Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mirrors.

Ponds.

The brass of a plate.

His reflection in the window.

He’d always been with Pure Vanilla Cookie. Watching. Waiting.

‘Someday, you’ll come to Beast-Yeast and we’ll finally meet!’

‘Someday…the soul jam will be mine again.’

Soft chuckling awoke Pure Vanilla. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and looked around.

“…hello?” He called cautiously. No answer. He slowly examined the room, trying to see any abnormalities, only to be met with a defying silence. The only other cookie he saw was his reflection in the vanity that sat in the darkest corner.

“…I am just imagining things.” He decided aloud. “I’m just stressed about the trip to Beast-Yeast tomorrow.”

He slowly got out of bed and walked to the window. Opening it, he let the wind blow his hair around his tender cheeks. The beautiful Crème Republic was bathed in the still darkness of the night, the moon blanketing the sleeping city in its warm glow.

He, Gingerbrave, Wizard Cookie, and Strawberry Cookie had came to the Crème Republic to borrow an airship to fly to Beast-Yeast. The cookies there almost all seemed ecstatic about this, and even prepared special rooms for their guests to rest so they could have all the energy they needed for their long travel.

Pure Vanilla had been planning and stressing about the trip for weeks at that point. He started to think maybe he had too many all-nighters, for they were catching up to him in the form of nightmares when he tried to sleep.

Fresh air was all he needed. He reminded himself, “There is no one watching me, there is no one in here with me. I am safe.”

Cracking an ever so small smile, he shut the window once again. He took one last look around his room before retiring to his bed, swiftly falling asleep again.

If only it were that simple.

A cookie still played inside Pure Vanilla’s mind and watched him from dark reflections from the vanity. He couldn’t wait any longer.

‘Come, my pet! I can’t wait any longer, just come see what I’ve done with this place!’

His soft chuckling turned into intoxicating laughter, a sort of sick and twisted lullaby in Pure Vanilla’s old mind, luring him into a cold slumber.

***

Pure Vanilla was awakened by incessant knocking on the chocolate wood door.

“Pure Vanilla Cookie!” He heard Gingerbrave calling. “Hurry, hurry!”

“Gingerbrave!” Wizard Cookie snapped. “Don’t be so rude! Pure Vanilla Cookie will wake up when he’s ready!”

“The ship is ready, Pure Vanilla Cookie!” Strawberry Cookie called softly. “We’re all ready to go.”

Pure Vanilla smiled softly and sat up, stretching his dough in the bright morning light.

“I’ll be there in a moment, my friends!” He brightly called, hopping out of his bed to dress himself.

Cape, check! Hat, check! Staff, check! Soul jam…

As he picked up his precious soul jam, he suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine, as if there were cold hands grabbed his arms. Gasping, he accidentally dropped the soul jam, it crashing into a potted plant and shattering it.

“Oh dear,” he mumbled, “I’m sorry, you…”

He picked up the soul jam and positioned it onto his chest, where it rest in a familiar manner. Glancing at the mess he’d made, he shook his head in embarrassment and began to clean it up.

“Lord Pure Vanilla?” He heard Clotted Cream Cookie call, knocking on his door. “Are you alright, I heard a crash?”

“Y-yes, I’m alright.”

“May I come in?”

“Yes.”

Clotted Cream walked in and raised his eyebrows at Pure Vanilla on the ground.

“What are you doing? Is that-Sugar glass! Be careful,” Clotted Cream pulled Pure Vanilla up and checked his hands, “are you sure you’re alright? Sugar glass is-“

“-very sharp, yes,” Pure Vanilla gave a sheepish grin, “it was my fault, I can clean it up.”

“No no,” Clotted Cream pushed Pure Vanilla to the door, “you have much bigger issues to attend to. Stopping Dark Enchantress Cookie is the most important thing right now! I’ll clean this up.”

“But-“

“Go! Your friends are waiting for you.” Clotted Cream urged, giving his best encouraging smile.

“…thank you again.” Pure Vanilla said before leaving.

Arriving at the airship pad, he saw the younger cookies eagerly waiting for him.

“There you are, Pure Vanilla!” Gingerbrave said eagerly.

“Are you ok?” Strawberry Cookie asked.

“Yes, just a bad night.” Pure Vanilla admitted. “Let’s not let that halt our journey.”

“He’s right,” Wizard Cookie said, “the faster we get to Beast-Yeast, the better!”

“Just to double-check,” Gingerbrave said, “does everyone have everything they need?”

“Uhm, let’s see…” Wizard Cookie began to rummage his bags, causing Strawberry Cookie to follow in his steps.

“Yep!” Strawberry Cookie said.

“Let’s go then!”

***

The ride to Beast-Yeast was long and slow. Gingerbrave began to get restless, and Wizard Cookie had already gone through all his books.

Pure Vanilla stared out the window, his eyes darkening. The closer they got to Beast-Yeast, the more he felt as if someone was watching them…

…watching him.

‘It’s nothing,’ he tried reassuring himself, ‘I am just stressed.’

He clenched his fists, squinting his eyes into the darkness just outside the windows. His reflection squinted back, its blurry outline blending with the shadows outside.

It should have been his reflection. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t him at all.

A chilling sensation went down Pure Vanilla’s spine again. His eyes widened when he watched “his” reflection give him a grin, then swiftly disappeared.

“Pure Vanilla Cookie?”

“Pure Vanilla Cookie!”

Pure Vanilla snapped back to reality and looked over. Gingerbrave looked at him, worried.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“You’re white as snow!” Wizard Cookie exclaimed.

“Yes, I was just…” Pure Vanilla cast his eyes around, “…lost in thought.”

“Look, we’ve just crossed the boarder to Beast-Yeast!” Wizard Cookie said, pointing out the window. Pure Vanilla gave a small smile, noting how the forest seemed to be glowing just beneath the trees.

Suddenly, the airship jolted.

“What happened?!” Gingerbrave cried.

“I think we’ve been hit!” Wizard Cookie yelped.

“Strawberry Cookie! Man the wheel!”

“I-I’m trying…!” She whimpered, holding tightly to the steering wheel.

“Everybody, hold on!” Pure Vanilla yelled, holding onto the wall beside him.

The airship quickly fell down into the forest below, the ship getting scraped by the humongous trees speeding past them.

Finally, the ship crashed into the ground. The four cookies stumbled out.

“My head…” Wizard Cookie moaned, readjusting his hat.

“Oh no, the airship!” Strawberry Cookie cried, “it’s all broken!”

“The…” Pure Vanilla looked around in dismay, “the trees and the plants…t-they’re all burnt…!”

The three younger cookies looked wide-eyed at the devastated forest, all wondering what could have done so much destruction.

“Pure Vanilla?” Strawberry Cookie whispered. “Do you think that…”

“…Dark Enchantress did this?” Pure Vanilla guessed, teeth clenched. Whoever did it, they had to be careful.

“We have to be careful!” Wizard Cookie said as if he read Pure Vanilla’s mind.

“Let us go, my friends,” Pure Vanilla said, “maybe we can find someone who can help us.”

***

Shadow Milk Cookie watched his beautiful destruction. The Faerie kingdom was now under his thumb, and he was more than pleased.

“All I need it that fool Elder Faerie Cookie to reveal himself!” He laughed. White Lily Cookie was still in a deep slumber as far as he could tell. Unfortunately, her body was stolen by those Faerie cookies who survived his chaos.

But as long as she stayed gone, he’d stay forever.

“Hmm~?” He hummed as he looked into a mirror.

Pure Vanilla Cookie! He’d made it, just in time to see the grand finale!

“Ahaha!” Shadow Milk bellowed. “Come, pet! Don’t keep me waiting!”

His laughing echoed in the chaotic streets of what was the Faerie kingdom, all the way to the remaining Faerie cookie’s ears.

Elder Faerie couldn’t help but glare at the sound of Shadow Milk’s loud laughter. Without White Lily, they were unable to stop Shadow Milk from escaping. Fortunately, with his power, Elder Faerie could fight off Shadow Milk long enough for them to find a way to awaken White Lily.

“My king,” Mercurial Knight Cookie said, “you should come and see this.”

Elder Faerie followed the Silver Knight to a clearing that overlooked the forest. It was clear immediately what Mercurial Knight meant, though, as a light that was not from Shadow Milk glimmered into the sky.

“What do you think it is, my king?” Mercurial Knight asked.

“It’s a power that is…familiar…” Elder Faerie remarked, gazing at the light. Its radiance was startling, especially with Shadow Milk returned.

Finally, he turned to Silverbell Cookie and said, “Silverbell Cookie, are you willing to investigate?”

“Yes, my king!” Silverbell said, raising his wings in flight.

“Report back to me as soon as you find anything at all.” He called. Silverbell nodded and flew away.

Elder Faerie gazed into the light again, trying his best to figure out why is was so familiar. The bunch of light seemed to be begging to be found.

The realization hit him.

“White Lily…” he murmured.

Chapter Text

“We’ve been walking for ages,” Wizard Cookie hissed, “and we STILL haven’t gotten out of this destruction!”

“I wonder what could have happened here?” Gingerbrave asked.

Pure Vanilla wondered the same. The devastation was on par with what Dark Enchantress would do, perhaps even more.

“It’s getting dark…” Strawberry Cookie whimpered.

“We shall sleep then,” Pure Vanilla said, “we’ll have our energy regained again and we can figure out what to do.”

“I am getting a little tired…” Wizard Cookie noted.

“Sounds good to me!” Gingerbrave said, snuggling down by a tree. The other two young cookies laid beside him, their eyes drooping. Pure Vanilla smiled slightly, finding a tree to sleep beside as well.

For extra precaution, he gathered some leaves to cover his friends and himself with, so they’d be warm and camouflaged.

Satisfied, he laid down and closed his eyes. He believed he could get better sleep now that he was in Beast-Yeast, even if he was sleeping on the ground, without the stress of preparing to go.

The darkness around him swallowed him in its gentle embrace, leading him to dreams.

Dreams? Oh, dreams…

Pure Vanilla suddenly felt himself being pushed and pulled around by an icy wind. It was as if long tendrils were pulling him deeper and deeper into an abyss.

No, not any abyss…

“…my soul’s abyss of regret…” Pure Vanilla gasped once his footing was regained. A soft glow appeared before him, and he recognized it, but also didn’t.

“Pure Vanilla…” it called softly, but somewhat sarcastically.

“Light of Truth?” He called back.

“Pure Vanilla…you’ve kept me waiting.”

“What…? But I’ve regained my strength, and I’ve used it for good! Why am I back here?”

“…your strength?” The light of truth sounded disgusted.

A horrible laugh soon followed escaped, it echoing all around Pure Vanilla, as it it were trying to consume him.

“There is nothing about it that is your strength! It’s all mine, that was taken! You’re just a vessel to keep it until I’ve returned!…what do you know about truth?”

“You’re not the light of truth…! Who are you?”

“Aww. I’ve spent so much time watching you, and yet you know not of me? How heartbreaking!”

Pure Vanilla fell silent, unable to understand what this…thing…meant.

“Master of deceit and truth! I am-“

“Pure Vanilla Cookie!”

A new voice echoed in the abyss. Pure Vanilla felt himself being pulled from the nightmare, his eyes suddenly being forced open back into the dark forest.

Except, it wasn’t quite as dark as he remembered

His eyes widened upon seeing a bright light. Standing up, he found himself lured to it.

“Pure Vani…”

He had to cover his eyes when he saw the source of the light: a small gemstone.

He didn’t know why, but he felt as if he had to touch it. As if everything would fall if he didn’t.

Stepping closer, he reached out and gently took the stone in his hand.

***

Silverbell raced through the forest, over and under the broken trees of his once beautiful home.

How dare that beast do this to his wonderful home! He usually wasn’t one to anger, but seeing his home that did nothing to the beast of deceit was enough to make even the most passive cookies furious.

Silverbell took a moment to catch his breath and landed on a tree branch. Looking around, he saw the source of the light was even closer than before. Readying himself again, he was about to shoot back into action until he saw the light begin to blink out.

“No!” He gasped. He had to get to it before it disappeared. The king was depending on him!

He flew faster than he ever had before, using the forest around him to boost himself to even higher speeds. Leaves obscured his vision, but he could still make out the light. He was so close! Just a little farther…!

He finally emerged into an opening. Looking around, he saw a cookie laying on the ground, holding something.

Silverbell swiftly flew down, examining the cookie. He quickly realized that this cookie was not a faerie cookie.

“Hello?” He lightly shook the cookie. “Are you alright?”

The cookie slowly opened his eyes, one yellow and one blue. Before he could say anything, three other cookies came running over.

“Are you ok?!” Gingerbrave yelped.

Pure Vanilla sat up and looked at his friends. “Yes, I am. But…who might you be?”

He was referring to Silverbell. The small faerie cookie’s wings fluttered, and he seemed a little nervous.

“I am Silverbell Cookie. Who are you, and why are you here?“

“I am Pure Vanilla, and these are my companions, Gingerbrave, Wizard Cookie, and Strawberry Cookie.” As he said this, he turned turned to his companions.

“Pure Vanilla?” Silverbell seemed to realize the situation. “Oh dear…”

“My friends, are you ok?” He asked. “This light, it was…it showed me something about White Lily.”

“White Lily?” Wizard Cookie’s eyes widened. Strawberry Cookie and Gingerbrave looked shocked. Silverbell too seemed shocked, his mouth gaping open a little.

“This must be…part of her soul jam?” Gingerbrave guessed. “It’s the same color and it showed you White Lily!”

“Why was it glowing so much?” Silverbell questioned.

“You saw it too?” Pure Vanilla said. “To answer your question, I’m not sure. Perhaps…”

“I-I know where White Lily is!” Silverbell said suddenly. “We need to wake her up, so she can save our kingdom!”

“What…?”

“The soul jam—it must be able to help. If it’s still glowing like that, then…and then the Faerie Kingdom…”

Although all this new information was a shock, it was clear that they had to help. Pure Vanilla was sure of it.

“What is the Faerie Kingdom?” Gingerbrave asked.

“I thought your kind were just a myth!” Wizard Cookie said. “I’ve read up on Faerie cookie stories, but I never thought they were real!”

“Yeah, well,” Silverbell said, “we can talk about that later.”

“Yes,” Pure Vanilla agreed.

“Wait, wait,” Strawberry Cookie reached to Pure Vanilla’s ear and whispered, “do you really think ‘White Lily’ isn’t just a trick?”

“I don’t know, but we won’t know unless we see.”

“I suppose so…but we all better still be careful!…”

“Of course,” Pure Vanilla turned his attention back to Silverbell, “please, lead the way.”

“Just this way!” Silverbell replied, pointing deeper into the chaos.

The five cookies trotted along, all weary of the trouble that they knew would come.

“So…” Wizard Cookie cleared his throat, “why does you kingdom need saving, Silverbell?”

