Chapter Text
“Kh… Haa… Haa… Pathetic… Pathetic Fools…”
A loud clatter echoed through the top of the spire as Shadow Milk Cookies cane dropped to the floor. Its wielder sank to his knees soon after.
The beast’s hair was in disarray, pulsing, writhing, almost boiling in weak thrashes around his collapsed form. Blue eyes wavered within the dark mass; the only thing keeping their forms from dissolving completely seemed to be the determined fury still running through them, their pupils focused on one gleaming point as Shadow Milk’s head sagged.
“Pure Vanilla Cookie, now!”
A quick hand stopped Wizard Cookie from charging forward alone. Pure Vanilla gave the child a small motion to slow before he turned back to face the spire's master. He couldn’t stop the frown that crossed his face as his gaze landed on the felled beast.
This… This wasn’t how he had wanted this to end.
“We share the same Soul Jam. We can understand each other like no one else can.”
Shadow Milk flinched as he reached him. Vanilla’s orchid, now seeming to be the same gold colour as much of his new clothes, still granted him a clear gaze. Still, he opted to open his real eyes instead.
His sight of Shadow Milk was as blurred as it always had been. Still a smear of colour even this close. But he didn’t need to see him clearly, he just wanted genuine eye contact.
“You don’t have to be lonely… I’m right here.”
“… It doesn’t have to be like this, Shadow Milk Cookie,” Pure Vanilla said quietly. He extended his hand to the beast.
“Let me be your… Friend”
He blurrily saw Shadow Milk's eyes meet his. The two mismatched gazes reflecting each other for a silent moment. A flicker of hope gleamed in his chest.
Then the beast started laughing.
It was a cracked, wet, pathetic thing. If Pure Vanilla hadn’t thought Shadow Milk was close to tears before, he certainly did now. Shadow Milk keeled forward in his cackling, throwing himself into apparent hysterics.
Whatever disarray his hair had been in before quickly rectified itself to fix the ancient with a look of pure hatred. One Shadow Milk mirrored as the height of his laugh subsided.
A gloved hand whipped out to smack Pure Vanilla’s away.
“Ha ha ha! How… 'Kind' of you!” An ugly sneer pulled at the beast’s lips to reveal wicked, sharp teeth, “Mark my words: one day, your 'kindness' will become your undoing.”
Something whizzed past Pure Vanilla’s ear. He startled and whipped around, closing his eyes to see behind him with his orchid.
He had a brief respite as he saw the young trio was unharmed. But that was snuffed out as GingerBrave let out a horrified gasp.
“You!”
Pure Vanilla whirled his staff back around before the rest of his body followed suit. Shadow Milk was no longer at his feet. Instead, he had been brought to the center of a keyhole shaped design on the floor.
Worse, Candy Apple Cookie and Black Sapphire Cookie now stood behind him. Pure Vanilla’s heart started to race. If he lost track of Shadow Milk here…
“Shadow Milk Cookie!” Candy Apple looked furiously towards the heroes before her gaze went back to her master. Her small wings flapped as she tugged incessantly at one of the ends of Shadow Milk’s tailcoat.
“Quick! We must leave this place!” Black Sapphire turned and harshly tapped his strange staff against the ground.
Not a moment later, a large whirling void roared into existence. If it wasn’t for the multitude of blue eyes swirling within or the faint pulse that echoed through his Soul Jam, Pure Vanilla could have been fooled it was the indigo cookies doing.
“No! they’re escaping!” Strawberry Cookie cried as she ran forward, pulling her Lollipop to strike in a rare rush of bravery.
Pure Vanilla just barely managed to grab and corral her into not charging straight to the malicious cookies before he heard more rapid footsteps from his other side.
Thankfully, Wizard Cookie seemed to find a sense of self-preservation in his dough. As the small cookie quickly grabbed GingerBrave’s arm for the ancient.
“He still has strength left?” he asked, subtly trying to tug a still struggling GingerBrave behind Pure Vanilla.
“You bet!” Shadow Milk Cookie sprang up, hair floating as he grinned wide, “Cookies, they just won’t stop telling lies, amirite?! Don’t get too comfortable, we’re not done… yet!”
The trio ready themselves behind him, but Pure Vanilla simply clutched his orchid in both hands a bit tighter. The others weren’t as attuned to Shadow Milk’s behaviour as he was.
Whether it be from simple observation or the short merging of their Soul Jams, but he knew the jester didn’t have enough power left to hold both the portal open and strike them down.
