Chapter Text
It was quiet in the Vanilla kingdom that night. The tension in the air was somehow felt by everything in the kingdom. The owls stayed in their nests, the bugs hid away in the greenery. Even the wind itself seemed to stay frozen, as if holding its breath.
In the eeriness of the night, the only thing that dared to break the silence was the cause of it. Shadow milk slowly hovered through the portal that had opened up just moments before in the master bedroom of the Vanilla palace, as Pure vanilla himself gently led him through the room where he carefully guided Shadow milk to sit down on the edge of the bed. As Pure vanilla's steps echoed in the room, Shadow milk, oddly enough, let the silence sit for a while longer as his eyes followed Pure vanilla until he returned to where Shadow milk was sitting on the bed, placing a change of clothes next to the silent Beast.
"Would you like to rest here? You must be exhausted" Pure vanilla asked as his hands hovered with magic around Shadow milk, checking for injuries. Shadow milk kept his eyes locked onto Pure vanilla's as he stayed still for a moment longer, before wearily swatting his hands away.
"You really are silly. Don't you know Beasts don't sleep? We simply recover with time. Though I wonder, what do you plan to do with me for the night? Wanna try locking me somewhere so you don't have to worry about me massacring your silly little kingdom while you peacefully sleep?" he sneered, though the exhaustion written on his face made any venom in his words wholly unconvincing.
The Ancient looked up at Shadow milk with a gentle smile and shook his head.
"I don't have enough reason to distrust you so much as to attempt to lock you up. If you wish, you may stay in here while I sleep, or I could give you your own room if you'd like some privacy. However, I would appreciate if you were to remain in the palace, if just to give me peace of mind that you're safe in your current state. And though I'm aware of your more... cruel predispositions, I truly don't believe you'll 'massacre' the kingdom"
Shadow milks eyebrows pinched in annoyance as Pure vanilla gently cradled his face, though Pure vanilla could see the contentment flickering in his expression. The Ancient's smile softened impossibly more when Shadow milk, seemingly unconsciously, leaned into his touch, while he gently stroked Shadow milks cheek until the Beast eventually scoffed and floated away from the bed, looking anywhere but Pure vanillas face.
"Fine then, but don't blame me when you wake up in a bloodbath. But for that you should actually sleep first, so get to it, hm? You somehow look worse for wear than me"
Pure vanilla yelped as he suddenly got picked up and tucked into bed as Shadow milk watched with amusement.
"Sweet nightmares Nilly!" Shadow milk called cheerfully as all the lightbulbs simultaneously burst, glass shattering across the floor and shedding the room in darkness. Shadow milk giggled from across the room when he heard Pure vanilla's mildly annoyed sigh from the bed as he settled.
Shadow milk stayed quietly in the corner of the room as Pure vanilla fell deeper and deeper into his sleep, watching him with a burning intensity as he got stuck in his own thoughts. He knew full well Pure vanilla was most likely tricking him right now. He just wanted to get his trust before imprisoning him in that damned tree again. That had to be it. No one would actually be naive enough to forgive the Beast of Deceit. And he had already tricked him once, it wouldn't be a stretch to think he'd do it again. So what was Shadow milk still doing here? He looked so vulnerable in his sleep. He could kill him and take back his souljam right now with no issues.
So why isn't he?
Shadow milk paused, looking as Pure vanillas usually kind expression scrunched up as he started murmuring in his fitful sleep. Odd, how such a weak creature could even attempt to convince the Beast of Deceit that he could understand him. How could he? No one ever would. Who would even care enough to try? Not even the other Beasts had done anything when he had begun corrupting. How could a simple, thieving cookie understand his millenia of anger and betrayal, just from stealing half of his souljam?
And yet, no matter what he told himself, he remained still. He remained looking at the increasingly troubled expression on his other halves face and hoping it'll go back to that kind smile. The kind smile that was somehow always directed at him, where Shadow milk could at least have a glimmer of stupid, naive hope that he wasn't truly alone. And the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was someone who still held out hope for him after everything.
No, it was impossible. He had traumatized Pure vanilla to the point of turning him into Truthless recluse. If Pure vanilla truly thought he could forgive Shadow milk, he must be somehow misremembering or ignoring all that Shadow milk had done. Surely, if he showed Pure vanilla first-hand how cruel and unredeemable he truly was, he wouldn't keep trying to help him. He'd stop looking at him with that damned smile. He'd probably tell his precious White lily cookie to come and put Shadow milk back in the tree, to hopefully get rid of him forever. If he did try that... then Shadow milk wouldn't have any stupid hope left to stop him from taking back his souljam. Then he could go on and take his rightful place as a Beast cookie, ruling the world with the others, without any inhibitions.
But how to make Pure vanilla cookie's patience run out?