deserved special treatment, no? Unlimited drinks were basically pre-fit into his request. “Bar lounge” suggested getting drunk just by the thought of it. He wasn’t drunk just yet! A few more drinks would get him to his desired state. Which was to ideally get alcohol poisoning, but it was clear that wasn’t happening. The wine, as low of quality as it was, didn’t seem drugged. Which was honestly the biggest of his icks right now. If he was gonna be fed garbage, he would’ve expected the garbage to at least make him feel half to death.
“Just give’m..”His voice quieted, not even loud enough to echo through the very much empty room he was in. Was music even playing anymore? If it was, the sound was too quiet for his ears to pick up.
“I already told you no.. I’m not an expert, but I’m sure that with the amount of shots you’ve taken, I shouldn’t be giving you any more.” The little Cookie in front of him stated. Well too bad. He wanted a few more, he was gonna get a few more.
The Beast’s hand reached to the bottle of wine a little further from him, gripping onto the top. He missed the hold a few times, but eventually got it right. Grabbing the glass, he brought it back to himself. He had enough. He’d chug it down even if it was the last thing he’d remember the next morning.
Tipping off the cap and bringing it to his mouth, he raised his hand, only to be met with 3 drops at max, followed with a disappointed groan. Had he really had that much?
The bottle was then met with the floor, shattering in an instant. Stupid drinks. Stupid bar. Stupid hotel. Stupid Pawn Black Cookie. Stupid Dark Enchantress. Stupid Pure Vanilla. Stupid everyone he knew. They were all fools, merely gnats to him. He was above all of them, yet they held the audacity to disregard his honour. He’d gladly execute them all in exchange for a single jellybean. He’d willingly watch that soft-eyed freak climb onto a guillotine and get his head chucked off with a still smile. As if being touched, even if with malicious intent, by Shadow Milk would bring him enough content until the rest of his pitiful life.
Awh. Thinking back on him as Truthless Recluse, he was just so receptive to everything. Every brush of fingers, or tug at his limbs had him whining like a little baby. Only if he’d stayed that way forever, maybe he would’ve had a purpose in his life right now. But he didn’t. So that meant Shadow Milk had to forget him now. He got his oh so beloved truth- that’s all that Cookie wanted. And perhaps a companion, but the belief didn’t last for longer than a minute.
“If you could, just go to your room.. I don’t think you should be falling asleep here.” Pawn Black Cookie’s voice rang, snapping him out. “It’s almost 1am.. And I need sleep too.”
Ah? It’s THAT late? Well, he was sure he’d visited around evening. Maybe 6pm? Whatever time it was after Candy Apple and Black Sapphire decided to be lulled to sleep, maybe by Eternal Sugar, maybe not. He couldn’t remember. Everything seemed blurry and muted in his mind.
The Beast of Deceit hadn’t realised it, but a pair of two paper puppets in front of him had materialised. He didn’t know when, but they were there now. One of them resembled his well-known Vanilla Cookie. He had the urge to grab it by the neck and tear it to two pieces, but to his demise, his limbs felt too useless to even shred the paper apart.
Instead, he caught his fingers glazing its hair lovingly- almost cherishingly. Genuinely, what was he doing?
With a sharp snap, he tore his fingers through the paper cardboard of the puppet. Which kept smiling at him. Oh so warmly, as if being torn apart was an honourable sacrifice.
“Just let me rot in here. It’s whatever..” He replied, his voice coming out croaky. He barely knew what was happening, let alone realise he’d volunteer to be locked up in a bar lounge for the next 17 hours. It opened at 6pm.
“I’m really not allowed to do that..” Retorted Pawn Black Cookie. “What are you even so upset about?” If Shadow Milk would reply, that would actually be some helpful insight.
“Nothing you care about.” He replied sharply instead of what the other Cookie hoped to hear.
“Well.. you’re currently tearing to pieces some.. little guy. Is he bothering you?”
Shadow Milk almost flinched at the question, finally sitting up on the stool. He looked down at the countertop, noticing he’d likely been drooling for at least 10 minutes out of all the time he spent here. Or maybe more, he could only assume.
He felt extremely fragile. Not only was his body by default awfully brittle, but if he fell down right now he might actually just shatter into a pile of crumbs. Did the wine actually get him drunk? He swore it tasted so acidic it barely brought a change.
The Beast of Deceit somehow succeeded in floating up from his chair- even though it felt aching. His hair held heavy to the back of his head. He might as well have been pulled right back down, which would’ve been arguably worse- the hangover tomorrow would be suffocating.
Soon- he felt tiny hands grabbing onto his cape, followed by a disgusted noise let out by Pawn Black Cookie. There was basically an entire pond below them, and it was slimy and disgusting.
To be quite honest, even despite the order for Shadow Milk to go back to his room, Black Pawn Cookie was unsure whether or not they actually wanted that. The guy would… likely collapse on the way.
“Are you… sure sure that you can handle wal—errr- floating back?”
At the tiny voice that spoke to him, Shadow Milk almost snapped. Almost. But a small part of him was still sentimental, seeing the other Cookie as if one of his worried little students, begging him to be okay.