Shadow Milk's feet were planted firmly on the ground instead of his usual lackadaisy floating; his legs trembled from the unexpected strain. His chest laboured subtly while the eyes in his hair skittered from face to face of the heroes. Said hair still struggled to keep up its shape, waving and separating into thick, liquid strands around the beast’s waist.
The connection between their Soul Jams, weak but still there despite his ascension, was the biggest giveaway of the beast's waning strength. Small pulses of exhaustion and pain danced in the back of Pure Vanilla’s heart.
And judging from how Shadow Milk’s mismatched gaze refused to leave his face. The beast knew the healer could still feel it.
“He he…” Shadow Milk lurched to the left, quickly correcting the movement to a shaky bow, “He he he! I’ll be seeing you soon, little gnats!”
“And you…” Sharp eyes filled with fury and… A small gleam of betrayal, locked with his again, “You will live to regret your words.”
Candy Apple and Black Sapphire turned to the swirling entrance, taking a curtsy and bow of their own. Before they swiftly fell back into the gateway.
Pure Vanilla felt his hand grip his staff tighter. He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t. Letting Shadow Milk go while in pain like this could cause so many innocent cookies harm.
They’d never find him again. The beast would make sure of it. Even if he was weakened now, his followers would ensure he made it back to full strength.
He had to make sure Shadow Milk didn’t make it through that portal.
But how? His mind raced. Words were no help anymore; he had hurt and wound him up too much already, and talking would only make things unimaginably worse.
That left magic. Magic… Against the former Fount of Knowledge.
Simplicity would be key. Simple meant he could make more concentrated power, and he was at a much higher strength than the beast right now. But that left upsettingly little options.
A sleep spell was too laughable to even attempt; he never found out if Shadow Milk even could sleep. Freezing him in place was out too; you needed a stable grasp on time, and that barely worked there to begin with.
Binding… Binding spells were simple and versatile. It could work, but unless he were to bind the jester's body to the floor (Which would again be laughable since he could just break the stone beneath himself), he would need to tap into his dark moon magic and have an object to keep the cookies’ soul bound in.
That would leave the beast in his possession, yes, but surely it would leave him even more enraged considering his last centuries locked in the silver tree. Not to mention the last time he had attempted a binding spell, it had been to entrap…
Pure Vanilla shook his head. Not now, focus! He had to think of something else and fast. Though… If he couldn’t think of anything else…
As Shadow Milk turned and took a step towards the portal, Pure Vanilla stumbled a bit to get into position. Time was up, this was it, whatever he had to fire off to stop the jester… That’s what he would do.
His grip on his orchid was near painful as he felt his Soul Jam and the light of truth within it lend its newfound power to him. A stronger glow enveloped the scroll that wrapped around his shoulders, leading up to the eye of his staff.
This had an upside of a larger swell of strength than Pure Vanilla had expected, which was good; it filled him with more confidence the spell would succeed as planned. The only issue was…
Brighter lights had a habit of being noticed.
Before crossing the threshold as expected, Shadow Milk paused. Then, to Pure Vanilla’s horror, he turned. Barely enough to matter for most, but it was enough for one of his many eyes to catch his charged staff.
Quick as lightning, the beast was turned back around to face him, still lurching slightly at the action. He looked taken off guard for a brief second before his face twisted back into a snarl.
“So… That’s my sendoff present then huh, Nilly,” He sneered. His eyes, all of them, started to glow an unsettling blue. Something that began to be mirrored in his scepter.
“Coward!”
Shadow Milk shot off a blast. Flaming cyan heat made of vile, dark magic flared towards the healer as the beast quickly leapt backwards.
Pure Vanilla gave a sharp gasp of panic. Caught now between firing his spell or throwing up a shield. It was a risky but easy choice for him; with a whisk of his orchid, he willed the spell through the blast.
He opened his eyes and managed to see his golden light cut through the beast's spell, felt a sharp jolt of shock run through his Soul Jam as his vision was filled with golden white light, before his world skewed sharply to the left.
He hit the ground with a hard grunt and loud clatter as his orchid was knocked from his hand. He thrashed for a moment, worried that perhaps Shadow Milk had set the shadows of the spire upon him.
That was quickly dispelled when he felt very solid arms around his waist. Followed by a light squirming at his side when the body said arms were attached to started trying to sit up.
“Heh, ow…” GingerBrave released his grasp on Pure Vanilla as the ancient sat up. The young cookie, now located beside the ancient on part of his cape thanks to his side tackle, threw him a cheeky grin as he rubbed his right elbow, “That sure was close. You alright Pure Vanilla cookie?”
