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"It's been a while since I've been in the spire"
Whispers pure vanilla cookie to himself, tilting his head up to face the sky, the moon staring back at him.
"but still...I can feel his presence" he sighs and gets up, dragging his feet up to his chambers.
Pure vanilla changes into sleep wear, tying his long hair into a ponytail and sitting down on the bed with a creek. The cookie looks around, as if sensing something.
"I know you're there.." he says in a barely audible whisper.
Suddenly shadows started gathering together an silhouette slowly coming into vision.
A blue eye opens on it's face.
A familiar laugh rung through the room, the figure finally solidifying, the Cookie of Deciet taking its place.
"I didn't mean to keep the audience waiting!" Shadow milk bows, like he's not here to make a certain cookie's life miserable.
Pure vanilla stares into those eyes, he's been around him long enough to realize he doesn't come just to 'hang out'.
"Why are you here" he used that same, flat tone that he had when he was in the spire, stuck in endless despair.
"Oh am I not allowed to visit my silly vanilly?" he tilts his head and blinks repeatedly , faking innocence.
Pure vanilla cookie just continues staring at him, his gaze getting more intense with every word spoken.
His other half rolls his eyes.
"You're no fun"
He snaps his fingers, summoning his cane.
"Look, I accidentally set my spire on fire and I need a place to stay for a few days" he folds his arms.
Pure vanilla giggles, and even if he doesn't want to admit it, him burning the spire down was pretty stupid, him having all the knowledge in the world that is.
He rolls his eyes again.
"So can I get a room or not"
The cookie gives him a gentle and gets up.
"Follow me"
He grabs his staff and starts walking through the long corridors, Shadow Milk floating silently beside him.
"Didn't expect you to fold so fast, really, thought you'd put up a fight Nilly" he clicks his tongue.
"Well I did tell you to come here anytime you need help so I prepared this in advance."
He finally stops in front of a wooden door at the end of the corridor, placing his hand on the handle and twisting it gently.
Inside a clean, decently sized room was revealed. The bedsheets were blue with golden accents, a stark contrast to the cream colored walls, there was a desk with a mirror and a closet on the right. The carpet had eyes, pretty similar to the ones in his spire.
When Pure Vanilla cookie caught him staring at it he mentioned:
"Oh yeah I commissioned that when I organized the room, didn't know how else to make it more comfortable."
Shadow milk sat down on the bed with a creak, a complex emotion on his face. He looked happy, fond even, but he also seemed suspicious, it didn't last long tho, he inhaled sharply and masked it with his usual menacing smile.
"Well then, now that I got my room, Skedaddle! This stage doesn't need you anymore!" and using his magic, he shut the door in his face.
Pure Vanilla chuckles and walks back to his room, he's got a long day tomorrow and he can't afford to sleep too late.
===
Tho whatever he tells himself about 'going to sleep early' is never true, he always gets caught up in paperwork and only sleeps when the sun rises.
The maids come in not long after to wake him up for the day, comb his long hair and tell him the schedule for the day.
He usually starts of with a meeting, one of those grueling discussions about land that do not even concern him, they just want him there to stop arguments for getting too far. He zones out for most of it.
He then usually has classes with the village kids, you'd be surprised how many want to learn about healing magic and medicine in general.
And more meetings and more meetings until its already nighttime, he used to just work on the stacks of paper on his desk, but lately he's been checking up on his other half, sometimes he convinces him to play board games sometimes he just gets the door shut in his face.
And Shadow Milk cookie has been watching him follow this grueling routine for the past 3 days. Sometimes when he's bored he hides in the shadow of his robe and goes with him through the village, stopping to cause inconveniences to the townsfolk, just enough for his other half not to notice. But he's starting to feel bad, that fool is working himself to death and still takes the time to check on him. He's annoyed, he was supposed to be the one bringing him to the brink of insanity, not those people that keep asking him for help and that Nilly never seems to deny.
Shadow Milk didn't actually burn down his spire, he just wanted some entertainment, never expecting he'd be planning how to force his other half to take a break.
"If I ask him, he's going to be suspicious, I have to get help from other people" he thinks to himself. That's when it occurred to him. An assistant is usually with Pure Vanilla, no matter if its in a meeting or in the hallway briefing him on whatever he's gotta do next. Hell she's even there on the rare free time he has when he checks up on his cream sheep. Think her name was something along the lines of Banana Waffle Cookie?