Silverbell cast his gaze around before replying, “It’s a bit of a long story, but I do think you’ll need the context if you really can help us.”

Taking a deep breath, he started.

“It started only a few days ago…”

***

The vines that White Lily had placed on the Silver Tree began to break, their snapping echoed throughout the kingdom.

Little faeries tried to awaken White Lily to no avail. Mercurial Knight and the other Silver Knights prepared themselves to face the beasts when they came out. Elder Faerie readied himself along with them, harnessing his power in preparation to push the beasts back.

Silverbell could only hold up his bow at the tree. He bit his cheek to focus himself, frankly just as scared as the citizens. Who wouldn’t be of these beasts who would stop at nothing to destroy Earthbread the moment they’re freed? He didn’t—couldn’t—let his fear dictate him, and he knew he had to brave the beasts to protect his home and his friends.

“The last vine is almost snapped!” Mercurial Knight yelled, grinding his teeth as the final vine shriveled away.

The moment it snapped, the first beast’s magic spilled out. The chaos it emitted sent shivers down Silverbell’s back.

Elder Faerie grunted in pain, struggling to keep the beasts in. The Silver Knights swiped at the strange magic that poured out, only for them to get consumed by it.

Mercurial Knight stood his ground beside Elder Faerie, watching in shock as the knights he stood with all slowly get consumed by the dark magic surrounding them.

“Once I…regain the seal…” Elder Faerie panted, “…everyone will be freed and safe…”

Just as he said this, laughter broke from the gaping hole in the tree.

“You can’t stop me, guardian!” It screeched. “You’ll crumble eventually without that bratty Lily!”

The hole was now too big to contain without more power. Silverbell and his comrades watched in horror as the beast of deceit flung himself out, a big grin revealing his sharp teeth and his blue eyes casting a spotlight on the cookies below.

“Ahhh, fresh air!” Shadow Milk sighed, glancing around at the Faerie kingdom. His gaze landed on the cookies below, specifically Elder Faerie. His grin tensed, but remained as he pointed at the guardian.

“I think I’ll deal with you first.” He laughed and flung an attack.

***

“The guardian is ok,” Silverbell concluded, “but the beasts still are escaping.”

“I’m glad you found us then,” Gingerbrave said, “sounds like you need all the help you can get!”

“Yeah!”

As they venture continued, they suddenly were halted by some sort of cardboard cookies.

“Watch out!” Silverbell cookie commanded. “That’s the fake cookies the beast made!”

“We can beat them together!” Pure Vanilla said. Gingerbrave smiled with a nod.

“Alright!” Silverbell nodded, before attacking the false cookies.

Chapter Text

“White Lily!” The young Pure Vanilla strode to the young White Lily, who sat alone reading a book.

“Oh, Pure Vanilla!” She put her book down, smiling at him. “What is it?”

“There’s something I think you’d like to see,” he gently took her hand to help her up, “hurry up, hurry up!”

White Lily giggled at Pure Vanilla’s excitement as she got dragged across the academy. She always loved when he dragged her around like that, his hands just as warm as his smile.

Soon, they reached a clearing. The young cookies walked to the center, before Pure Vanilla let go of White Lily’s hand.

“Ok, what did you want to show me?” She asked.

“Look at your hand.”

She peered down, and froze at the dripping jelly on it. She looked forward again, and as if he was never there, Pure Vanilla was…

Gone.

Gone…

Elder Faerie shot up. His eyesight was blurry and his head pounded, so he held his head to try to stead himself.

“Ugh…” He groaned, squeezing his eyes shit.

“Again?” Mercurial Knight asked, his brow furrowed, helping the guardian stay upwards.

“I don’t understand what he’s trying to tell me,” Elder Faerie murdered, “if anything at all.”

He glanced down at his hand; plain and clean, no jelly on it. He scowled at it, clenching his fist.

“That beast isn’t relenting with these nightmares.” He said. “It’s almost as if he’s trying to make me believe I’m White Lily…”

“But why?” Mercurial Knight glanced at the still body of White Lily. Lugging her around was like lugging a pound of jellies, and keeping her away from Shadow Milk was worse.

“It’s feels he wants me to know Pure Vanilla, he who was loved by White Lily…”

“He did say something about Pure Vanilla when he escaped…” the silver knight racked his brain, “’That Pure Vanilla seems to be taking care of what’s mine,’ or something like that.”

Elder Faerie didn’t respond. He could only stand himself up and look at the Silver Tree.

“Let us go fourth,” he said, “there’s no time to waste.”

“Yes sir!”

***

“That’s the last of them!” Gingerbrave shouted as he kicked the last paper cookie down. Silverbell smiled widely and looked at the other cookies.

“You’re all super strong!” He said. “Especially you, Pure Vanilla. You really had our backs!”

“It’s truly nothing.” Pure Vanilla said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You did though!” Gingerbrave said.

“We couldn’t have won without you.” Strawberry Cookie said.

“It’s statistically correct!” Wizard Cookie said.

The young cookies all gathered around Pure Vanilla, smiles on their tiny faces. The ancient cookie blinked, then smiled, patting Strawberry Cookie’s head.

“Come on,” Silverbell said, “let’s keep going! There’s still a long ways to go.”

Not even a mile later, they ran into more paper cookies.

***

“…just how much farther is this Faerie Kingdom?!” Wizard Cookie gasped as he climbed over a log.

“We can’t be far!” Silverbell said. “We keep running into those false cookies the beast made…”

Pure Vanilla frowned as he glanced at their wrecked enemies. He doubted they got very far, as it felt like they were running into them every other step their crispy legs took.

“Is there another way around?” Pure Vanilla asked Silverbell.

“Well…” the small faerie thought for a moment, before replying, “oh, yeah! There is a way, but it’s a long way.”

“If it’s not more dangerous then this path, then I don’t see why we shouldn’t take that one.”

Silverbell nodded and made a sharp turn into the trees.

“This way!” He called. “Hurry before more of Shadow Milk’s deceptions catch us!”

The group hurried after Silverbell, eager to get away from the fight. Luckily, the fight didn’t follow, and they were finally on their way.

The forest was much denser on the alternate road, with many more plants crumbling under their feet as they walked over them. Burnt remains seemed to fade away the denser the forest got around them, a sort of comfort to the cookie travelers.

“Can you explain more who Shadow Milk is?” Pure Vanilla asked.

“He’s a beast,” Silverbell said, “who wants to destroy Earthbread. His powers have been taken away, though. He said…someone…is keeping it for him.”

“Do you know who?” Wizard Cookie questioned. Silverbell cast his gaze around, but shook his head.

“He…didn’t exactly say.”

“Oh…ok.”

“Do you think if we got rid of this cookie, that Shadow Milk wouldn’t be able to get his power back?” Gingerbrave asked.

“N-no way!” Silverbell cried, then quickly recomposed himself. “I-I mean, I doubt there’ll be any need for that. They’re still a cookie like us.”

“Yes,” Pure Vanilla agreed, “besides, perhaps this cookie knows something that can help in our journey.”

“I hope they’re nice…” Strawberry Cookie mumbled.

“I’m sure he-“ Silverbell cleared his throat, “whoever they are is a nice cookie.”

Wizard Cookie raised his brow but didn’t say anything as Silverbell flew upwards.

“I think I see something!” He said, squinting. “It looks like a light!”

“Do you think it’s another shard of White Lily’s soul jam?” Strawberry Cookie asked. Silverbell nodded, acknowledging the light’s greenish color.

“Let’s go check it out!” Gingerbrave cried. “I have my cane ready!”

Silverbell flew down and readied himself to lead the way, holding his bow in a way the replicated an arrow to point to the increasing green glow.

“Let’s run!” Gingerbrave yelled.

Pure Vanilla took one step before becoming incredibly dizzy. He gasped and gripped his staff, digging its tip into the ground trying to hold himself up.

“Pure Vanilla?!” Gingerbrave called.

“Are you ok?” Strawberry Cookie ran back and held onto Pure Vanilla’s arm to help stable himself.

“Y-your soul jam…!” Silverbell pointed to his chest. Pure Vanilla trailed his hand to his soul jam and felt a horribly twisted, yet familiar chill run into his fingertips. He felt as if shadows themselves were gathering around him.

“Pure Vanilla! Stay with us!” Wizard Cookie yelled, running over to Pure Vanilla’s other side.

And yet, he couldn’t even do that. He couldn’t fight the weariness that suddenly took hold of him, or his eyes forcefully being shut. His body fell limp in the young cookies arms, their cries and yells bouncing off him like jelly berries in water.

“Get his soul jam off him!” Wizard Cookie yelled, pulling at the shadowy jam.

Somehow, the moment Pure Vanilla tried to move towards the light, something…or someone…stopped him through the soul jam. It was shrouded in darkness and hurt Wizard Cookie’s hands as he tried to pull it away.

“Ow!” He yelled, holding his hand. Gingerbrave ran over and looked at his hand, only to see it steaming with black smoke.

“Wake up, Pure Vanilla!” Strawberry Cookie cried as she shook the cold ancient.

Silverbell quickly got to work, gritting his teeth through the pain as the soul jam fought its way to stay on Pure Vanilla at all costs.

“It won’t get off him..!” Silverbell gasped as he finally pulled his hands away, shaking them from the pain.

“What do we do!” Gingerbrave yelped, frantically looking around for anything that could possibly help.

“T-there must be something!” Strawberry Cookie stammered.

“The…” Silverbell glanced around. “…the guardian of the silver tree might be able to help.”

“Then take us to him!” Gingerbrave yelled.

“Wait.” Wizard Cookie pointed his staff at Silverbell. “I don’t think you’re being completely honest with us! The way you’re glancing around like that, you’re nervous. Why?”

Silverbell sighed and nodded.

“You’re right. I haven’t been completely honest. I-I didn’t mean it to hurt you, though. Just let me explain, please.”

The three companions looked at each other, then gave a nod.

“We’ll listen!” Gingerbrave said. “Please, just tell us everything.”

Silverbell gave a deep breath and nodded.

***

Pure Vanilla awoke back in the abyss. Looking around, he felt as if someone was watching him.

A cold hand gripped his shoulder, causing Pure Vanilla to shiver in shock.

“There you are!” The voice sang. It was the master of truth and deceit again! “I missed you so much, but that terrible light took you away.”

“Wh-“ Pure Vanilla tried to turn around only to be met with another cold hand on his face, keeping him in place.

“Shhh! No talking or moving, please! You just have to listen!”

Pure Vanilla bit his tongue, wondering what he could possible mean.

“Now, I, Shadow Milk Cookie, shall tell your poor soul everything you need to know!”

‘Shadow Milk?’ Pure Vanilla thought. ‘That beast who destroyed this land?!’

“You are in search of Dark Enchantress, right?” Shadow Milk sang.

“H-How did you-“

“Of course I’m right!” The cold cookie sang. “Well, she’s not here. Not anymore, at least!”

Who did this cookie think he was?! Pure Vanilla fought against the cold hands. He didn’t want to hear anymore!

“Let me go!” He yelled. Shrill laughter erupted from behind him, and the hands on his shoulder and face tightened their grip.

“I’m not done with you yet,” Shadow Milk hissed, “you are going to stay here as long as I see fit, pet!”

Pure Vanilla scowled as he ripped himself from Shadow Milk and whirled around to face the cookie. Unfortunately, the beast had melted into the shadows, making it nearly impossible for him to find the other.

“Come out!” Pure Vanilla shouted at the darkness. “You cannot keep hiding from me!”

A deep chuckle echoed around him. Freezing cold seeped from his soul jam and onto his chest and neck, and a feeling of deeply disturbing fear sunk into his heart.

“I can hide as long as I like,” Shadow Milk said, “just until you find me!”

“Pure Vanilla Cookie!”

The same voice that saved him before—the voice that sounded like White Lily! Where was it? He cast his eyes around, searching for the warm light.

He felt it envelope him in its warm embrace.

“Pure Vanilla,” it said, “you need to help White Lily…”

“W-what?” He called to no response. “I don’t understand…speak to me, please!”

His eyes shot open. He tried to get up but his dough felt so weak that he rested himself back down.

“Pure Vanilla!” Wizard Cookie yelped. “Guys, he’s awake!”

“A-are you ok?” Strawberry Cookie asked, her poor hands more shaky than normal.

“I…met Shadow Milk,” Pure Vanilla said slowly, “he knew we’re here to stop Dark Enchantress, but he said she wasn’t here anymore.”

“You can’t believe everything he says,” Silverbell said, “he’s the beast of deceit, he can’t be trusted.”

Pure Vanilla nodded slightly, finally grabbing his staff and helping himself up.

“There’s something else you need to know,” Gingerbrave said quickly, “uhh…Silverbell?”

Pure Vanilla cast his gaze to Silverbell, who stiffened. The faerie cookie looked around nervously before finally looking straight at Pure Vanilla.

“That beast, Pure Vanilla…” he said, “…he’s after your soul jam…and probably you yourself.”

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla was stunned. He didn’t quite know what to say. Shadow Milk? After him? He could sort of understand his soul jam; a powerful artifact such as it would no doubt be on this power-hungry beast’s mind. 

But him? Simple, old Pure Vanilla? He didn’t think he was anything special. It was the soul jam’s powers that helped him protect his friends and his people. 

“Pure Vanilla?” Gingerbrave tugged at Pure Vanilla’s robe, worry in his brow. 

“This is…worrying,” Pure Vanilla slowly said, “but I don’t see why he would even want me to begin with.”

“Best be cautious, still.” Silverbell said. 

Pure Vanilla took a moment to consider this, as Wizard pulled him along again. 

“We have to see if the soul jam shard is still there,” he said, “while you were out, the light went out and Silverbell couldn’t find it.” 

“Maybe if you’re there,” Gingerbrave said, “you’ll be able to find it!”

Pure Vanilla gave a grateful smile and nodded. “I believe the same, Gingerbrave. Let us go with haste.”

And so, they quickly trotted to an opening. It was clear just with a glance that this area was much more alive than the other burnt and chaos-filled than the other, more devastated parts. Pure Vanilla knew that this must be the work of White Lily’s power, knowing how her soul jam worked well. 

Pure Vanilla stepped forward and looked around at the plant life. He smiled, unable to hide his joy at the healthiness of the nature around him. He always did have a weak spot for greenery. 

He felt a calming and warm sensation wash over him as he walked to the center of the clearing. The center looked as if it was the origin of all the plants, flowers and vines sprouting from this specific spot and growing all about, climbing up the surrounding trees. 

He knelt down and gently held up a lily, smelling the strong scent that he was always fond of. 

From the lily, a soft glow arose and Pure Vanilla picked up the shard of White Lily’s soul jam. 

***

“Pure Vanilla…” a soft voice trickled past his face. He opened his eyes to find himself laying on a bed of sweet smelling flowers. Sitting up, he found his friends laying nearby, also waking up. 

“A vision…” Silverbell murmured. “…of White Lily’s past…”

The vision in question was that of White Lily meeting and healing Silverbell. 

