Chapter Text
Shadow milk, the Beast of Deceit, looked behind at his other half. The spire fallen and crumbled behind the portal beyond. Pure Vanilla reaches for the blue cookie, but his friends hold him back. Shadow milk doesn’t spare him another glance as the portal is closed. The newly awakened hero stares, his hand still outstretched, his eyes never leaving the area where his other half left him. A faint trail of magic glides through the air before finally disappearing.
He felt a pang of guilt and mourning after seeing him go, but there isn’t anything he could do about it right now. Shadow Milk needs some space, but he wouldn’t stop chasing him nonetheless. He wanted Shadow Milk to talk to him, with honesty, and with trust. Pure Vanilla sighed and looked back at his friends who were already picking up stuff from the fallen spire.
GingerBrave looked for his other sprinkle skull, with the help of Strawberry Cookie. Pure Vanilla decided he too would look at some of the fallen pieces as well. His eye caught on a tiny blue object… A little Shadow Milk plush. He couldn’t help but blink a few times before chuckling to himself.
“How cute…”
Pure Vanilla glances back, making sure no one would see him stuff the plush into the hidden pocket inside his awakened robes. He joins them quickly after hearing them making plans to head back home. The group start to head on over to the airship after GingerBrave finally found his lost sprinkle skull in the rubble. Strawberry Cookie shifts uncomfortably, and Wizard Cookie notices.
“What’s wrong, Strawberry Cookie?” She glances around nervously, then fully turns to look at him “W-what if Shadow Milk comes back…?” She unconsciously plays with the string around her jacket. GingerBrave chimes in, “I’m sure he won’t! But if he does, we will be ready!” He cheers, raising his candy cane in the air.
GingerBrave looks back at Pure Vanilla “And don’t worry Pure Vanilla! We can do this together!” A gleam in his eye. The hero smiles, “I’m sure you guys can.” Pure Vanilla finally faces him. “It’s best if I go ahead and go back to the Vanilla Kingdom, I can’t keep Black Raisin waiting for me to return.” GingerBrave and his friends nodded along, finally getting into the airship.
Back at the Vanilla Kingdom, Black Raisin just got a message from one of her most trusted crows that Pure Vanilla had just arrived back at the kingdom grounds. The vanilla cookie made his way near the outskirts of the city, because he knew he needed to change quickly into a different robe to give a speech about his return from Beast-Yeast.
Pure Vanilla, beforehand, wrote the speech while on the airship back to his kingdom. Though it may need some touch ups. The vanilla king hurries to Black Raisin near the castle's back gates. Once he reaches said cookie, he stops and lets his breathing get even.
“Black Raisin! Oh how it’s lovely to see you once more.” Pure Vanilla huffed out. “How was it at Beast-Yeast? Are you hurt…?” Black Raisin questioned, to Pure Vanilla’s dismissive and carefree tone. “You know better than anyone that I’m a healer, and Beast-Yeast…that could be another story…” Black Raisin raised her eyebrow at that. It was unusual to see the vanilla king in such a state.
A calm silence stretched through the air, and a long awaited answer lies somewhere within it. “...you could say I was hurt,” Pure Vanilla explained, “but not in the way you would normally expect.” His gaze was distant, yearning almost. It confused the dark haired cookie. Why would he need to make such a face?
It was weird enough seeing him with such distinct eyebags, but now this is even weirder… “Please tell me…” Black Raisin pleaded, “What happened to you?” Pure Vanilla softly smiles at her, “Another time, I have a speech and a wardrobe change needed.” He waves off her worries, but they continue to linger even as they part ways.
Once Pure Vanilla closed the door to his chambers, he quickly looked around his room then removed the blue doll tucked away in his sleeve. He stared at it, its round face, its button eyes, the way the sewing was perfect on all sides of its body…it’s just like him. His companion, the one he truly wished for. The vanilla king needed to wait just a little longer.
Pure Vanilla sets his eyes on the small box near his desk. It has a letter and a new set of clothing. “You might need to wear this for your speech.” Reading it outloud, he realized he won’t be changing into his normal attire today. Pure Vanilla wonders who could have given him this, most likely Black Raisin. He’ll ask about it tomorrow.