Fine. So be it.
“No. I’m not. What are you even gonna do about it? Drag me up to my floor like a dying grandpa?” The reply was.. mediocre. Not too rude while still containing a sense of understanding. At least he hoped it did.
Black Pawn Cookie stared off at the ground for a bit, before shaking their head. “I can go call out for White Pawn Cookie, and we’ll get you up.”
Honestly, he wanted to disappear right then and there. The floor swallowing him whole would be a lesser punishment than actually being treated like the elderly, but he nodded his head despite all inner protest.
Sitting back down on the stool, Shadow Milk immediately got back to sprawling himself on the countertop like a blob of liquid. Shutting off his mind would be kind, but he assumed that waiting for both kids to arrive would be kinder.
The door clicked open, and then shut.
He was waiting.
Not for long, until he found himself dozing off either way.
…
Even from below his closed eyelids, Shadow Milk immediately stirred up as he felt a burning ray of sun wash upon him. Assuming morning had come, and he remembered almost nothing from last night, he’d most likely broken at least one item from the bar. Which well, he had.
He immediately brought up a hand to his forehead. Oh Witches. It hurt, and it hurt badly. It’s not as if he had the strength to stand up and close the curtains at the very least either. He absolutely would not be standing, let alone sitting up, any time soon.
With a sharp sting at the back of his head- he turned around.
He didn’t want to look at the light, he didn’t want the light to embrace him.
Curling up in his beloved darkness, he tried falling back asleep. Although the pain from last night’s alcohol wasn’t allowing him to rest. Ugh.
Honestly, this felt more disorienting than when he actually was drunk. Feeling like a dying Cookie wasn’t the best feeling, even though he’d been used to it.
A tiny, muffled voice rang out from the other side of the door to his room. As his ears caught the noise, Shadow Milk realised that it wasn’t really the sun that had woken up. More of the annoying alarm clock knocking at his door repeatedly. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but assuming that outside was still somewhere in between of sunrise, it was likely either of the Chess Choco twins banging at his door to get up. Or maybe both of them, he couldn’t really tell. They were polite about interrupting his beauty sleep by the norm.
Although. Unfunnily enough, this wasn’t his beauty sleep. He felt terrible and not beautiful at all.
He didn’t really feel the strength in him to call out for them to stop, either. Maybe if he played dead for long enough they’d assume he commit suicide and ditch.
But of course, they didn’t. The Cookie, or possibly two Cookies, were disturbingly persistent. Almost made him sentimental again. Almost.
“Shadow Milk Cookie! Master, wake up!”
He stirred, just slightly. The annoyance that the voice imbed onto him went deeper than the pain he felt, supposedly. With a snap of his fingers, the curtains that were left open came to a close as he took in a deep breath- finally feeling a tinge of relaxation.
But again. The Cookie on the other side just did not quit their antics. It was getting unbearable.
Shadow Milk didn’t really know how he did it, but he managed to float up from his bed. Half unconscious, but still.
Reaching the handle of his door, he decided to open it. Rather get the scolding about missing breakfast over with.
But it wasn’t either of the Chess Choco twins.
Shadow Milk flinched as he suddenly petite, little hands wrapped around his legs eagerly, almost too eagerly. The Cookie was short and that was the most that they could reach.
He stared down. It was Candy Apple. He looked up. Black Sapphire was behind her. He didn’t charge in to hug him, but still seemed glad to see him. Had they been waiting for him to wake up? Did they know what he’d done?
“Uh..what are’.. you two doing here?” He asked groggily, wiping his face with the back of his hand. It wasn’t like he was tearing up. He was just tired.
“The hosts told us you were too unwell to visit us during breakfast.. We were worried sick about you.” Black Sapphire called out, taking a few steps closer. Said steps urged Shadow Milk to back off on his own, until the two had found their own way into his room without pre-given permission. It was rare for him to be this generous, but he frankly didn’t have the energy to be condescending today.
Black Sapphire shut the door behind him, almost as if they for whatever reason intended to stay.
Shadow Milk let out an obviously tired sigh, hoping they’d catch the hint. But they didn’t.
In less than a few blinks, he found himself back at his bed- lying down like an ill patient.
“Are you sick, Master? Do you feel warm? Does your head hurt? Does your stomach hurt?” Candy Apple began questioning, her questions striking in faster than Shadow Milk could comprehend. He was sure he definitely missed at least 10 more.
“No, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.” He simply answered, his left hand reaching to a pillow on the side. Thankfully, he would be able to block out their voices. Eventually.
He buried his face into the pillow, curled up on his side.
“So you’re sick?” Asked one of them. He wasn’t sure who, but he heard the question all too well.
“Sure. Fine. Put it that way. Let me pass out.” He snapped back.
To Shadow Milk, this was getting ridiculously loitering. He didn’t need them to stand and wait for him to feel anything else than self-deprecation, nor pamper him until his headache would disappear.
“We—“
“Oh my Witches, how unbearable do you two get? I told you to leave!” He snapped, perhaps far too harsh for what they could endure.
Shadow Milk didn’t hear Candy Apple or Black Sapphire speak further. Hopefully they’d left.