“The soul jam,” Wizard said, “must have showed us that!”

Pure Vanilla looked down at his hand, which still held the shard tightly. A new determination filled him. 

“My friends,” he said boldly, “let’s keep going! We must find White Lily and return her soul jam!”

Silverbell nodded and smiled with confidence. 

“Yeah! This way, follow me, we’re so close to the kingdom, just a little farther!”

***

The night came faster than expected, blanketing the forest in the dim glowing of the moon. Per Silverbell’s advice, they hunkered down for the night. They found a large tree with a dip they could all lay in comfortably, and could protect their unconscious bodies. 

“It’s so cold…” Strawberry murmured, shivering. Wizard and Gingerbrave agreed, huddling together for warmth. Noticing this, Pure Vanilla took off his cape and draped it over the three children, smiling softly. 

“Now, you three get to bed,” He said, “there’s much to do tomorrow.”

The children nodded and closed their eyes, swiftly getting enveloped in sweet sleep that lured them into its embrace. 

“Uhm, Pure Vanilla?” Silverbell quietly asked, scooting closer to the ancient cookie. 

“Yes?”

“I have a…question, if you will.”

“Hm? Please, do ask.”

“What was White Lily Like? I-I mean, before she came…here.”

Pure Vanilla had to pause and consider this question. He had always observed White Lily when she was busy observing the cookie world, her beautiful hair, her distinct smell, her curious eyes. 

“She was curious,” he finally said, “always looking around at the world and wanting to learn something new. Searching for something I didn’t quite understand.”

“I-I meant,” Silverbell’s face reddened, “what was she like with you?”

“Hm? Ah…”

He could almost feel her soft hands still on his cheeks, asking him questions about his kingdom and specifically the cracker used to build up the houses. Oh, or when she would watch his reflection in water and tell him how pretty he was that day. When she would tease him, tickling his nose with the flowers he’d gift her. 

“She was my best friend.” He concluded, a small smile etched on his face. 

Silverbell but his lip but nodded, smiling. 

“You must of loved her a lot.”

“Oh, I did.”

“She did too. It sometimes seemed like you were the only cookie on her mind.”

“Hm? Oh, I can’t believe that. How could she think of me when she was in such a beautiful place like this?”

Silverbell shrugged. “When you’re somewhere long enough, the whimsy wears off. Speaking of that, what’s the Pure Vanilla kingdom like?”

“I think it’s a beautiful place, where everyone works together to make it as such.”

“What about the plants? What kind of flowers? White Lily told me you had lots of lilies, but what else?”

Pure Vanilla told Silverbell about all the flowers, of course about the lilies but also the jellyragora, vanilla beans, and the yogurt flowers that gave the perfect smell to the kingdom. He told him about the chocolate bark trees that gave shade to the young students as well as the elder cookies. He even mentioned the grapes that were grown to make raisins for raisin bread. 

Silverbell listened with wide eyes, amazed. He couldn’t stop himself from asking about the culture, cookies, and even the structures, and gaping at how different, but amazing, it sounded. 

“A school you yourself founded for your cookies, as one of your most important projects…” Silverbell murmured in awe. “You’re so kind!”

“You needn’t say that,” Pure Vanilla sheepishly said, smile weary and eyes dark, “it’s just novel.”

“I was born a Silver Knight, so defense came before everything. Everything else, I learnt from White Lily.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t mean to sound pessimistic, but I never did like how…war focused the guardian is. He’s doing it to protect the faerie cookies, I know that, but I wish I could have been able to go to school like a normal faerie kid.”

Silverbell turned away, embarrassed.

“I shouldn’t have said that, I-I probably sound ungrateful—I’m not, by the way! I’m so grateful I can serve and protect the Faerie Kingdom-“

Pure Vanilla simply smiled, shaking his head and unable to contain a small chuckle. 

“Come.”

Silverbell tilted his head in confusion as Pure Vanilla pulled himself up and held out his hand to the cookie. 

“Come,” he repeated, “would you like a lesson on the stars?”

***

“Time to wake up!” Gingerbrave sang, prancing around with his cane held high. 

“Hrg…” Wizard grumbled, “it can’t be already morning!”

Gingerbrave pulled Pure Vanilla’s cape off his two groggy friends and turned to Pure Vanilla. 

“Here ya go, Pure Vanilla!” He said proudly, holding out the cape with both hands. 

“Thank you, Gingerbrave.” Pure Vanilla giggled as he slid his cape back on. Gingerbrave beamed with even more pride, then rushing outside to be met with the welcoming morning warmth. 

Silverbell was already outside, stretching his limbs and gazing up above.

“Whatcha looking at?” Gingerbrave asked, skipping over to the faerie. 

“They sky,” Silverbell answered, “did you know the sun is a star?”

“Yeah! Pure Vanilla taught me all about that.”

“Pure Vanilla sure knows a lot.”

“Yeah, well, he is the bearer of truth! Or something like that…”

Silverbell cast his gaze to the three cookies emerging from the tree, taking in the sunlight that came from high above them. 

“Bearer of truth, huh…” Silverbell smiled. “Is everyone ready?”

“Yes!” Strawberry replied, clutching her hands to show it. 

“Lead the way, Silverbell!” Wizard said, excitedly hopping around. 

Silverbell beamed and took the lead. “We should get there today, if we don’t run into trouble!”

“Sweet!” Gingerbrave said. 

With the silver faerie in the lead, the group of five was once again on their way. 

***

Finally. After all the traveling, all the times they almost got caught, they were finally at the edge of the Faerie Kingdom. 

Elder Faerie glanced at the still unconscious White Lily. He bit cheek, unable to think of anything besides of how much he let her down. 

He was the one who let her go to the witches feast. He was the one who let her become like this, unable to move or communicate or do anything. 

And when they needed her most, his actions led to the downfall of his kingdom because she couldn’t help even if she wanted to. 

“…your majesty?” Mercurial Knight said. 

“My apologies.” Elder Faerie shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

His words ring true. If he wanted a chance to send the beast back where he came from, he would have to stop self pitying and start thinking of a plan. 

“We need a source of life energy,” Elder Faerie had concluded, “to bring back White Lily.”

“But who could be strong enough?” Mercurial Knight asked. 

“Me. I will sacrifice myself.

“But…”

“Speak up.”

“We need you, your highness. Without you, who will lead us? Who will be the guardian?”

“White Lily will. With my life energy, I will send my powers to her.”

Mercurial Knight didn’t speak, even though he knew very well that White Lily wouldn’t take kindly to being turned guardian without her consent.

“Very wise, but what can White Lily do if Pure Van-“

Elder Faerie stopped and turned to face the silver knight. 

“Pure Vanilla cannot be here. Shadow Milk is lying to us.” The guardian bluntly stated, his wings stiffening. “As much as I’d like a cookie as strong as himself here to fight with us, there is simply no way a cookie with no wings, no fins, or any other way to travel swiftly can be here.”

Mercurial Knight quietly nodded, clutching his spear. Elder Faerie sighed and turned back around. 

“Thank you for supporting me in this decision. White Lily may not be excited about this, but it’s the most plausible choice for our success.”

“Yes, guardian.”

Elder Faerie began walking again. Just get to the gate, and they could finally awaken White Lily to save them. 

The gate was right there. He could feel it. He could see it. 

“And where are we going?!”

In the blink of an eye, Shadow Milk was right in front of Elder Faerie, a wide and toothy grin spreading from ear to ear. 

“You!-“ Elder Faerie gasped as he held up his spear. 

“Now, now!” Shadow Milk held up his hands, mocking the guardian. “Let’s not get violent yet, the first act has just barely begun!”

“The first-“ Elder Faerie scowled, rage boiling up. “This isn’t a game, you beast!”

“Yap, yap, all you do is say words!” A sinister fog began to form as he said this. Elder Faerie and Mercurial Knight readied themselves for the worst. 

“Let the show begin!”

And just like that, the fog was gone as well as Shadow Milk. Rubble and fire was before them where the gate should have been, blocking their path.

Chapter Text

“Look! I see the gates!” Silverbell called, pointing to a silver glisten in the distance. The others hurried forward, eagerly looking to try and see these gates. 

“Let’s get closer!” Gingerbrave said. The others agreed and, with Silverbell in the lead, ran to the gates. Or, what was left of them. 

To their horror, the gates were tarnished. Rubble and fire lay in front of them, only a small glint of what it used to be could be seen. 

“What…how could this have happened?!” Silverbell gasped. “Are we…too late…?”

“There must be another way in!” Gingerbrave said, pointing his cane to the left. “Maybe this way has an entrance?”

Pure Vanilla scanned the rubble. Something caught his eye, it seemed to be a hole to the other side. He carefully pulled away the light rubble that covered this hole, then said, “Wait, there’s something here.”

“A hole?” Wizard cookie said astonished. “How could a hole this big not be covered by rubble?”

“Indeed, it can even fit me with my hat on,” Pure Vanilla observed, “but whatever the reason, there is an entrance here.”

“Can we even trust it…?” Strawberry Cookie asked. There was no response, but Pure Vanilla knew that if they wanted to get into the Faerie kingdom, this hole was their best bet. He took a step into the hole before he felt a soft hand grab his shoulder. 

“I should go first,” Silverbell said, “if anything comes at us, I’ll be there to stop it.”

“You have a bow,” Pure Vanilla replied, “you will be able to aim it around my shoulder while I can use my magic at the same time.”

“What if I hit you?”

“I trust in your abilities.”

Silverbell’s eyes widened as a small smile dared to tug at his lips. He nodded and the five cookies walked through the hole. 

There wasn’t any issue. At least, on the outside. The other cookies were nervous, yes, but they were unharmed. Pure Vanilla, on the other hand, could feel a dark presence looming over his whole body. His chest tightened as he stepped foot into the faerie kingdom. 

“Oh my…” Silverbell gasped as he looked around at what was once was his home. Fires were scattered everywhere, homes were in ruin, and decorated on the remains were cardboard banners and jelly hoops, like one would see at a circus. Faerie cookies ran around like maniacs, burning themselves and others in their wake of chaos. 

“It’s only gotten worse! Oh, guardian…” Silverbell cried. Pure Vanilla and his friends looked around in horror, astonished at the sight.

“We need to find the guardian and fast.” Pure Vanilla said. Silverbell nodded and flew above the others, observing the lay of the land before ducking as a flaming ball came his way. 

“Hehehe!” Clownish faerie cookies laughed as they threw balls of fire around at each other, chanting and screaming. 

“Aaah!” Wizard yelled, ducking. Pure Vanilla outstretched his arms above his friends defensively, gritting his teeth at the brutish display of chaos. 

“To the left!” Silverbell called, “there’s no one over there to attack us.”

They all ran over to the dark concave rubble, Silverbell pointing his bow out. 

“Is everyone unharmed?” Pure Vanilla asked. 

“We’re all ok,” Gingerbrave said, “but what was up with those guys?”

“Those were the faeries infected by Shadow Milk,” Silverbell explained, “they aren’t themselves right now. If we get rid of the beast, everyone will go back to normal…I-I think.”

Pure Vanilla nodded, turning to go deeper into the kingdom. “We must find this guardian and White Lily.”

He looked around a corner and saw two faerie cookies hunched over together. Silverbell peered in and let out a sigh of relief. 

“Guardian! Mercurial Knight!” He said, running over and looking up at them. 

“You’re back,” Mercurial Knight said, standing up and looking at Silverbell, “and you brought…”

“Pure Vanilla Cookie…” Elder Faerie said softly. The guardian approached Pure Vanilla, examining him. 

“Ehh…” Pure Vanilla shifted a little. “Hello, Guardian.”

“Just call me Elder Faerie.”

“Elder Faerie!” Gingerbrave said confidently, “We’re here to help you!”

Elder Faerie gave Pure Vanilla’s side a good pinch that made the vanilla cookie flinch. 

“Ow!” He yelped. 

“Yes, yes. You are real.” Elder Faerie said in dismay. “Oh, no. Silverbell, why on Earthbread did you bring Pure Vanilla here?”

“I-if I left him out there not knowing what he was up against,” Silverbell timidly explained, “then I f-feared he would be…unprepared to save himself from the beast…”

Elder Faerie’s shoulders seemed to drop, before he broadened them again and looked to Pure Vanilla and friends. 

“You have come at a most inconvenient time.” Elder Faerie said. 

“Ya think?” Wizard mumbled, Strawberry and Gingerbrave standing near and giving small nods. 

“This reality we’re facing is most dire. The beasts are escaping as we speak, and we need to find a way to seal the silver tree back up.”

Pure Vanilla thought for a moment before pulling out the soul jam shards. 

“These are what I believe to be White Lily’s soul jam shards,” he explained, “do you think they can help?”

Elder Faerie stepped forward to examine them, lightly taking them from from Pure Vanilla. The moment their weight and warmth left Pure Vanilla, he felt his soul jam reacting harshly to his chest, like an attack on his very body. He groaned, wobbling down into his staff and clutching his soul jam as the black steam from before emitted from his soul jam.

“Pure Vanilla!” Gingerbrave, Strawberry, and Wizards shouted, all going to his sides to hold him up. 

“This again…!” Silverbell said. Elder Faerie handed the soul jam shards to Mercurial Knight and rushed to Pure Vanilla, holding out his hand to steady the other and using the other to hover over the soul jam. 

“Stay awake, now,” Elder Faerie barked, but his feeble attempt to use his guardian power to re-stabilize the soul jam went no where as Pure Vanilla lost consciousness and fell. 

“No! Not again…” Strawberry sniffled as she went to Pure Vanilla’s side, shaking him desperately. “We need you, Pure Vanilla! Wake up…”

Elder Faerie clutched his fists and snatched the soul jam shards again.

“Again? Has this happened before?” He asked. 

“It’s the beast,” Silverbell said, “I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s doing something to Pure Vanilla or his soul jam that puts him into a sleep-like state.”

“Is he safe to be around?” Mercurial Knight asked. Silverbell nodded slowly. 

Elder Faerie picked up Pure Vanilla with a huff before turning to the others. “How I wish you didn’t bring Pure Vanilla here, but it’s clear to me now that no matter what I said we’ll need his help.”

Elder Faerie hated the sound of those words dripping out of his mouth. It felt disgusting to say they had to keep the very cookie that Shadow Milk was after here with them. But it was far too late to backtrack. If this had happened before, it would happen again and again until Pure Vanilla was in the belly of the beast. Besides, seeing his power unable to stabilize the soul jam, he suddenly didn’t feel confident that he could fight alone against Shadow Milk. 

Elder Faerie ordered Mercurial Knight to fetch the body of White Lily to show to their new allies. The children gasped in shock, huddling around the silver knight to look at White Lily. 

“Is it really her?” Strawberry asked, reaching out and gently touching White Lily’s hair. 

“Her scent, her dough, it’s all the same!” Wizard remarked. 