Pure Vanilla changes out of his awakened robes and puts on a clean white robe with gold and blue hues. The sleeves are long and flowy, like the ends of a flower’s petal, with stars along the stitch-lining. He puts on a new hat, a matching light blue beret.The finishing touch, a collar to place his soul jam on.
After the quick change and placing the plush of the jester onto his bed, he hurried through the door into the halls of his castle. He carried the speech in his robes side pocket, and in his other hand was his flower staff. Pure Vanilla fixes himself up before walking through the doors, which lead to a balcony facing the whole Vanilla Kingdom.
The crowd below cheers as they see their ex king exiting his doors. Pure Vanilla waves at the many cookies and sugar gnomes down below. He brings out the paper out of his pocket and starts to read from it to the cookies, waiting to hear about his trip to Beast-Yeast. Pure Vanilla looks at his paper before stating, “The Beast of Deceit, the other half to my soul jam, has been defeated!”
The crowd erupts into cheers, cries, and shocked words. Whispers of “THE Beast of Deceit?” “We don’t have to worry about the Beasts anymore!” and many other things. Pure Vanilla fake coughs to get the crowd's attention back. The vanilla king continues his speech, while telling the news about the other slain beasts, he starts to get a nasty taste in his mouth from all the crowd's cheers.
He didn’t like how they had been turned into the Beasts, he wanted to understand their story, and them. Pure Vanilla wished he could know, but his only way of telling was gone. Once this speech is done, he’ll find a way to connect with him again. He wishes he could right now.
Concluding his speech, he walked back into the halls of his castle, full of cookies and sugar gnomes helping with the reconstruction of some of the remaining castle’s unfinished structure. Once in his chambers again, he took off his hat and placed his paper on his desk. The staff he was holding onto earlier dropped into the side of his bed near his night-stand.
Pure Vanilla switches out of his welcome back robe and into his night gown, adorned with smaller star patterns as well. He makes his way to his bed and away from the desk. The vanilla king takes off his collar and places the soul jam on the nightstand next to the bed. He sits on the large cotton before turning his body to face the blue plush. It seemed to be in the same place he put it, he was worried one of Black Raisin’s crows could have taken it from the window.
Pure Vanilla takes the plush into his hands and stares at its every detail. The hair, the collar, the small diamonds on its legs and chest. It’s so cute, but he couldn’t understand how it wasn’t even dirty from the rubble back at the crumbled spire. He notices the collar, where the sewn in soul jam was, was removable after caressing it with his hands.
He lightly tugs at it wondering why it wasn’t sewn in like everything else. Wait. This was meant to be a replica of him…this wasn’t a mistake. Does that mean his real collar is also removable, and not sewn into his outfit?
“……”
Pure Vanilla slammed the plush down and covered his face in his hands and wings, his elbows propped onto his knees at the edge of the bed. “How lewd…” His face grew bright red at the thoughts popping up in his head. He releases himself from that embarrassing moment, and allows his wings to peek out and stares down at the plush on the bed. Face red and with a flustered expression, he places his hand on it and lifts it to his eye level.
“...I miss you, Shadow Milk, I really do.” Mourning engulfs his features, somberly looking at that damn plush again. He’s getting carried away. Why would he care for a beast after everything he’s been through? Because he cares about him, you could say, or maybe more.
“I wish you would talk to me, I want to be the one who can understand you…” He continued to speak to the blue plush jester. “I just wish…you would let me be there for you.” His voice drifts off, feeling weird for treating nothing more than a stuffed plush as the real Shadow Milk.
Pure Vanilla caresses the jester once more, feeling the softness of the fabric between each finger. He holds it up again and gives it a hug. The vanilla cookie lets out a small, self mocking, chuckle. “What am I doing? Talking to a stuffed plush.”
Pure Vanilla continued to look at the plush, contemplating if he should let it in his bed while he sleeps. “It could very well be a trap set up by Shadow Milk” he thought, “but if it was, he would have already done it” The vanilla king said out loud this time.
(It’s just a normal plush you chud. He’s not gonna tickle your booty for sure -writer here❤️)
Pure Vanilla fixed up his sheets and lay himself down with the jester plush in his arms. Soon, his eyes began to grow heavy and he drifted off, but not quite yet. Clutching the stuffed jester in his arms, he finally let himself sleep.
