Chapter Text
Pure Vanilla cookie helf his hand out. Shadow Milk's eyes widened in confusion. No... No this can't be happening. Shadow Milk was being offered a glorious life. A life of friendship, peace... Happiness. But Shadow Milk had worked so hard. Generations of making a reputation for himself. He couldn't just... Give in? No that'd be absurd. No... No.. "Heh.. huh..?" Shadow Milk stumbled on his words.
"Let me be your friend" Pure Vanilla repeated calmly.
Could Shadow Milk do that? Could he give up his dignity, his status, his reputation... To have a friend?
It wasn't worth it- was it? No.. that'd be absurd.
Despite going on forever, the dark side of the moon felt as if it was closing in on Shadow Milk. The light, vanilla eyes began to glare at him.
"No... NO" Shadow Milk yelled, stepping back from the vanilla cookie. His breath began to quicken, he stumbled back even further. Immediately Black Sapphire was by his side, followed by Candy Apple.
Black Sapphire's voice spoke up but was covered by a ringing. Shadow Milk turned his gaze to the vanilla cookie. There was sadness in his eyes.
"If you ever change your mind..." Pure Vanilla began. "I'll be here..." But Shadow Milk and the spire were gone.
Shadow Milk sighed as he crushed another puppet. He grabbed another from the unbroken stack and placed it next to the one of himself. "Let me be your friend" Shadow Milk said mockingly as he waved the pure vanilla puppet around. He glared at it and crushed it again. He didn't need Pure Vanilla. He didn't need anyone but himself. He glanced at the stack of Pure Vanilla's. "Well don't look at me like that," he groaned, turning to face one of the deep blue walls. He stared at it for a moment, making note of every imperfect brushstroke. How utterly boring. Shadow Milk sighed. He might need to add something to the wall- wall trim maybe? Some paintings? He snapped his fingers before twisting back around. All the dolls disappeared. Better.
He floated up and barely took at second look before leaving.
And he was immediately surrounded by blobs of red and purple. "Master Shadow Milk! Look" Candy apple started yelling.
"Master Shadow Milk, if I could take a moment of your time to show you some of my recent lies." Black Sapphire said calmly, voice mixing with Candy Apple's.
"Quiet" Shadow Milk snapped, silencing the young cookies. "Black Sapphire show me those lies,"
"Fantastic! Follow me, Master Shadow Milk," Black Sapphire said, leading Shadow milk down a hallway filled with painted lies and portraits of the beast with no lack of variety. "I made a wonderful lie about a cookie by the name of Strawberry Crepe cookie. She is a child genius and inventor. I spread a rumor that she stole all her best work from other cookies. It's been working quite well.
Shadow Milk nodded "any others," he asked, voice unnervingly smooth.
Panic flashed on Black Sapphire's face for a moment, before being hidden by a smile "normally I'd have more but today I spent most of it doing my best to teach Candy Apple how to make propper lies and only had time for that one"
Shadow Milk's eyes lid as he smiled at the cookie, "Make sure to make more next time, we can't afford lies to be hidden by the truth."
Black Sapphire bowed "Yes master Shadow Milk" and then he scurried off.
Shadow Milk watched him go, nodding to himself. A decent lie, but not as good as his usual.
Candy Apple jumped out from behind a wall. "Master Shadow Milk! I made an excellent lie today that you'll be pleased to hear about"
Shadow Milk raised an eyebrow "really now, " Candy Apple had made lies before but they were never as good as Black Sapphire's. She had always cared more about costumes and her appearance, rather than spreading lies. She did often come up with great disguises that Shadow Milk would sometimes take. Candy Apple was always wanting to show him her new costumes, she had never gotten to spend much time with him, since he got put in the tree when she was young. She had mostly been raised by Black Sapphire, and the two of them had the strongest sibling bond Shadow Milk had ever seen.
She nodded "mhm! I even used my faeriesona: Apple Faerie cookie! The lie is that a adventurer named Apple Faerie visited the Faerie kingdom to see people of the same flavor as her, but a cookie named Silverbell bullied her for not being a resident there!"
Shadow milk frowned "Maybe you should ask Black Sapphire to help you perfect that."
Candy Apple's face fell. "Oh- ok Master Shadow milk cookie" she said, voice pained.
Candy apple walked off, leaving shadow milk alone in the foyer. As much as he should have been thinking about how horrible his minions were at coming up with lies today, his brain was already pre-occupied. It had been only a few days since Pure Vanilla left. His minions were clearly trying to adjust to not having Truthless Recluse around just as much as he was. But it wasn't permanent. He and his minions would get used to it and everything would go back to the way it was.
... So why couldn't he let go of Truthless Recluse.
It must have been because of the soul jam... Right? Yeah yeah the soul jam. The soul jam and nothing more. He just wanted his soul jam back. Well then he should get it. If he gets it back, he'll never have to deal with Pure Vanilla ever again. Well then he better go get his soul jam back. Then he'll never feel this way again.
Never.