“She’s been here all along? What about Dark Enchantress?” Gingerbrave asked. 

Laughter slowly began to creep closer. Elder Faerie frowned and turned to the others, “We must get moving again. We have to leave the kingdom to find more of White Lily’s soul jam.”

“But what if some of the shards are in the city?” Silverbell asked. The guardian shook his head, then gave a small glance at Pure Vanilla. 

“The shards are sentient, just like the virtuous lights that come from the soul jams. It wouldn’t go where the beasts could get it easily.”

“That settles it!” Gingerbrave said, leaning into the soul jam shards. “Let’s get out of here, I don’t like it here, White Lily’s soul jam!”

***

Not again. Pure Vanilla felt the shame overcoming him as he looked around in the void of his soul. 

“Here again?” The sing-songy voice of the master of deceit chimed. Pure Vanilla looked around to try and see the beast this time, but only saw hundreds of eyes all focused on him. 

“I’m tired of this game!” He shouted. “Show yourself, and tell me why you’re doing this!”

His soul jam was jerked down, causing him to topple over. He gasped as he clutched his chest, struggling to get up as the darkness around him pulled at his clothing and hair. Shrill laughter erupted from an invisible mouth, and a blue hand clutched his chin forced Pure Vanilla to look up. 

“You would look great as my marionette, hm?” The voice was cold but strangely playful, “I could put you in a glass jar and I would use you as the star player in my most ambitious plays!”

Pure Vanilla struggled against everything that grabbed at him, images of himself trapped flashing in his mind as he yelled out. 

“What’s the rush, huh?” Shrill laughter. “I just want to get to know you, since you were made just for me. Hehehe!”

The darkness around him was suddenly and violently jerked away from him. The blue hand jerked back as a bright light engulfed Pure Vanilla. 

“Pure Vanilla!”

It was as if White Lily were right there, reaching out for him, protecting him. 

“Pure Vanilla!”

“Is he waking up?”

“He is! Are you ok, Pure Vanilla?!”

Pure Vanilla felt himself coming back to reality and found his friends and allies all around him. He blinked at the strangely bright light that hovered above him, and reached out and grabbed another piece of White Lily’s soul jam. 

“A shard in the city…?” Silverbell said astonished. “But the guardian said…”

Pure Vanilla felt it in his fingers, smiling slightly at the warmth it gave his palm. 

“I think I may understand now,” Elder Faeire said, “you four told me only Pure Vanilla found the shards. The light of freedom must still be active, and must be trying to help…help him. It’s a brilliant tactic, hiding until it needs to save Pure Vanilla from the beast’s mind games.”

“Is this three shards now? Four?” Gingerbrave asked. 

“It doesn’t matter, we’ve almost got the whole soul jam fixed!” Wizard exclaimed, beaming. Pure Vanilla sat up and looked at everyone again. 

“We must complete her soul jam, as fast as possible. If it can pull me away from Shadow Milk I’m just shards, then I believe we can do so much more with all our powers combined.”

Silverbell nodded. “Right! I know we can do it!”

The others all agreed, nodding with beams and confidence. The guardian went to Pure Vanilla’s side and glanced at his soul jam.

“Be strong, my friend,” Elder Faerie whispered, “I see you still tremble. We cannot be weak.”

Truthfully, Pure Vanilla didn’t believe he could stop shaking. In just the few encounters he’d had with the beast of deceit, he had already been thrashed around and told he’d be trapped once again by a new foe he knew very little about. He couldn’t even escape without the help of the light of freedom’s power. But, he still gave a soft smile at Elder Faerie. 

“You’ve decided we’re already friends? You’re faster than me, it seems.” Pure Vanilla chuckled. 

Elder Faerie awkwardly nodded. “Any friend of White Lily’s is a friend of mine. And you were her most precious friend, so you are in my care until she can truly look into your eyes again.”

Pure Vanilla smiled gratefully at Elder Faerie, watching as he pointed forward. 

“We have new information regarding White Lily’s soul jam even I didn’t know. That means, we must find the beast and confront him ourselves.”

“Onward!” Mercurial Knight said, awkwardly holding White Lily as he flew forward with the rest of the cookies behind him. 

***

Shadow Milk gritted his teeth and screamed. He slammed his hand into the side of the silver tree, growling. 

“White Lily,” He said icily, “you can’t keep what’s mine away from me forever!”

He looked down on the faerie kingdom, bright with his blue flames and overrun with his beautiful circus. He smiled with his sharp teeth, not being able to hold back his laughter. 

“I’ll enjoy killing you once and for all, Elder Faerie, White Lily!” He screamed, his eyes shaking from the pure madness he felt. “Your power will run thin, and I love playing long games!”

Chapter Text

The silver tree was in sight now. If it weren’t for the destruction of everything, Pure Vanilla was sure he’d be blown away be the sheer majesty of it. It truly was silver, and its branches outstretched far above the kingdom. Unfortunately, a large crack was split right in the middle and darkness seeped out of it. Elder Faerie clenched his fists before walking forward. 

“The beast could appear from anywhere,” Elder Faerie said, “he could even be watching us right now. Stay on your toes.”

Pure Vanilla clutched his staff close to his chest, praying that Shadow Milk wouldn’t try anything again. Not now. 

“I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary,” Silverbell said, “er, besides the…giant hole in the tree.”

Pure Vanilla stared at the swirling eyes that stared at them from the cracked silver bark. He felt his chest twisting with nerves as his little friends looked around cautiously. 

“I’m not seeing anything!” Gingerbrave said. 

“It’s not like we really know what Shadow Milk looks like,” Wizard said, “but I’m sure it would be obvious.”

Pure Vanilla approached the split in the tree. The swirling black abyss inside it was hypnotizing to look at and it made his head spin around. 

“Don’t get too close,” Elder Faerie said as he pulled Pure Vanilla back, “We don’t know what it can do.”

Pure Vanilla couldn’t pull his eyes away. It felt like it was calling to him, and it made him feel uneasy. 

As he stared deeper, it felt like someone else was staring at him. A staring contest? What fun…wait. 

How ridiculous! Where were these thoughts coming from? Pure Vanilla peeled his eyes away and looked at his friends, concern pressing his brow. 

“Where could he be hiding…” Elder Faerie mumbled. 

Gingerbrave boldly stepped forward and yelled, “Come out you stinking beast!”

“Maybe he’s playing with us,” Wizard tried, “you never know…”

“What’s this?” Silverbell asked, kneeling down beside a flower that seemed to be coughing. The slightest touch made the flower shake, then cough out a blue powder. Mercurial Knight pulled Silverbell away, scowling at the plant. 

“Disgusting…” the silver knight spat, though his posture began to wane. 

“I’m suddenly tired…” Strawberry yawned. Elder Faerie grunted, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“Some sort of sleeping spell, don’t…inhale i…t…”

Pure Vanilla knelt down with a grunt. His staff’s eye fluttered shut, causing his world to become dark as he himself fell into slumber. 

***

Elder Faeire awoke to the morning light pooling in through a cone-shaped pane of glass. Sitting up, he looked down to see arms with dough that was not his. Another dream of White Lily, he assumed. His assumption was proven correct when he approached a mirror and saw her face staring back. 

“White Lily! Good morning!” Elder Faerie turned to see Pure Vanilla walking in with a soft smile on his face. “Was your sleep good? I tried my best to make it feel homely for you…”

“It was lovely, but…” Elder Faerie couldn’t control the words that came out of his mouth. That was probably for the best. 

“But what?” His expression turned concerned, clutching his staff as he stared at Elder Faerie—or, White Lily. This was all a dream anyways, Elder Faerie would just have to play along until he could force himself awake. 

“It’s just that I didn’t see you when I woke up!” He felt White Lily’s giggles wiggle their way out. Pure Vanilla paused, then giggled along. 

“Oh, you’re so funny Lily.” He mused. “Come, the others are waiting for us.”

The two walked down the vanillian halls, chattering of all kinds of cookies coming from all corners the castle. It was peaceful. 

Too peaceful. 

Elder Faerie knew that this had to be the work of Shadow Milk again. He knew that something was bound to go wrong like last time. He knew he had to be prepared, so he stiffened his back and kept following Pure Vanilla as he walked into a large dining hall. The other three ancients sat backs towards them. Elder Faerie walked up, and White Lily’s voice said, “Hello, friends-“

The three looked at them, but as they turned, Elder Faerie saw that their bodies were mangled with vines, jam pouring out of wounds in the gallons. 

“Why did you let her do this?” He turned and saw Pure Vanilla staring at him, wide eyed. 

“What-“ Elder Faerie coughed. 

“You told us everything would work out if White Lily woke up, but it was all a trick. She killed everyone, and you just let her.”

Elder Faerie fell to his knees and coughed more. He felt jam coming from his mouth, so much he gagged on it. He looked at Pure Vanilla and saw darkness forming around him, grabbing his arms and pulling him back. 

Elder Faerie forced himself awake. He coughed some more, but this time it was because of the hazy blue mist that was forming. He could sense the magic coming from that flower Silverbell had touched, so covering his mouth, he crawled his way towards it, too weak to even stand up. 

He knew this spell. It was a sleeping spell, a very simple one to preform but incredibly effective if placed just so, and just by looking at the amount of blue smoke that was produced, he knew that it must of worked very well for the beast. 

Elder Faerie found the coughing flower, producing smoke still. Grabbing it tightly, he ripped it from the ground. The flower screamed, then wilted and died. The blue fog dipped away, just as Elder Faerie’s head fell to the ground with a soft thud. 

“Ugh…what happened?” Strawberry mumbled. 

“I was dreaming about being chased by a big monster!” Gingerbrave said, holding his hands up to demonstrate. 

“My dream was about all my scrolls and books being ruined!” Wizard said. “It was a nightmare!!”

“It seems we all had nightmares,” Silverbell said timidly, “is everyone ok?”

“Pure Vanilla?” Elder Faerie called. 

“I’m still here,” Pure Vanilla said, though he sounded out of breath, “but..”

His soul jam was being touched by the black smoke once again. While Elder Faerie hated the thought of it, he knew that the final shard of White Lily’s soul jam would most likely appear like last time. They would be able to complete the soul jam and wake her up, and destroy Shadow Milk once and for all. 

“Stay strong, my friend,” Elder Faerie said, “this may mean the last shard of White Lily’s soul jam will appear.”

Pure Vanilla smiled slightly, “Just what we need…I will stay strong, for…her.”

“Woah, woah! We aren’t gonna help him?” Gingerbrave yelled. “But it hurts him!”

“Calm down, my friend.” Pure Vanilla said. “A little more pain will be worth it…if I never have to feel this way ever again.”

The little cookies all looked wary but nodded, giving smiles of scared encouragement. 

“Once the last shard appears, then we can face Shadow Milk and seal him back away.” Elder Faerie said. “Once you awaken again, be prepared.”

Pure Vanilla nodded and rested his body, placing his hand near his soul jam. 

***

Pure Vanilla awoke in the void again, though this time it felt strangely…empty. The many blue eyes still stared at him, but he felt alone. There was no immediate grab for him, no voice to greet his arrival. He walked forward, looking around for any indication at anyone else. 

Almost immediately, he saw a bright light. It was a shard of White Lily’s soul jam, but it didn’t call his name like it usually did. 

“Run,” it said instead, “run, run, run.”

Then it blinked out. 

Chapter Text

Shadow Milk held the soul jam fragment in his hands, humming softly. 

“White Lily’s memories, hm?” He mused. “What a foolish cookie, I say. I don’t know why you cherish her so much.”

Elder Faerie scowled. Of course now it was a trick, just when he had it figured out. 

“Return that shard or face us,” Elder Faerie boomed, “the choice is yours.”

“You think that scares me?” Shadow Milk scoffed. “I beat your whole Silver army. A few cookies with candies aren’t gonna stop me!”

Gingerbrave scowled and clutched his candy cane staff, stepping forward on an attempt to be threatening. 

“You keep hurting Pure Vanilla!” He shouted. “But I say no more! I’ll make sure you stay away from him forever!”

Shadow Milk bellowed with laughter, rolling over in the air and kicked his legs. 

“Oh! Oh! This little cookie thinks he can keep my Vanilly away from me? Then show me!”

The beast shot forward at Gingerbrave, but Elder Faerie stuck him with his own sword before he could make contact with the child. Shadow Milk laughed gleefully, soaring above the cookies and locking eyes on Pure Vanilla’s still body. Gritting his teeth into a long grin, he outstretched his arms and shot down at him. 

Mercurial Knight stopped the beast with his spear, but he could feel his arms wobbling at the sheer strength of Shadow Milk.  Elder Faerie and Silverbell both attacked in coordination, which only amused Shadow Milk more. 

“Six to one? That’s no fair!” Shadow Milk said and, with a flick of his wrist, created paper cookies to rush to their location and begin attacking. “How about we even the playing field?!”

“We’ve got these guys!” Gingerbrave said. Silverbell nodded and shot some more arrows at Shadow Milk. The beast dodged each one, but gritted his teeth at Elder Faerie and Mercurial Knight, as their close combat style of fighting made it near impossible to dodge their attacks. 

“Saved your best fighters for last, huh, guardian?” Shadow Milk spat with a smile. Elder Faerie didn’t say a word as he lunged an attack at Shadow Milk. The two exchanged blows over and over, the beast dangling the soul jam shard over his head, a cowardly act of desperation in Elder Faerie’s eyes. 

“You can’t stop White Lily’s awakening! She will reunite with us!” Silverbell yelled, shooting an arrow into Shadow Milk’s shoulder. Whatever it was, the arrow or the words, something snapped in his head. 

“Enough!” Shadow Milk shouted, stomping his foot to make the ground shake. The cookies could feel the magic radiating from his soul jam, dangerously warning them to make another move. 

“I’m done playing games. Give me Pure Vanilla or face the consequences!”

“What do you even want with him anyways?” Wizard asked. Elder Faerie knew that there was a possibility that the beast would torture Pure Vanilla for withholding the soul jam of truth from him, though his gut said there was something different that was amiss. 

“We’d rather face whatever you got!” Gingerbrave yelled. Strawberry nodded slightly, holding her giant sucker threateningly. Shadow Milk tutted, opening a portal beside him and shoving his arm in. 

“You have no choice in this matter!” He sang, though it was constrained with annoyance and anger. On the other side, he pulled at Pure Vanilla’s robes, and in a swift motion, had Pure Vanilla in his arms. The ancient cookie’s face twitched and scrunched up, as if he knew what was happening. 

“Wha-no! Pure Vanilla!” Gingerbrave cried. Silverbell and Mercurial Knight attacked, though it was in vain. Shadow Milk tip toed back into a new portal and was gone. 

***

Pure Vanilla ran. The moment the light blinked away, he knew something was wrong. He desperately tried to find the way out, but the void was never ending. Was he even moving at all? The eyes all around him flew past, and yet they were never ending. 