He assumed they’d left.
Shadow Milk let out a somewhat more content sigh. It was now him, and his thoughts. Finally, he twisted the blanket that he’d laid on to curl around him.
Candy Apple was right. He felt warm. His dough, his bedding, and the thin rays of light that still peaked through the curtain despite them being shut closed.
He felt warmth, unbearable warmth. He didn’t want to sense it, but it was wrapped around his every limb . He was both enduring and persuading it to stay.
He closed his eyes. Eventually, he passed out again.
…
He didn’t know how much time had passed, and for once- he was disappointed he’d closed the curtain. Being unable to tell where the sun was wasn’t helping him decipher.
He felt warm. Even warmer. And heavier. His head felt heavier. His dough felt heavier.
And he didn’t feel alone, either.
He could barely sit up. In fact, he couldn’t. So instead he resorted to simply tilting his head to the side.
Candy Apple and Black Sapphire were.. still here. But they didn’t seem conscious anymore.
Black Sapphire had flopped down from torso up to the edge of his bed, likely having snatched a stool to sit on. He was probably uncomfortable like that. Shadow Milk felt a little guilty.
Candy Apple, on the other hand, had chosen to one-up her brother and had laid down on his bed fully, curled up around Shadow Milk’s spine like an oversized backpack. She was also asleep. The guilt from his heart dissolved though, replaced with a feeling of irritation.
You know? This pissed him off. Instead of having gone away to listen to the plans Dark Enchantress was conjuring up, they’d willingly decided to snooze away next to him- worse, cuddled around him- as if it’d magically make him happy.
Worse. It.. kind of did.
They cared. He’d never once doubted it. But they never once got to prove it other than relentlessly following his orders.
Either way, he eventually had to wake them up. They seemed at peace, so it would leave a spot on his heart. But it was inevitable, like all things were.
With a small nudge, he tried waking up his little girl.
Who didn’t really stir. She was a heavy sleeper.
He didn’t really know why he smiled at that thought.
Shadow Milk tried sitting up again, with some difficulty, but pushed through this time. Candy Apple was short, and she’d only really clung most around his hips. It wasn’t impossible to sit up without waking her up, which he managed to do.
A few moments had passed until he finally realised he was patting her head lightly.
Candy Apple’s questionable.. obsession with him had always found its way to deem itself as disturbing. But it was honestly.. endearing, to know that perhaps- perhaps it wasn’t some fake persona.
He loved the two. He really, really dearly did. Never once doubted it.
Sure, he got a little mad at them sometimes.
Sure, he put their lives in danger just to get a glance from Pure Vanilla.
Sure, he threatened the Cookie currently wrapped around him with death unless she’d stop making a mess.
But he was just a single guy! What was he to do? It was fine. They still loved him, too.
…
He was a bad father figure.
He was a terrible father figure.
He was horrendous.
Nevertheless, the two still somehow hadn’t left him until now- unlike all his other students- so that meant he was doing well.
More of well enough to reach the bare minimum, but it was enough. He’d practise parenting some other day when given the chance. He was meant to be a teacher! Being strict and demanding was in his nature. I mean.. sure, he could sneak in some praise here and there, but it was okay for now.
Shadow Milk nudged Candy Apple again, who still slept sweetly. So instead, he reached over to Black Sapphire- poking him on the forehead. Unlike his sister, he was a much more light sleeper. With a second poke, he woke up.
He smiled as the Cookie stirred up from his sleep, hand reaching to ruffle his hair.
“Mhm.. do you feel better, Shadow Milk Cookie?..” Was the first question that left his lips, immediately putting aside all his own worries.
“Yeah. I do.“ Shadow Milk began. “Oh, and.. why did you two decide to nest here?”
His question left silence for a few brief seconds, before he received a reply.
“We were worried, Master. As we began this morning, the hosts told us you had a rough night.. You looked sick. But I’m sincerely glad you’re feeling better.”
… Oh yeah. That. He forgot. They’d told him.
“Aha.. aha.” He hummed, half unconvinced, half a little relieved. “Well, thank you two, then…”
Black Sapphire’s eyes widened a slight bit at those words. Their Master never really apologised or ever said “thank you”, so this felt.. very, very out of the ordinary. Either way, he smiled.
Shadow Milk let out a huff. Yes, of course he was thankful. How could he not be? Two simple words would bring a smile to their faces. It was almost disturbing how much scarce kindness his two little ones fed off of every day.
“Now now, you silly idiot. Both of you should leave, shouldn’t you? I need my beauty sleep. Oh, and if you could, get this pest off of me.”
After speaking up, his wish was granted. The Cookie in front of him stood up, grabbing Candy Apple around her waist. It took a few pulls, but he managed to un-cling her from her Master. She stirred up awake for a moment, before eventually falling right back asleep on her brother’s shoulder. Who, with a nod, walked out of the room.
He sighed. Finally, some actual peace and quiet.
He laid back down.
But still, his mind couldn’t help but wonder. Helplessly, in circles.
Around one specific Cookie.
One specific Cookie that bothered him much more than he would’ve liked to admit.