Pure Vanilla sat stunned for a minute. Taking in the blurry sight of the young cookie, before he felt his body relax a bit. He gave a small chuckle and placed his hand on top of the child’s head.
“Yes, thanks to you all, I’m indebted to you three again,” Pure Vanilla gave a glance around the room for the other two. Strawberry was crouched a few feet away, and he assumed Wizard Cookie was on his other side. But the young cookie's blue robes were harder to see in the blurred spire than the others' bright pink.
“Aw, no don’t say that,” GingerBrave made a dismissive hand gesture, “That’s what friends are for, right?”
Pure Vanilla smiled again; a slight sour feeling hit him as he briefly remembered the last time friendship had been brought up. But it quickly left as he ruffled GingerBrave’s hair.
Loud footsteps stomped up behind them and Pure Vanilla felt a small tap to his shoulder. A glance to the source found a familiar short blur of a white scarf and dark blue hat with stars.
“You knocked the staff out of his hands you dolt,” Wizard Cookie scolded at GingerBrave, handing the staff off completely to Pure Vanilla.
“Ah… Woops?”
A close of his eyes and a look through the staff only widened Pure Vanilla’s smile at Wizard Cookie’s irritated glare and Gingerbrave’s sheepish grin. As the two boys had their little staring contest, Pure Vanilla caught another flash of movement.
It turned out to be Strawberry shyly coming into view. His hat, large white and gold like the rest of his outfit now, was grasped in her hands. He reached a shocked hand up to run through his hair, (ah yes, it was much, much longer now wasn’t it?) He hadn’t even realized it had been knocked off as well.
“Shadow Milk Cookie got away…” Strawberry said, a disappointed look in her eyes. Her companions looked at her as they processed what she said, before they also sagged a bit. Three disappointed gazes met his orchid before they methodically moved to his real eyes.
“… That may be true,” Pure Vanilla nodded after a moment, looking down at his lap before he looked over to Wizard Cookie, “But tell me, did my last spell hit Shadow Milk’s portal?”
Strawberry and GingerBrave turned to look at their friend. Who shuffled a bit before he closed his eyes, pondering his question.
“Well, yes. But it would have been at the very end with that bright light; he and his portal disappeared almost the moment you hit it.”
“Wonderful,” The three threw him equally perplexed looks at that, “That was my plan.”
“Wow, really?” GingerBrave tilted his head, “What were you trying to do?”
“I…” Pure Vanilla took a slow breath, “I simply wanted to ensure he would be separated from his allies. If all went well, he should be less of a threat for a while now.”
“Wow! That’s great!” GingerBrave threw his hands up, “You saved the day, and all of us too!”
“And narrowly avoided getting burnt to a crisp,” Wizard deadpanned. Pure Vanilla took his turn to look sheepish. Not meaning to cause the children more panic.
“Um, Pure Vanilla Cookie?” Strawberry walked up a bit closer to him. He gave her a reassuring smile as he tilted his head to give her the chance to speak, “Uh, here’s your hat back.”
Ah, right of course. Pure Vanilla gave a small huff of laughter, “Thank you child,” he said, grabbing it by the brim from the girl and bringing it to rest on his head again.
Then, something shifted. One thing smaller then something much larger. First, barely noticeable, he felt his Soul Jam… Pulse. But not as steady as it had before; more like a rapid fluttering, like a bird with a bent wing.
Before he could dissect it further, however, a loud noise sounded around them. The floor shook, then ever so slightly dropped. Wizard and Strawberry stumbled on their feet. While Pure Vanilla quickly lifted GingerBrave off his cape so the two of them could get up.
His arms ached at the act, only now the fatigue of everything starting to sink in. Which could only mean one thing.
“Without its master, the spire will come down!” Pure Vanilla said, lifting his orchid to confirm the stone structures starting to deteriorate; the sky above was somehow more chaotic than when the two Soul Jam halves reunited. “Quick, let us leave this place.”
The other three nodded. GingerBrave charged off yelling that the tower was coming down, probably to warn any denizens. Wizard rolled his eyes and chased soon after to quell his friends' shenanigans.
Strawberry ran next but made sure to grab Pure Vanilla’s hand to lead him along; the orchid wasn’t a perfect sight tool after all.
Pure Vanilla appreciated the gesture. Glad, finally to be free of the other world, though with one less cookie than he could have hoped for.
With one last sorrowful look to where Shadow Milk had escaped, the Light of Truth descended from the Spire.
Chapter Art