His legs got caught in his robes and he fell, crashing down with a loud bang. Grunting, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. Black shoes suddenly hopped in front of him and a giggle came from above. 

“Sorry I’m late, Vanilly~” Shadow Milk was back, and he smiled down at Pure Vanilla, his pointy teeth illuminated by his glowing eyes. 

“You…what have you done?” Pure Vanilla slowly asked. Shadow Milk exhaled sharply through his nose, kneeling down beside Pure Vanilla and twirling his hair. 

“I’ve done lots today, thanks for asking!” He giggled. “Specifically, we’re finally alone. Isn’t that just so great?”

Pure Vanilla felt in his soul that he needed to run, needed to get away, but at his hands, he felt strings softy wrapping around his wrists. An attempt at stealth or to deliberately spare his arms, he didn’t know. 

“I would be heading to my spire if I didn’t have…business to attend to at the tree.” Shadow Milk continued, “so you will just have to wait to see your new home!”

“New home…?”

“Ta-ta, ‘Nilly!” Shadow Milk turned away from Pure Vanilla. “You won’t have to worry about anything soon enough.”

Pure Vanilla felt his soul jam become like a cold stone against his chest, like cold hands grabbing him. He shivered as he slowly got up and began to run again. 

***

Failure was something that the Silver Knights didn’t experience often. Their work was simple, protect the Faerie Kingdom. The most they fought against was cookievorous plants and each other, training to push the beasts back into the silver tree if they ever got out again. From the moment they could hold a weapon, they were sent off to train to become knights, a very highly desired position among the Faerie cookies. 

Silverbell hated failing the cookies he cared about. He remembered when he was the one protected by White Lily many times before, the way he felt embarrassed and told her he’d make it up somehow, and how she’d laugh it off and told him he’d just have to read with her then. 

When they read, he sometimes got a little distracted, which led to White Lily telling stories of her journeys in Crispia and her friends over there. He knew Pure Vanilla was something special to her by the way her cheeks would turn rosy red and the way her eyes sparkled with adoration. 

“Some day,” Silverbell would ask, “can I meet Pure Vanilla and all your other friends?”

“When I’m done here, I would love to take you to Crispia!” She would reply. 

That made Silverbell happy. 

He may not of been in Crispia, but Pure Vanilla did come. He was everything and more. He was kind, and he was smart. He told Silverbell all about the stars and what they meant, how they worked, why they worked. He had never heard something so wonderful. He could support all his allies with a flick of his wrist, he was powerful like that. 

And even though his eyes were closed, he had that same way about him when he spoke of White Lily. 

Silverbell had known Pure Vanilla for only a few days, but it felt like he had just failed his oldest friend. 

“Silverbell?” Strawberry asked, inching closer to him. “Are you ok?”

“Oh, yes!” He awkwardly said. “Well, no, not really, but you know…”

He trailed off and looked at Mercurial Knight and Elder Faerie. They were discussing how to go about awakening White Lily, as when the beast ran away with Pure Vanilla, the shard blinked back to them. It was genuinely something to marvel at, and now, her soul jam was back together. Almost. 

“The shard must of not wanted to go with the beast,” Elder Faerie murmured, holding the shattered soul jam in his hands, “now to fix it, I will give my power to seal it back together so White Lily may awaken.”

Mercurial Knight still had White Lily with him. He seemed glad to be waking her up, though he also seemed hesitant. 

“Guardian, are you sure you want to go through with this?” He asked. “If you give your power, you will surely crumble.”

“It must be done this way,” Elder Faerie argued, “White Lily with both her soul jam’s power and the guardian’s power will be strong enough to seal the beast back away.”

Silverbell bit his lip nervously, not knowing what to say. He wanted to argue that they could find another way, but the clock was ticking. Pure Vanilla was already under Shadow Milk’s thumb, there was only so much they could do. 

White Lily was set carefully on the ground. The soul jam shards were placed on her chest, arranged so they slightly resembled their previous form. Elder Faerie stood above her, concentrating his power into his palms, ready to bring her back. 

“Goodbye, my friends.” He said. “Please, save the kingdom.”

“Guardian…!” Silverbell said softly. Gingerbrave, Wizard, and Strawberry all looked distraught, but stayed quiet as they watched as Elder Faerie’s power went to White Lily’s body.

In a bright rising light that blinded everyone, Silverbell cover his his face and closed his eyes. He squinted his eyes open again to see the distinct shape of White Lily’s soul jam being pieced back together. He was mesmerized by the sheer majesty of it, lowering his arms to stare just a little longer. 

***

“White Lily…”

She opened her eyes a little. It was so dark, as if she didn’t open them at all, but she knew she did. 

“There you are.”

She felt the weight of the voice of her soul jam over her, cradling her soft body. 

“Light of freedom?” She called. “What happened…?”

“There is no time to explain.” It said softly, but firmly. “You must wake up. The Faerie kingdom needs you…Pure Vanilla needs you.”

“Pure Vanilla…? Pure Vanilla!…What has happened to him? Light of freedom, you must…!”

“Your questions will be answered, but you must…wake up…”

Her eyes fluttered open to see the silver tree’s branches just above. She rubbed her tired eyes, they were not used to being opened like this. 

“White Lily!” She heard the familiar voice of Silverbell rushing to her side, his face coming into view as he helped her up. 

“Are you ok?” Mercurial Knight asked, being at her other side. 

“Before I woke up, the light of freedom spoke to me…” she murmured, looking over at the three little cookies whom she vaguely recognized but couldn’t recall who they were, “What is happening?”

“Pure Vanilla- he was taken by Shadow Milk!- and Shadow Milk- he destroyed the kingdom!-“ the little cookie with a candy cane hook said waving his arms around. 

White Lily recalled that the light of freedom told her Pure Vanilla needed her help. Was being kidnapped by Shadow Milk what it meant? Regardless, she felt anger already boiling up in her chest at the mere thought of Pure Vanilla being hurt. She pushed herself up and wobbly held onto Silverbell for support. 

Looking around, she spotted Elder Faerie kneeling down, coughing. Her eyes widened and she went to his side. 

“Elder Faerie? What is happening?” She asked quickly. 

“White Lily…” he said softly with a smile. “It’s good to see you awake again…”

“You’re so weak, your dough is growing pale…”

“I gave my power to save you. You must understand, it was the only way.”

“W-what…? But I don’t need your power, I have my soul jam!” Her heart sank as Elder Faerie lowered to the ground, too weak to even kneel anymore. 

“No, you can’t leave me! I just…”

“Calm yourself. You still have Mercurial Knight, Silverbell, and the other faerie cookies…as well as your old friends, your Pure Vanilla.”

“But…”

She soon came to terms with the fact that Elder Faerie would no longer argue with her as he coughed more. She looked to the other cookies, eyes wide with shock that this was the first thing that happened to her after…

She could hardly remember it, but the vague memory of the witch’s supper and discovering the truth of the true purpose of cookies lingered in her mind. Just how long was she asleep for? After she fell into that great bowl of dough? What happened after?

“What is going on?” She whispered, looking around finally at her surroundings. She saw the Faerie Kingdom in ruin, most likely Shadow Milk’s doing. Her suspicions only increased when she saw the crack in the silver tree, black smoke pooling out from it. 

“The beasts escaped,” Silverbell quickly explained, “Shadow Milk stayed here and made a mess of our kingdom and destroyed almost the whole Silver Army. It’s even spreading outside the kingdom into the forest! And Pure Vanilla, he came from Crispia with his three little friends, but…”

“One of you little cookies said Shadow Milk took Pure Vanilla…” White Lily said, turning to them. Her head spun, confusion and anger boiling through her fatigued body. She wanted to mourn for but a moment, but she knew the moment she did she would be vulnerable to the beasts’ tricks and power.

Besides, the mere thought that a monster had taken Pure Vanilla away made her not want to rest. 

“Mercurial Knight,” She said, “stay with Elder Faerie. Keep him safe, please.”

Mercurial Knight hesitated. “The beasts are powerful. You’ll need all the help you can get.”

“Yes. That’s why you must help Elder Faerie gain his strength back.” She looked at Elder Faerie with a determined look. “You are my friend, you always believed in me. You were stubborn to think I would let you crumble while I get your power.”

Elder Faerie simply sighed. “I should have known this would be how you reacted. Fine. I will do my best to regain my strength, but until then…use the guardian’s power to kill the beast.”

White Lily nodded, exhaling shakily and giving him a hug.

“Thank you for everything. I promise, I will be the savior this kingdom needs once more.”

To be the savior Pure Vanilla needed. In her soul, she felt what the light of freedom had witnessed. It pained her, but she didn’t show it. It angered her, but she only gritted her teeth and clutched her staff a little tighter. 

“Everyone!” White Lily said. “Let’s go, we must find this beast and stop him!”

“And save Pure Vanilla!” A little strawberry cookie said softly.

“And save the kingdom and the forest!” Silverbell said. 

White Lily smiled and pointed her staff forward. “Let us go! He mustn’t stay hidden for too long!”

Elder Faerie watched White Lily, softening his gaze. She truly was an amazing cookie. He knew the guardian’s power was a burden, but if anyone deserved it, he believed it to be her. 

***

Shadow Milk stomped his feet as he watched White Lily and her new crew of cookies set off to find him. 

“How? How, how, how, HOW!!” He screamed, before composing himself again with a few dramatic deep breaths. 

“It seems I underestimated the soul jam’s power and…favoritism. No matter. This shall be a cake walk.”

He giggled maliciously as he turned to look at Pure Vanilla. The silly cookie still was in his other-world, but that was ok. Clearly, only White Lily could pull him from it (and obviously Shadow Milk himself. He had to be able to, right? He just hadn’t tried it yet! There was NOTHING special about White Lily besides the soul jam!!). 

White Lily wouldn’t get any closer. She couldn’t get any closer, or else Shadow Milk would have to go to drastic measures. 

“Don’t you think her head would look lovely on a plague on my wall?” he mused to Pure Vanilla, stroking his hair and curling it between his fingers. 

Chapter Text

Was she really cut out to be a leader?

In her days in Crispia, when she protected the world with her friends, she was never the leader and she was fine with that. She was happy to be the sidekick to her friend’s stronger strength. That’s what she was good at, after all. She felt herself to be more of a scholar, someone who could scheme plans to stop the bad guys rather than acting them out. She never liked the loudness of running a kingdom, so she helped her friends run theirs. Even when she took the initiative to seal the silver tree, she did it as a mere follower of Elder Faerie. 

So seeing so many cookies depending on her to be their new leader, she felt her chest tighten up. The last time she “lead” something, which was leading herself to the witch’s supper, she only made herself fall into a deep slumber. 

She wasn’t a leader. In fact, she was the farthest thing from a leader. 

“White Lily,” Silverbell said, “are you ok?”

“There’s a lot going on in my head,” she admitted, “but don’t worry about me, I think this is a logical feeling for anyone.”

“That’s true, you did just wake up to chaos.”

She giggled awkwardly, fidgeting with her hands as they walked. 

“So you’ve been here all along?” Strawberry asked White Lily. 

“I…suppose so.” She replied. “I don’t remember much though.”

“So you don’t remember us?” Gingerbrave asked. 

“Obviously,” Wizard said, “that was Dark Enchantress before, right? Not White Lily!”

Ah, so there was another threat in the world. She gave a soft sigh and hurried forward. 

“Do you have a plan, White Lily?” Silverbell asked. 

“I’m…still trying to figure that out myself,” She admitted, “but I think we need an idea that will trick the beast.”

“But he’s Shadow Milk, the beast of deceit! How can we trick him?”

Admittedly, White Lily hadn’t gotten that far yet. She knew she’d have to think of something quick, but her mind was jumbled with passing thoughts that made it near impossible to think. 

“Oh! Is the library still around?” She changed the subject, but also in hopes that the library would help her think better. 

“It is, but I’m not sure how helpful it could be right now.”

“We need to go there. Perhaps, something there can help us.”

“There’s a library here?” Wizard asked, his eyes seeming to sparkle. 

“Yeah, I’ll lead the way!” Silverbell announced. The cookies ran behind the fluttering Silverbell, the little ones cheering. 

***

Black Sapphire lazily threw books off the shelves and onto the ground, listening to Candy Apple singing as she kicked and ripped them apart. He really hated how they were written like sheet music, it was totally gatekeeping. He’d be more mad if he couldn’t read sheet music, at least he could read it unlike silly Candy Apple.

And yet these faerie cookies condemned THEM for being deceitful!

“No, no, no!” He hissed. “Does this book master want really exist? And if it does why isn’t it in the spire?”

“Maybe it’s a special gate-kept spell book from the faeries.” Candy Apple said as she tore up a storybook. 

“Wouldn’t put it past those lazy faeries.”

“Oh, I think I see something!” Candy Apple ran to the window and peered out, and gasped. 

“What?” Black Sapphire paused his looking and looked over at her. 

“It’s White Lily!” She shrieked. “And she’s got company!”

“What?!”

“Four other little cookies. One of them is a silver knight!”

Black Sapphire ran to look out and lo and behold, Candy Apple wasn’t lying. He scowled before running back to the shelves and scanned the bookshelves quicker. 

“Uhh, aren’t we gonna do something?” Candy Apple asked. 

“Yes, just watch!”

***

The library was still standing, which was amazing, seeing the other rubble and broken homes. The fires got dangerously close, as if waiting to strike, but otherwise it was fine. 

“This is amazing!” Wizard cried. “Is there a special protection spell on it?”

“N-no,” Silverbell admitted, “maybe it’s just in a good spot?”

That didn’t convince White Lily, something felt off. She carefully opened the door and peered in and felt her heart drop. All the knowledge in the library was scattered on the ground, most of which were ruined beyond repair. 

“Dear witches!” Wizard said, rushing in and desperately looking for a book that hadn’t been destroyed. “What happened here?”

“Looks like Shadow Milk left this place untouched just so he could get to it first,” Silverbell guessed. 

“It doesn’t matter,” White Lily said, “there has to be something here.”

The cookies split up and went different directions to look for any spared books. White Lily and Silverbell took off towards the west wing, where some of the most precious and most dangerous information was stored. White Lily scarcely went into the forbidden section, only entering once or twice to read a line or two before quickly leaving, for this section of the library had tempting and twisted spells that were meant to be kept safe and away from dangerous cookies. 

“Try not to read any of it,” White Lily warned as they entered into the forbidden section. Silverbell strayed his eyes away from the information salad that littered the floor. 

“Even if this information was dangerous, it shouldn’t have been so carelessly destroyed!” Silverbell said. White Lily nodded in agreement, brushing the torn paper aside to make way for her feet. 

“Hurry up! What are you even looking for!!” A feminine squeal came from around a bookshelf. White Lily paused and pressed up against the bookshelf, Silverbell following suit. 

“I saw a title in passing that caught my attention,” a talk-show like voice replied, “trust me, it will get rid of these pesky cookies for a time and give us enough time to find the book master Shadow Milk wants!”