Doesn't matter he needs to find her.
And to say the least she isn't a hard girl to catch. After she guided his other half to the next meeting she started walking towards the kitchen. That's when Shadow Milk appeared in front of the cookie, making her take a step back.
"Well I finnaly got a moment to talk to you!" he says trying to seem friendly but just coming off more intimidating.
He sighs "Look that fool needs to take a break, pretty sure he hasn't had a good night's rest in an eon. So I wanted to ask you, a person he won't be suspicious of, to help me get him in the garden from where I'll take the lead and take him somewhere to finnaly relax."
He gives her a look "You in?"
She finally relaxes her shoulders and then, to Shadow Milk's surprise says yes. She seems very excited to do this, agreeing that the fool does need a vacation.
So they execute the plan the next day, Banana Waffle cookie leads Pure Vanilla to the garden saying that he's got someone waiting for him there. Which frankly wasn't the best excuse but at least it worked. In the meantime his other half was hiding in his robes, and when the cookie got into position, he opened a portal under them both, leaving the accomplice outside the dimension.
They fell in a field of milk crowns, a bit to the right being a little picnic set up with a tree for shade from the sun, sure it was Shadow Milk's dimension so they technically didn't need shade but he still wanted it there for the mood.
And before Pure Vannilla could protest he teleported him onto the picnic blanket before sitting down himself, they had lots of foods, most of the being his other half's favorites. His main goal was to get him to eat and sleep, the heavy eyebags under his eyes and the fact that he was basically skin and bones under those robes was the first thing he needed to address.
The cookie, finnaly coming back from the shock got his voice back.
"Shadow Milk why did you do this!?" he asked, panicked.
He put a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up you goof and eat, you're gonna work yourself to death if you don't take a break and what's the fun in that!" he said, even if he was still trying to keep on his aloof persona, he was genuinely worried for this workaholic half-baked fool.
And for some reason, he listened. He picked up a slice of carrot cake and started eating in small bites. In the meantime, Shadow Milk sat behind him, wanting to braid that long hair of his. When he accidentally brushed his hand against his other half shoulder he visibly flinched.
He didn't say anything for a second.
Was he that bad to him in the spire?
"Ya want me to stop?" he whispered , barely audible, but Pure Vanilla shakes his head, continuing to eat his carrot cake is silence.
They sat there for a few hours. Just.. being close to each other, and to Pure Vanilla's surprise, he actually enjoyed it. He didn't expect that the person that he was tortured by for so long could be so nice to be around. He knew Shadow Milk wasn't all bad, they looked at each other with a kind of fondness. They were enjoying each other's presence. Even if their history wasn't the best. And he wanted it to remain that way. He wanted to remain in this serene state.
But all good things come to an end, they had to go back, and when they arrived back to the Vanilla Kingdom his other half reverted to his sarcastic self, and now, he seemed even more distant.
When Pure Vanilla Cookie got a few minutes to spare again, he immediately heads to Shadow Milk's room. He knocks on the big wooden doors.
"Come in" comes from inside the chambers.
He was just laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"What do you want" he deadpaned
"You've been really distant lately Blue bird. Did I do something wrong?" he had a warm but worried expresion on his face.
"No. Anything else?"
"Do you think you acted out of your persona and now shutting down because of it?"
That question caught him off guard. And even tho he did not want to admit it, it was true. He built the ruthless persona after his time as Fount, people took advantage of his weakness, and unconsciously he's been doing what he wished someone would do for him. He didn't realize that he was helping Pure Vanilla the way he once needed, the stress of holding the world on his shoulders was getting worse and worse and no one was there to help him. He did not want anyone else to have this fate, so he's been quietly trying to prevent it.
His other half, seeing his silence, sighed.
"I also wanted to ask if you wanted to mabye do another picnic someday. I really enjoyed it and-"
"Yes." the words just came out of his throat. He was desperate for someone to talk to, for some one to understand him, and it was, against all odds, the one who he hates the most. He blushed a bit out of embarrassment, this wasn't how it was supposed to go.
Pure Vanilla chuckled and gave him a warm smile.
"Well then, let's plan something in a few days, I've got no meetings on Friday if you're willing to spend time with me."
And for the first time since they've known each other, Shadow Milk smiled back.