Chapter Text
Shadow Milk Cookie felt the satin sheets underneath his dough as he finally began to wake. His body felt weak, drained, but strangely, his mind was quiet. Not completely, he wasn’t sure if that would even be possible, but the voices of the Ultimate Dough seemed to quiet, along with the voices of his fellow beasts. As he opened his eyes, he took in his surroundings, the warmly colored room that reaked of vanilla and lilies. It made him sick. As he sat up, rather weakly, he looked down at his hands, eyes widening as he took in the sight. He no longer had the large claws for hands that he obtained when he merged with the Ultimate Dough. What exactly had happened to him?
There was then a soft knock on the door. Pure Vanilla quietly entered the room, as to not wake Shadow Milk in case he was still sleeping, but froze as he realized Shadow Milk was awake.
“Shadow Milk… You’re awake.” Pure Vanilla mumbled out, not doing a great job at hiding his concern.
“Yeah. If you don’t mind me asking,” Shadow Milk began, “What the hell happened to me?”
“You don’t remember…?”
“Memeory is a little fuzzy is all… Now spit it out.” Shadow Milk spoke sharply.
“Ah, well, my friends and I managed to separate the Ultimate Dough from your own.” Pure Vanilla spoke timidly.
“Im surprised you were able to pull that off. But why exactly am I here? In your kingdom of all places?” Shadow Milk questioned further.
“After separating your dough from the Ultimate Dough, you ended up passing out. I was worried and I wanted to make sure you’d be okay when you woke.”
“‘Worried’? Please, don’t make me laugh.”
“I mean it. Shadow Milk, I-”
“Yeah, yeah, you care about me or whatever. I'm not someone to pity and you certainly don’t understand me. So stop pretending as if you do.”
“...I see.”
Pure Vanilla went quiet, not wanting to argue further with Shadow Milk. He walked over and took a seat on the edge of the bed which Shadow Milk was sitting upon.
“...Are you hungry?”
“What?”
“I asked if you were hungry. You’ve been asleep for a while… I want to make sure you're well fed and hydrated. We wouldn’t want your dough to get stale, would you?”
“No, I heard you the first time, I just-...” Shadow Milk paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. “Why do you care so much?”
“You want an honest answer?”
“Yeah, that’s what I'm asking for. Get on with it.”
“... I want to help you. I can tell your suffering, Shadow Milk. I want to understand you. I want to be able to be here for you. So please, stop pushing me away.” Pure Vanilla spoke from his heart, trying his best to reach Shadow Milk through the darkness that surrounded the man’s heart.
“... Get out.” Shadow Milk spat out.
“What..?”
“Get out of the room. Leave me alone. I don’t want to listen to you spew out some nonsense about wanting to ‘understand’ me for the hundredth time when I'm too weak to escape from your stifling care. I don’t need your pity!” Shadow Milk shouted out.
Pure Vanilla stayed silent for a good moment as he looked at Shadow Milk. He didn’t want to push him, but he needed to see behind that mask in order to help him. And with Shadow Milk’s freedom on the line, he had to help him… But he supposed he could let Shadow Milk be and process everything for a single day. He sighed as he stood up and walked towards the door. He gave one final look back to Shadow Milk and spoke gently,
“I’ll leave food and some tea outside your door. If you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask me.”
And then he left. Shadow Milk was alone again. Just like he had asked for. But it was clear that was not what he truly wanted.
He laid back down and curled up in the blankets. He felt empty. He wasn’t crying, but he felt pathetic. Extremely pathetic. The great Beast of Deceit was now only a husk of his former self.