White Lily clutched her staff and peered around the corner. A purple cookie threw books off the shelves once he saw that they were not what he wanted, while a red cookie stood behind him, stomping her feet impatiently. 

“How do you know I didn’t already destroy it?”

“I didn’t pull it off the shelf yet! That’s why I’m looking on the shelf, obviously.”

“Then how did you even see the title?”

“It was in the shelf above the one I was doing. Why are you even arguing?”

“What’s it called so I can help you!”

“I can’t remember what it was called, but I’ll know it when I see it. You go look for the book master Shadow Milk wants, it was called ‘The Book of Wonderful Potions.’”

A jolt went through White Lily. That book held some of the most dangerous potions on all of Earthbread, regardless of its name. If it got into the wrong hands, especially Shadow Milk, it would be disastrous. 

As the red cookie left, White Lily stepped out and pointed her staff at the purple cookie. Silverbell stepped out too, pointing his bow. 

“Stop!” She hissed. He whirled around and smiled. 

“Ah! If it isn’t the Lily herself. My, you really didn’t give my any time to think of a disguise.”

“What are you going to do with that potion book!” Silverbell demanded. 

“Oh, you heard that? Pity, Candy Apple just left to go find it.”

White Lily scowled and created vines, launching them at the purple cookie. He ducked away, catching a book that fell from the impact of the vines crashing into the bookshelf that was behind him. 

“Oh! Just the book I needed.” He smirked and filled through the pages. Silverbell shot arrows at him while White Lily created more vines, but at an awkward flick of the purple cookie’s hand, an unstable shield was created around him. 

“Heh!” He murmured, getting up and running after where Candy Apple ran off to. 

“Black Sapphire!” Candy Apple called. “I found the book! But…”

As Black Sapphire found Candy Apple, he followed her pointed hand to a book that was encased in glass. It seemed to sparkle in some strange light, but Black Sapphire knew it as a magic shield based on the one he just made. 

“Let’s see here…” He said, looking through the book he had. “There has to be something about breaking shields!”

Candy Apple heard White Lily and Silverbell running their way, so with a smirk, she ran towards them. 

“Hurry up unlike last time!” She yelled at Black Sapphire, who grunted in response. 

***

Defeating the red cookie was easy enough, but Silverbell felt they took too long on just one cookie when there was another one on the loose. He hurried forward, following White Lily after she securely tied their red foe in her vines. 

“Oh, no…!” White Lily skid to a stop upon seeing the divine shield that protected ‘The Book of Wonderful Potions’ had been destroyed, and the book itself was gone. The book that the purple cookie had used was now on the floor, torn apart just like the rest of the books. 

“We have to find him!” White Lily said, looking around desperately. 

“Shall we split up to cover more ground?” Silverbell asked. 

“No, n-no, it’s too dangerous now that he has that book. Stay close, my friend. We’re stronger together!”

He nodded and he followed White Lily as she backtracked. He noticed that the red cookie was already gone, only White Lily’s vines remained, presumably ripped apart messily and in a hurry. 

The two of them rushed past the emptied bookshelves and book salad on the ground, but White Lily slipped on some pages and fell. 

“White Lily!” Silverbell cried. 

“Ugh, why am I too slow…!” White Lily said in distress. “That book can tell how to kill a someone in mere minutes, change a cookie’s emotions with just a few ingredients…oh, Pure Vanilla…!”

“We can still stop them!” Silverbell yelled, pulling White Lily up. “We just have to keep going!”

She nodded softly, furrowing her brow and kept running in search of those cookies. 

“I see them!” She said, pointing forward. Purple coattails flicked past a bookshelf, down the hallway towards the main area. The chase continued until the main door was in view. Silverbell quickly flew to the door, holding his bow at the two thieves. White Lily got into stance, ready to snatch the book when she had the chance. 

“Oh nooo, we’re traaaped!” Candy Apple said dramatically, a giggle in her voice. 

“Drop the book right now!” Silverbell demanded, stepping closer. “And tell us where Pure Vanilla is!”

Black Sapphire scoffed, wiggling the book in his hands. “I’m not failing my master, no matter how cute you are.”

Silverbell stammered, but tried not to falter his grip on his bow. 

“We warned you.” White Lily hissed as she threw vines at them. At the same time, a portal opened and the two cookies raced through, laughing as they swiftly got away. The portal closed just as fast as it appeared, causing White Lily’s vines to latch onto nothing and curl into the ground. 

“Hey!” Silverbell growled, rushing to the place where the portal had been and trying to see if it was at all still there. White Lily stood there, shocked at how easily they got away. 

When had she become so dull? 

“Ugh…” She groaned, kneeling down and holding her head. “No, no, no…”

“H-hey, are you ok?!” Silverbell went to her side and held her shoulders. “Don’t tell me they hurt you..!”

“Why am I such a failure at this?” She said, breathing best she could. “I’m no leader, Silverbell…why did this have to happen?”

“Don’t doubt yourself, I’m just as confused as you are!”

She pursed her lips, curling her hands around her hair and trying to calm herself down. Ok, Shadow Milk probably had that dangerous book right now. What if he used it to hurt Pure Vanilla? Would he use it as leverage against her? Regardless, she knew she had to stop this self pity until after Pure Vanilla was safe again. 

“Find the others, then we’ll go back to Elder Faerie,” White Lily said, “I…need more clarification.”

***

“Master!” The two voices of Shadow Milk’s minions echoed as they ran to him, holding the special book he’d requested. 

“Finally,” he laughed, plucking the book up and skimming through it quickly, “what good cookies you are!”

“Why do you need that book, master?” Black Sapphire asked. 

Shadow Milk hummed, revealing the page he was looking for to his underlings once he found it. 

“A love potion?” Candy Apple read. 

“So bombastic!” Black Sapphire said. 

“Get the ingredients for me,” Shadow Milk ordered, “don’t come back unless that stupid Lily or any of her annoying friends are causing too much drama!”

“Yes master Shadow Milk!”

As the two cookies left, Shadow Milk sighed happily as he leaned down to look at Pure Vanilla’s still body. 

“Soon, my dear,” he said, tilting Pure Vanilla’s chin up, “we’ll be together forever, like we were always meant to be.”

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla felt his conscience find its way to reality again. He opened his eyes in hopes to get a better view of everything, but he was left with no answers. Where was his staff? Without it, he was terribly nearsighted. He pushed himself up and squinted around, trying to discern any landmark but was met with only darkness around him.

“Where am I?” He said aloud, in hopes that someone would hear him and answer. Fortunately for him, someone did hear him. He heard their tapping feet from behind, hurrying over.

“Doesn’t matter all that much!” Oh. It was that beast, Shadow Milk. Pure Vanilla recoiled as the blue cookie got closer, feeling his warm breath touching his tender face harshly.

“It matters to me.” Pure Vanilla replied hoarsely, as if it were instinct to say. Shadow Milk laughed.

“We’ll be leaving soon anyways,” Shadow Milk explained, “back to my spite once my minions get everything I need.”

“And why should I go with you?”

“It’s not like you have a choice.” Shadow Milk’s voice got dark, his hands grabbing Pure Vanilla’s harshly. “You’re mine, and I can sweep you back into my other-world whenever I please. I know you don’t want that, my dear, so just be a good cookie and obey me.”

Pure Vanilla clenched his fists, trying his best to see all of Shadow Milk’s features. The blue blob gave a toothy grin and cupped Pure Vanilla’s cheeks in his palms, pulling him closer.

“Now, shall we dance?” Shadow Milk said. Pure Vanilla felt strings wrap around his limbs, and he knew that the beast wouldn’t take “no, thank you” as an answer.

***

White Lily and company got back to the silver tree. She truly hoped that Elder Faerie was still hanging on, for she had so many questions now that she had been able to process everything. Not only that, she couldn’t bear to loose two cookies she cared for so deeply at once.

“Mercurial Knight?” She called, running over. The silver knight’s head popped up and he glided over to her.

“You’re back already? I thought it would have taken longer.”

“Shadow Milk has that dangerous potion book!” Silverbell said. Mercurial Knight’s eyes widened and pointed at Elder Faerie.

“He still has life, but just barely. You must figure out what on Earthbread the beast wants to do with such a dangerous book as itself.”

White Lily rushed to Elder Faerie’s side. She watched him glance up at her, raising his eyebrows in await of her words.

“Elder Faerie,” She said, “Shadow Milk has ‘The Book of Wonderful Potions,’ but…”

Elder Faerie nodded a little more, urging her to continue.

“I’m not sure what he could want with it. I mean, he already has so much magic and power. He can do so much, what could he possibly want with the potion book?”

Elder Faerie closed his eyes in thought. He was one of the few cookies who had read the book through and through, and he knew the contents incredibly well. Though it seemed at first like the beast had just obtained the potion book as a form of trickery, there was something that told him that one potion was the reason Shadow Milk stole the book.

“Love potion,” he said softly. “The beast wouldn’t need any harming potions, nor would he need any healing ones. The only thing he can’t control…is the way other cookies feel about him.”

White Lily blinked, staring at him for a moment before saying, “A…love potion?”

Elder Faerie nodded, coughing a little. “While yes, the beast has taken hostages before, this…is different.”

White Lily opened her mouth to ask more, but before she could, Elder Faerie let out multiple coughs, holding his chest as he wheezed.

“Get rest, guardian…” White Lily murmured. She didn’t hear his reply as her mind raced through all the things the beast could possibly do to Pure Vanilla with a love potion. Torture without mercy or resistance, using him as a tool for his dirty work, even dangling him over his friends heads.

“…White Lily.” Elder Faerie’s voice said with such force, even as it was weak. “Don’t be discouraged. If he has to make the potion, there is still time.”

She slowly nodded and stood up. “Thank you, Elder Faerie. I’m…sorry-“

Elder Faerie shook his head at her then rest his head down. “Don’t apologize. I would give you any answer you seek, no matter how weak I become.”

She smiled in gratitude then looked at the group of cookies before her.

“Do you know what is needed to make a love potion?” Strawberry asked.

“They’re all ingredients found around Beast Yeast,” Elder Faerie said, “but most of them are native to the surrounding forests.“

“That means we can subdue the beast and his minions,” Silverbell said, “just tell us what the ingredients are, and we can find them there.”

Elder Faerie nodded and began listing off the ingredients.

***

Pure Vanilla gasped for air as Shadow Milk dipped him again. He felt sweat trickling down his nose and across his cheeks, his hands shaking and sore from being held and pulled for so long. Shadow Milk seemed to relish in his pain, smiling at his sweaty and red face.

“Already out of breath?” Shadow Milk asked, trailing his hand across Pure Vanilla’s face. He groaned and flinched away, causing a great laugh to escape Shadow Milk’s mouth.

“You’re adorable, I simply adore you.”

Pure Vanilla was pulled back up and was spun around, his feet struggling to keep pace with the speed that Shadow Milk had.

“Did you know your cheeks become red like cherries when you’re tired?” Shadow Milk asked. “And your teeth clench together real tight when you’re angry.”

“Why does any of that matter?” Pure Vanilla sputtered out.

“I doubt that Lily ever noticed. Did she?”

The dance abruptly stopped. Shadow Milk held Pure Vanilla close, his eyes locked on the other.

“…what did you just say?” Pure Vanilla said.

“Did she ever truly appreciate your beauty? Did she ever notice how fluffy your hair always is, even when you haven’t combed it in a week? Did she notice that you’re always looking every which way when you’re eating? Or how you walk with a sort of skip when you’re in a hurry?”

“Stop it!” Pure Vanilla said, “You don’t know anything about her, nor do you know anything about me.”

But he clearly did. How on Earthbread did he know he hadn’t brushed his hair in a week, due to how busy he was? Or how he knew he would subconsciously glance around while eating to make sure everyone else had enough? Or his little skip when he was running, to ensure he wouldn’t fall due to his poor eyesight?

“But I do,” Shadow Milk purred, “I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. I know you list out your clothes when you put them on in the morning. I know that you broke a sugar glass pot in the Crème Republic.”

Shadow Milk had leaned in so close that their noses touched, and a toothy grin spread out across his face. Pure Vanilla’s heart raced faster, how did he know so much?!

“You give your cape to cold little cookies when they sleep. You’ve skipped meals before, frequently when you can get away with it. You couldn’t sleep for weeks before your journey here, because of nightmares you were having.”

“Stop it!” Pure Vanilla repeated, turning his head to the side and pushing away from Shadow Milk.

“Don’t you see? I know everything about you!” Shadow Milk harshly pulled Pure Vanilla’s face back towards him, “You’re mine!”

“I said stop!” Pure Vanilla said, pushing away from Shadow Milk. This time, he fell right to the ground. Shadow Milk stood above him, the smile on his face unwavering.

“Well? Does White Lily know how you struggle?”

What an awful question to ask. But he knew the answer. He took a few deep breathes. His heart pounded against his chest as if it were trapped in his rib cage, shocked at how much this beast truly knew about him.

“We all have our own struggles,” Pure Vanilla said finally. “She doesn’t need to know everything I struggle with, nor did I ever know every struggled she had. When she needed me, I would be there for her, and vise versa.”

“But why would you ever need someone who doesn’t know your every struggle? All you need is me!”

Pure Vanilla shuddered as Shadow Milk knelt beside him, stroking his hair and humming. “Oh, Vanilly. You have so many silly quirks about you. I could list them all out, because I pay attention to you.”

We were meant to be together. You were created just for me, after all. Created to protect my soul jam and return to me when I was freed. Oh, my dear. Don’t furrow your brows like that. I relish in your fear. One day, you will learn to run to me for comfort.

Shadow Milk wrapped his arms around Pure Vanilla and rocked his body slowly. Pure Vanilla knew by now that resisting would only delay the inevitable, so he reluctantly let Shadow Milk stroke his head as he rocked back and forth.

“My friends will come save me.” Pure Vanilla finally said. All that Shadow Milk said in reply was a harsh laugh.

***

Silverbell watched as White Lily paced, deep in thought. He bit his lip, every attempt at reaching out and offering help was rejected softly.

“I’ve got this, just let me think.” She said to him. He didn’t reply, stepping back and watching her eyes crease into thought once more.

His wings twitched as he sat in await of her ideas and plans, as well as those minion cookies to come, Gingerbrave and his friends discussing quietly how they would leave this awful place once everything was back to normal. That truly stung Silverbell, but he couldn’t blame them. They hadn’t experienced the beauty and serenity of the Faerie kingdom, only the dangers that lurked about and the destruction Shadow Milk caused. They were only children, they didn’t know.

Awaiting by a big field of one of the plants needed for a love potion, his head filled with thoughts. What if they’d already got this plant? It was highly unlikely, it was in an awkward place to start, but what if they thought of that?

He thought they should split up, but White Lily insisted they stay together. It would be safer, she said. It was smarter too, they could hopefully overpower the two minion cookies.