The sweet dreams fill his thoughts, ones with hope for the future. Pure Vanilla is in a field, with sheep. He feels the cotton rub against him, like silky wool. “Baa” The sheep says, and Pure Vanilla chuckles. The vanilla king makes his way through the sheep, until he spots an unordinary blue one.
Its wool is blue, its left eye has a scar on it, and it looks lonely. So lonely, very very alone. How…familiar. Pure Vanilla didn’t know when, but when he opened his eyes again, he was already in front of the sheep. It was just looking at him, and he looked back at it. Pure Vanilla squatted down and sat next to the sheep, allowing it to get into his lap.
It curled itself around him, allowing its vulnerability to be between just the two of them. Pure Vanilla loved it, it felt more special than any other sheep he met, just like Shadow Milk when he was Truthless Recluse. “Where could you be..?”
He already knew the answer to that. Shadow Milk would never choose to be with him again. He hates him now, but he can’t bear to be alone without his other half. Pure Vanilla cares for him like any other cookie, he knows he needs help even if he doesn’t want it. If he does come back to him, Pure Vanilla will freely open his arms.
But, he knows he will set ground rules for him. Pure Vanilla knows him like no one else does, and the vanilla king knows it. That’s his other half afterall. “It would be better if you could have just become my friend. We shouldn’t be fighting like this.” Pure Vanilla talks to the sheep, pretending it's really who those words are really meant for.
“Please…let me be your friend.” Pure Vanilla sits up at the words. The sheep…it's talking to him. Was it really talking to him? “Friend…?” The king says. It hits him. These are the same words spoken between him and Shadow Milk. Silence stretches out, only the sound of cricket chirps can be heard.
Pure Vanilla lets out a sigh. He sits straight and really starts to look at his surroundings. A forest in the distance, the open field he's in, the long grass, the starry night above him, everything looked perfect. But…something, no someone, stood out. They were blue. Pure Vanilla’s eyes widened.
He quickly got up with his staff and ran as fast as he could to the figure. “It's him! It’s really him! He came back for me!” He thought as he rushed closer to his jester. The blue cookie stares at him as the vanilla king went straight to him. “Shadow Milk! It’s really you!”
The jester takes a few steps back, hiding into the shadows of the forest.
When Pure Vanilla finally reaches him, he gets a good look at him. He’s head to toe in injuries, his collar is scuffed up and his soul jams holder is slightly out of place. The eyes in his hair are panicked and his clothing is torn in some areas. He was hurt.
“Sh-Shadow Milk, are you ok?” Pure Vanilla hurries over, slowly stepping closer. “I can heal you if that’s what you wish! I really can, if you would just let me.” Shadow Milk just continues to stare at him, almost revoltingly…It made Pure Vanillas heart ache.
“...I…I know we haven’t talked…since I…” He shouldn’t-no, he couldn’t finish that sentence. It hurt too much to know he did that to Shadow Milk. He hates lying, he hates everything he did as Truthless Recluse. “Betrayed me and my trust.” Shadow Milk spat out with a glare and baring teeth.
Pure Vanilla paused. Is he finally talking? “O-oh…yes. I do remember…” The king couldn't meet the jester’s eyes. Shadow Milk, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop holding eye contact. “What a glare…” Pure Vanilla thought, but never daring to say.
The jester moved closer, breaking the king from his train of thought. “Shadow Milk?” Silence. The blue cookie continued to slowly approach him. Pure Vanilla didn’t know what was going on. “Why is he acting like this?! This is so weird-” Shadow milk grabbed Pure Vanilla and made both of them tumble to the ground.
Pure Vanilla opens his eyes and they are immediately met with daggers staring right back. Shadow milk is quiet as he continues to stare at him. “Pure Vanilla, I miss you.” He starts to cry, earning surprise from the king under him. “W-what?” “How could you! How could you do this to me!”
Pure Vanilla reaches his hands and clasps them together with his. “I’m here now though, I’m here for you. I always have been.” Shadow Milk glares at him through his tears, gripping more into their grasped hands. “But why couldn’t you be there before!”
It’s clear to Pure Vanilla now, he never truly understood Shadow Milk as much as he had thought he did. For this mistake, he messed up his only hope to reconcile with his beast. But all dreams come to an end at some point, don’t they? He knew that. He wished this dream would never end, even if it meant he would never wake up.
He loved Shadow Milk, but he knew he would never love him the way he used to after everything.