“Candy Apple! Slow down before you crush all them!” A voice harshly berated. Silverbell shot his head up, looking out from their hiding place. White Lily went to his side, urging him to get his bow ready.

Examining the minions, Silverbell noted at how they had gotten about half of the ingredients needed, not really knowing what they were but knowing for sure the number of plants.

“We need the most pristine one,” Black Sapphire told Candy Apple, “don’t just pick them willy-nilly.”

“How can I tell?” Candy Apple whined, gently lifting one up and examining it. “They all look the same!”

“The book says it needs to be perfect. It should look like this!” He held the book to her face, pointing to the picture in the book.

“If you’re such an expert, then you should pick it! My hands are full anyways!”

“Fine, fine, I’m not arguing with you,” Black Sapphire grumbled before kneeling down and looking through the plants, crushing them when he decided they were not up to his standard. Silverbell scowled, keeping an ear out for White Lily when she needed to tell him what to do.

She had sent the little ones around, so when the time was right, they could surround the minions. She would shake a tree branch three times to let them know when they could jump out.

“Silverbell,” she whispered, “go over behind them.”

“Me, the closest to them?” He whispered back.

“I trust you.”

He smiled and nodded, quickly fluttering over and keeping and eye on the branch White Lily was going to shake.

After a moment, 1 shake.

Pause. The minions didn’t notice.

2 shakes.

Another pause. Candy Apple glanced around but ultimately didn’t care enough to keep looking.

Finally, 3 shakes.

Silverbell hopped out and pointed his bow at the two cookies. The others came running and surrounded them.

“Oh!” Candy Apple giggled, hugging the ingredients close to her chest.

“Stop this instant!” White Lily ordered, pointing her staff at the two.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!” Black Sapphire laughed before tapping his mic, Candy Apple getting ready to strike.

Silverbell in return shot his bow, the fight finally starting.

Chapter Text

The sound of plant after plant being crushed was enough to make any Faerie cookie go mad. Black Sapphire knew this, so he kept harshly grazing the plants as he struck blows with the little silver knight who pointed his stupidly cute bow at his face. 

“There’s other ways to ruin a pretty face like mine, no?” He teased Silverbell, who in response shot arrows at twice the speed as before. 

Candy Apple swung around her candy apple weapon awkwardly, hitting the little cookies back. But they got right back up, just as brave as before. 

How disgusting. 

“Watch the plants!” Candy Apple screamed, clutching the ingredients in one arm and dodging an attack from the strawberry one. 

“Don’t lose master’s ingredients!” Black Sapphire berated her, narrowly ducking as more arrows came his way, as well as jumping out of the way of a spell cast by the wizardly looking one. He smirked and sent his own cheeky magic at the wizardly one, casing the lite one to be blasted back. 

“Stop playing around and focus on me!” Silverbell barked. 

“How forward! Next thing you know he’ll ask me out.” Black Sapphire laughed. Silverbell fumbled an arrow and shot it way off to the side, where it narrowly missed a little plant on the edge of the small field. Looking closer at it, Black Sapphire knew that it HAD to be the perfect one. He kicked off, running towards the plant. 

Upon seeing his dart for the perfect plant, Silverbell lunged at him and grabbed his legs. 

“Why you little!” Black Sapphire growled, kicking Silverbell and reaching for the plant. “Candy Apple! Now!”

A portal opened for her, and she took the leap inside and got away with their ingredients. Now, it was up to Black Sapphire to acquire the final plant!

Yes, this was the final ingredient. They had sneakily hid one half of the ingredients before coming here. Master Shadow Milk had been able to locate where these cookies had come, and as he suspected it was right where they needed to get the last plant. While their plan was sneaky and smart, Black Sapphire and Candy Apple’s was sneakier and smarter. 

Though, Black Sapphire was quite annoyed by this little silver knight’s strength. “Oh! What a strong cookie you are!” He said through gritted teeth. Silverbell growled and pushed him down to the ground harder. As a last ditch effort to get out, he let out a soft whimper as Silverbell put more pressure onto his body. 

“A-ah! Ow!” He said in the most pathetic voice he could, even making his eyes tear up just a bit to make his performance even more convincing to the silly faerie. Silverbell faltered just enough for Black Sapphire to wiggle close enough to pluck the plant out of the ground. He laughed, finally breaking free of Silverbell’s hold and creating a portal. 

“Catch him!” White Lily yelled, running at him. Being the closest, Silverbell ran at him as well. Black Sapphire walked back into the portal, Silverbell having just enough time to lunge in after him. 

Silverbell crashed into the ground just as the portal closed behind him. He pushed himself up and looked around, eyes widening upon seeing Shadow Milk himself standing nearby. 

“That’s every ingredient!” Black Sapphire said, holding out the final perfect plant to Shadow Milk. 

“…Every ingredient?” Silverbell said in a hushed tone. Shadow Milk glanced at him and, with a flick of his wrist, bound Silverbell in strings. 

“Why is that thing here?” Shadow Milk asked in disgust. 

“I am deeply sorry,” Black Sapphire said, bowing deeply, “master, it was my fault for being so careless.”

“Hm…no matter.” Shadow Milk scoffed. “He can be the test subject.”

“Will he be your new minion, master?!” Candy Apple asked. 

“No, I have no need. Besides,” Shadow Milk looked at Black Sapphire, a smile creeping up his face, “I believe you’d have greater use for him, Black Sapphire.”

“Oh, yes! What a gracious master you are, Shadow Milk!”

Silverbell fought against the strings that bound him, but every wiggle caused them to grow tighter. He gasped for air, glaring as Black Sapphire snatched his bow and arrows away. 

“Where is Pure Vanilla!” Silverbell demanded. 

“You’ll be seeing him now!” Candy Apple giggled, grabbing the strings and pulling him away. Struggling, he yelled at her, demanding to be set free all the way until he was pushed into a new area. His eyes trailed around, a bunch of strings all leading to a figure in the middle of the space, tied in the strings as well. 

“Pure Vanilla!” Silverbell called. He looked up, his eyes wide upon seeing him. 

“Is that you, Silverbell…? Why are you here?” Pure Vanilla said, pushing himself to get closer to the silver guard. 

“I never meant to get caught up like this,” Silverbell said softly, “but I was trying to catch that Black Sapphire…b-but, Pure Vanilla, they’re making a dangerous love potion!”

“A love potion?” Pure Vanilla said. “But it’s dangerous? Oh…We must escape…oh, darn these strings!”

As he struggled, the strings only got tighter all around. Silverbell grunted, finding the strings he was bound in were also connected to those Pure Vanilla was bound in. 

“I should have fought back, to save you this trouble,” Pure Vanilla said, his eyes dropping as he stopped fighting. 

“T-this isn’t your fault at all!” Silverbell shot back. “Nor have you caused any of this trouble. Sure, it may of been a tad inconvenient that you came right now…but how were you supposed to know that? You came here on a noble cause to stop Dark Enchantress, that’s already enough weight on your shoulders.”

Pure Vanilla smiled sheepishly at Silverbell, “Oh, you don’t have to say all that…it does make me feel better about this whole situation, though.”

Silverbell smiled back, only turning his attention away when the sounds of boiling potion could be heard not far away. 

He feared they were too late.

***

White Lily ran through the rubble of the Faerie kingdom, the little cookies trailing behind her. Where was Shadow Milk keeping them? He could be doing anything to Silverbell right now, and even though she trusted Silverbell with her life, he also trusted her with his. 

“White Lily!”

She looked up to see Mercurial Knight flying her way. 

“Why are you here, what about Elder Faerie-“

“I’ve taken him to his chambers, the beast would have to fight tooth and nail to get into it. Besides, the beast is preoccupied…” as he said this, he pointed to the sky. White Lily looked up and, to her surprise, saw smoke coming from near the silver tree. 

“Is he burning it?” She asked panicked. 

“No,” Mercurial Knight’s eyes narrowed, “but he is definitely making a potion. This raw power…Elder Faerie said it was why that potion book was so protected.”

“I don’t wanna lose Pure Vanilla…!” Strawberry said, quietly panicking. 

“We have to hurry!” Gingerbrave yelled. 

“Follow the smoke! It’s not far, if we hurry, we may be able to save them!” White Lily said, running and not looking back. 

***

Silverbell was well aware that the faerie cookies would make love potions from time to time. But those were different, they weren’t strong at all. They merely heightened one’s love for a time before wearing off. They were harmless pranks. 

This love potion was different. He already knew by the way the others reacted, that this kind of love potion was dangerous. Especially if it came from that wretched book that had to be protected from evil eyes. 

And by the sheer radiance of the pink potion vial as it was being brought over, he knew he was in trouble. 

“Open wide, we don’t want to make a mess.” Black Sapphire said, grabbing Silverbell’s chin harshly and trying to pry his mouth open. Silverbell fought, clenching his jaw so hard his teeth began to ache. 

“You can just pour it on him!” Candy Apple read from the book. “It’ll have the same results, just weaker.”

“Well? Do that!” Shadow Milk ordered. Black Sapphire obliged, tipping the potion over Silverbell’s head, staining his pale face and platinum hair pink for a moment before soaking into his dough. Silverbell quivered, trying to fight his fate by shutting his eyes and trying to focus all in on himself. 

“Silverbell!” Pure Vanilla yelled. 

“Silverbell~” Black Sapphire’s voice came though clearer to him. Opening his eyes, he found himself gazing at Black Sapphire in a way he’d never done before to any cookie. His face turned red as the purple cookie got closer, looking at him as he began to smirk. 

“How are you feeling, my love?” Black Sapphire said teasingly. 

“Ugh…no!” Silverbell shook his head. “I’m a silver knight, and…you’re…you and I could never…!”

“How dramatic! Why, yes we can!” Black Sapphire leaned in, so that their noses grazed each other. Silverbell’s cheeks flushed deeper, not moving even as the strings pulled away from his body. 

“Give in, even just this once! Wouldn’t that feel so good?” Silverbell growled, grabbing Black Sapphire’s collar softly. The deceitful creature smiled, his own cheeks dawning a new deep purple as stroked Silverbell’s cheek with his own clawed hand. 

Pure Vanilla watched in horror, praying to the witches that someone would come save him fast. Shadow Milk had enough of watching Black Sapphire get all the fun. He turned to Pure Vanilla, another vial of potion swinging in his fingers as he crept to him. 

“Open wide, Vanilly,” Shadow Milk said, a giggle in his voice, “don’t let this get messy.”

His heart pounded in his chest like a hard bass, not daring to open his mouth to even respond. 

The strong scent of lilies filled his nose suddenly. His soul was lifted but for a moment, was that truly who he thought it was?... 

“Help!” He yelled. Not a moment later, he saw her. 

White Lily stood just steps away. Her scent was as potent and lovely as he remembered, her eyes were just as beautiful as he remembered. 

“White Lily!” He yelled. As he opened his mouth, Shadow Milk suddenly forced the vial into his mouth and tipped his head back. He gagged at the foul potion slipping down his throat, trying to pull his head away from Shadow Milk. 

“NO!” White Lily screamed, running forward. But it was far too late. The potion was gone, not a drop left in the candy glass vial Shadow Milk pulled away from Pure Vanilla’s mouth. 

He made no effort to stop White Lily from grabbing Pure Vanilla. She stared at him with wide eyes, holding his shoulders as the strings that bound his body were released. 

“No, no, please!” she said. He looked up at her, blinking in confusion. 

“Lily…? What’s wrong, you look so…”

“I’m fine, please, tell me you’re fine!”

“I’m…”

“Ugh, don’t even talk to her,” Shadow Milk suddenly interrupted, “don’t you know? We hate her.”

“Pure Vanilla doesn’t hate White Lily!” Gingerbrave and his friends came running around the corner, scowling at the beast. 

“Now he does.”

White Lily felt her heart break at the sight of Pure Vanilla’s new expression.

It was full of a hate she never had seen any cookie have before. 

“That’s right…” Pure Vanilla said darkly. “…I do hate her.”

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla swung his fist at White Lily, her just barely dodging out of the way. 

“White Lily!” Silverbell said, but Black Sapphire pulled his attention back to him. 

“Pure Vanilla, please, listen to me,” White Lily said, “you can fight against the love potion!”

“He hates your ever-living guts!” Shadow Milk said. “And he wants to kill you!”

“That’s not true!” Gingerbrave yelled. Of course it wasn’t true, but Pure Vanilla would listen to Shadow Milk no matter what thanks to the love potion. The beast smiled wide, producing a knife out of thin air and handing it to Pure Vanilla. 

“You know you want to.” He purred. Pure Vanilla scowled at White Lily and lunged for her. White Lily blocked the knife with her staff, looking up at him desperately. 

“Listen to me!” She said, jumping back by the little cookies. “I know this isn’t you, Pure Vanilla!”

Mercurial Knight stopped the blade from coming down this time, grabbing Pure Vanilla’s arm and twisting it in a way that forced the ancient to drop the knife. Pure Vanilla took his arm back harshly, kneeling down and feeling for the knife. 

“Pure Vanilla!” Gingerbrave yelled, “We’re all here for you!”

The little cookies ran forward towards Pure Vanilla, but Shadow Milk quickly pushed them back, standing in front of Pure Vanilla. 

“Here you are, my love,” Shadow Milk said, handing him the knife again, “I’ll help you this time.”

“You’re so generous, my beloved~” Pure Vanilla said, smiling as he felt the knife rest in his hand again, then slowly pushing himself up and looking at White Lily. “Even without my staff to help me see, I could never forget the evil that radiates off you, White Lily. Perish!”

He and Shadow Milk rushed forward, attacking them. Wizard cast a small protection spell, just enough time for Mercurial Knight to slash at Shadow Milk. White Lily, Gingerbrave, and Strawberry ran towards Pure Vanilla. The two little cookies intended to try and hug the potion of of him, though his attention was not on them. He simply ignored their pleas and focused on slashing White Lily down. 

“Please, stop doing this…!” Strawberry pled. “You’re not violent like this, it’s scaring me…!”

“You can’t let Shadow Milk win!” Gingerbrave said. 

“It doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, as long as White Lily dies!” Pure Vanilla hissed, slashing the knife at her as she blocked each and every one of his attacks. His slashes were sloppy, some missing her entirely. His vision was never perfect, only getting worse with time, but White Lily knew he was able to find her with the little vision he had and her strong scent. 

Shadow Milk easily overpowered Wizard and Mercurial Knight, throwing them back before looking over at Pure Vanilla and scowling. 

“I don’t like the way you’re touching him!” Shadow Milk said, pulling Gingerbrave and Strawberry off Pure Vanilla’s robes and throwing them into a wall. 

“You’re a monster!” White Lily growled. 

“Get outta here, you stinky flower!” Shadow Milk growled. Strings wrapped around her body, and she felt herself being yanked backwards. 

“No! Let me go!” She screamed, holding out her hand to Pure Vanilla. “Pure Vanilla, please, wake up!”

Her old friend only scowled at her, turning his back away. She watched as her friends all got trapped in strings and pulled away too, until they were flung deep into the forest. 

“That’s better.” Shadow Milk hummed, turning to look at Pure Vanilla. “Doesn’t it feel nice to be alone?”

“Oh, yes,” Pure Vanilla said, smiling, “it would be better if I could see you in all your glory, my love. Can you find my staff for me?”

“I actually noticed you dropped it!” Shadow Milk snapped his fingers and out appeared his staff. He handed it to Pure Vanilla, who clutched it in his hands. He closed his eyes, and his staff opened its eye. It looked down at Shadow Milk, and Pure Vanilla sighed dreamily. 

“That’s much better.” He said. “You’re more beautiful than any flower, grander than the night sky…I could stare at you forever.”

Shadow Milk felt his cheeks heating up, and he giggled cheekily. “Oh my! Do you really mean that, Vanilly?”

“Of course, my love. You are my everything.”

Shadow Milk’s smile deepened, and he clutched Pure Vanilla into a tight hug, their faces touching and their breath entangling. 

“I…have to help White Lily and the guardian, and my friends…!” Silverbell mumbled, trying to pull away from Black Sapphire. Though, it was half-hearted. He couldn’t tear his eyes off Black Sapphire’s purple face, nor could he stop his face from turning scarlet at Black Sapphire’s smirk and his touch. What was this feeling? 

“Can we go back to the spire?” Candy Apple suddenly said loudly, glaring. 

“Alrigh-tay!” Shadow Milk said, “my business here is done anyways.”

He opened a portal the spire, taking Pure Vanilla’s hand and going in. Candy Apple growled and stomped her feet, walking in after them. 

“Are you ready, cutie?” Black Sapphire asked, pulling Silverbell towards the portal. 

“Y…you won’t win…” Silverbell mumbled. 

“Oh, I already have!” He giggled. “We can always make this work, cutie.”

He planted a kiss on Silverbell’s cheek. The silver knight gasped, his face turning completely red. 

“Come on! I can’t let master wait too long.” He said, pulling Silverbell through the portal. 

***

White Lily awoke in the middle of the forest. She pushed herself up, looking around. Her friends all laid scattered about. Mercurial Knight pushed himself up and looked at her, worry in his brow. 

“No…” she whispered. “No, no…No!” 

She clutched her head, breathing heavy. Pure Vanilla, her dearest friend, her everything, brainwashed so easily by that monster. 

Why hadn’t she tried harder? Why couldn’t she have been stronger? 

It hurt. It hurt so bad. She knew he didn’t truly hate her, but the anger his eyes held when Shadow Milk said those awful things, it felt so awful. 

She exhaled shakily, holding her shoulders tightly. Mercurial Knight rushed to her side and held her hands. 

“White Lily, are you alright?” He asked awkwardly. 

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” she said, tears dotting the lids of her eyes. “Pure Vanilla, no, no, no…!”

She gasped for air, clawing at her hair. Mercurial Knight’s brow furrowed in worry, pulling her hands away from her head and trying to calm her by rubbing her hands. 

“Silverbell…” He mumbled, “…he was also under a love potion.”

“…not him too…” White Lily said quietly. 

“He would have come over to help, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from that cookie. He does get bashful, but he takes his work as a silver knight seriously.”

White Lily nodded a little, scowling at the ground. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks, anger boiling up at what Shadow Milk had done not to one but two of her friends. Her dear Pure Vanilla and her sweet Silverbell… “We need to get back as soon as we can.”

“Is there an antidote?” The small voice of Strawberry peeped anxiously. White Lily looked down at her softly and nodded. 

“There is an antidote for love potions, but the one I know is for simpler love potions.” She said through sniffles. 

“There is an antidote for this harsher love potion,” Mercurial Knight said, “Elder Faerie told me, but it’s in the very book Shadow Milk took.”

“There was three of those potion books ever created,” White Lily added carefully, “but I have no idea where the other two are.” Was this all pointless? No, she couldn’t fail Pure Vanilla again…

“What was it called again?” Wizard asked, waddling closer to White Lily. 

“Eh…I think ‘The Book of Wonderful Potions’ or something along those lines.” Damn it, she could hardly think straight! Her emotions were overtaking her whole body, mind and soul. 

“Oh, OH!” He swung around to his friends. “I saw that book! In the city of wizards!”

“I think I did too!” Gingerbrave said. 

White Lily’s eyes widened, pursed her lips, deep in thought. “…Mercurial Knight, you have been so much help, but the silver knights are dwindling in number. Can you stay and watch over Elder Faerie?”

Mercurial Knight hesitated, adverting her gaze before clenching his fists. “I will. I will try to find out anything I can from him and send information your way too. If you ever need me, do not hesitate to call. You must be…having a hard time.”

“Thank you.” White Lily bowed her head to look at the three little cookies. “Will you three accompany me to Crispia? We will need to gather help from anyone we can in finding the recipe for the antidote, as well as getting to the city of wizards.”

“Of course!” Gingerbrave said. 

“We’ll do anything to save Pure Vanilla.” Strawberry said, clenching her tiny fists. 

She smiled down at them. “Are…the other soul jam holders still around?”

“Yep!” Gingerbrave said. “Besides you and Pure Vanilla, they’re all still around in their kingdoms!”

“We can also go back to the republic!” Wizard said. “They’ll help us, they’ll have to if they wanna protect their home.”

“And don’t forget Black Raisin,” Strawberry murmured, “she’ll be willing to help too.”

“Woah, I can think of so many cookies who could help!” Gingerbrave said. 

“…it looks like you’re in good hands.” Mercurial Knight said. White Lily smiled at him, nodding. 

“We’ll return soon.” She said, wiping her eyes. There was still a chance to make this right. 

“Let’s hurry! Run!!” Gingerbrave said, pointing his cane in a random direction. 

“Crispia the opposite direction.” Mercurial Knight corrected softly. Gingerbrave swung around and pointed his staff in the correct direction. 

“White Lily, are you sure you don’t want me-“

“I’m sure, Mercurial Knight. I remember how I got here in the first place, it was by the Licorice sea. We’ll be fine.”

Mercurial Knight huffed softly and nodded. “Be careful out there.”

“You too.”

With that, the group separated. White Lily watched the three little cookies, clutching her staff tightly. 

“I’ll save you, Pure Vanilla…” she said ever so softly. She would do anything to get him back, and if that meant traveling across the Licorice sea once more, then so be it. 

***

The spire was cold. Dark and cold. Nothing like Silverbell enjoyed. By all means, he should be furious. 

And yet he wasn’t. He wanted so badly to be angry and yet he couldn’t make himself angry no matter how hard he tried. 

That stupid Black Sapphire and his stupidly adorable face made everything feel better. And Silverbell really, really hated the fact that the cookie that he should have been fighting right now was stroking his hair. He hated that he was enjoying it immensely. 

“We’ll never work…” he bashfully tried to reason, but he himself had trouble believing it. Especially when Black Sapphire simply laughed and gave him kisses. 

Stupid! Stupid Silverbell! What was this feeling? He hated it! He hated Black Sapphire!!

“What a trope,” Black Sapphire sighed as Silverbell vocalized everything he hated about him, “trope-y little faerie cookie, how dramatic.”

“Yuck! You two are so gross!” Candy Apple hissed. She applied her syrups carefully, rolling her eyes at the two. 

“You can’t be the one speaking.” Black Sapphire snapped. “I know what you think about in your free time, don’t go telling me what’s gross and not. Let me enjoy this!”

Besides, Shadow Milk was being way stranger with Pure Vanilla. Black Sapphire was never one to question his master, but even he had to take a double take. 

Perhaps the biggest smile Black Sapphire had ever seen was planted on Shadow Milk’s face, as he snuggled into Pure Vanilla’s lap and egged Pure Vanilla on, ordering him to keep praising him. Worse yet, Shadow Milk was gently patting Pure Vanilla’s cheeks and head. Being gentle was not something Shadow Milk ever did—it was peculiar and perplexing. 

Though, he supposed as long as master was happy, he was happy as well. 

“Let me see Pure Vanilla.” Silverbell suddenly said. 

“Why?” Black Sapphire said. “Already had enough of me?”

“I had enough of you before we even met! But I wish to speak to Pure Vanilla, I just need to ask…”

The faerie cookie’s cheeks flushed red. Black Sapphire leaned in closer. 

“Ask what?”

Silverbell’s face turned completely scarlet. He turned away, grumbling under his breath. “N-never mind! I’ll find him later…”

“Minions!” Shadow Milk yelled. “Meeting! Now!”

As he said this, Pure Vanilla sat next to Silverbell and smiled. As the other two cookies left, Silverbell looked at Pure Vanilla and exhaled shakily. 

“Pure Vanilla?”

“Yes, my friend? You’re troubled…what’s wrong?”

Silverbell fidgeted. “What would you do if you fell in love with a bad cookie?”

Chapter Text

“There are four known copies of this book,” Shadow Milk said, holding up the potion book, “this is one of them. I want the other three found…and burned.”

“Of course, master!” Black Sapphire said, “but pray tell, how will we find them?” 

“One of them is in the City of Wizards, last I checked,” Shadow Milk said, “as for the other two, you will have to use a tracking spell to find them.”

“Understood, master!” Candy Apple said. “Shall we leave at once?”

“No,” Shadow Milk snapped his fingers and opened a window. His minions peered in, and on the other side, was White Lily and her little friends.

“Let them open the gate to the City of Wizards, then follow in their steed.” He smirked. “There is a spell there you can find there to locate the other books. For the time being, keep an eye on these silly cookies and strike when they get close.”

“Understood!” The minions said. A smile grew across Shadow Milk’s face as he glided to the exit. 

“Now hurry along! I have other things I wish to attend to.” Said things were snuggling up to his Pure Vanilla. His smile deepened when he thought about how adorably Pure Vanilla cluelessly did everything he asked. Even thought it was all thanks to the potion, he couldn’t help but revel in every second of it. 

It would stay real for as long as he willed it to. He wouldn’t be taken from him. 

“Vanilly!” He called as he floated around his spire. Pure Vanilla was soon to come, his robes flowing freely behind him. 

“I’m here, my king,” he said, running into Shadow Milk’s arms, “what is it?”

“I wish to take a walk with you, come, stay close! What did you do while I was in my little meeting?”

“Oh, Silverbell was just troubled with something.” Pure Vanilla recalled. 

***

“A bad cookie?” Pure Vanilla asked. “What kind of bad cookie?”

“This cookie is my enemy,” Silverbell said, “but I don’t want to fight him, even though I know I should? I wanna hate him but I can’t…”

“Then, perhaps he isn’t your enemy,” Pure Vanilla said, “I once thought Shadow Milk was my enemy, but I found we were meant to be together.”

“But I’m a silver knight! This cookie hurt the Faerie Kingdom, so we must be enemies.”

“Who cares about the silver tree,” Pure Vanilla opened his eyes to slits, a small smile creeping on his lips. “When you can have love?”

Silverbell’s head screamed for him to not believe it. No matter how wise Pure Vanilla was, it was his life’s work to protect the kingdom. 

But his heart sang a different tune. A tune that shouldn’t be there, but planted itself snugly in his heart nonetheless. 

“I don’t know…why can’t I have both?”

Pure Vanilla laughed. “The silver tree will take away your love. Black Sapphire will not be around if you keep thinking about your duties as a silver knight.”

Silverbell’s face turned red. Was he that obvious? He shouldn’t be obvious at all, as he shouldn’t even be having this crush, but here he was, stuck with it. 

“Please don’t tell anyone…” Silverbell mumbled. “If the others found out…”

“I will keep your secret.” Pure Vanilla smiled. “You have my word.”

***

Shadow Milk was pleased that the love potion helped him implant his own ideals into Pure Vanilla’s head swiftly. Anything he told him to think, he thought. 

“It is pretty obvious, Silverbell’s crush,” Pure Vanilla said, “but you promise to keep this a secret for us?”

“Of course, Nilly,” Shadow Milk said, smirking, “you have my word.”

Of course, everyone who saw Silverbell get drenched in the love potion knew how he felt. Even though he wasn’t pleased with how resistant the faerie still was, he knew that the silly knight would come around eventually. 

“You’re so understanding, my king,” Pure Vanilla said, resting his head on the other’s shoulder, “I’m so lucky to have found you.”

“Awww, you’re so sweet~” Shadow Milk said, caressing the other’s cheek slowly. 

“You’re more sweet than any candy, more majestic than the stars in the sky.”

Shadow Milk smiled wider, wrapping his arms around Pure Vanilla. 

“You’re everything and more to me, even more than any cookie I’ve ever met.” Pure Vanilla smiled and wrapped his arms around Shadow Milk as well. 

“No one else will ever have you.” Shadow Milk breathed, his lips curling into a twisted smile. 

“Of course, for I am yours.” Pure Vanilla giggled. 

Shadow Milk really should try making potions more often. 

***

It was strangely calm. No one came after them, their travels were going smoothly and that made White Lily nervous. 

What was Shadow Milk planning?

“Beast Yeast is really pretty when we’re not in danger,” Strawberry said, looking around with wide and curious eyes, “there’s so many plants I’ve never seen before!”

“The ecosystem is very different from Crispia.” Wizard agreed. 

“There’s potential for so many adventures here!” Gingerbrave said. “When we defeat Shadow Milk and save Pure Vanilla and Silverbell, it would so so cool to explore!”

White Lily smiled down at the little ones. If not for her nerves and the need of time, she too might relax a little. But for now, she had to focus. 

“We’re almost to the Licorice Sea,” White Lily said, “we’ll hopefully land in the Cacao kingdom.”

“I haven’t seen Dark Cacao in ages!” Gingerbrave said. “I wonder how he’s doing.”

“I’m sure he’s doing perfectly fine,” Wizard said, “he’s really strong!”

White Lily bit her lip. She knew she’d have to face her friends, but this wasn’t just about her. It was about saving their friends. 

“Have you met all my other…friends?” She asked. 

“Yes!” Gingerbrave replied. “They’re all so cool!”

“I hope they’re all doing good.” Strawberry said. White Lily hoped that as well. 

“I think I see the sea!” Gingerbrave said. He ran towards it, his friends close behind. Were they already there? Time must of flown by for White Lily, and they were rushing to get to the ocean. 

White Lily inhaled sharply. It doesn’t matter, for they were definitely at the sea’s edge now. Its dark and expansive surface lazily swayed by. 

“Wait!” Wizard said. “We don’t have a boat!”

“There are a few hidden around here somewhere,” White Lily explained. “We just have to check all the hiding spots. Come on!”

The four of them ran off, White Lily in the lead as they found a cave. White Lily walked in, squinting in the darkness. 

“This cave is sooooo big!” Gingerbrave remarked. 

“It must be big to the boats can fit.” White Lily said. She pointed at the silently floating boats, three in total. The little cookies ooo’d in awe, looking at the boats with wide eyes. 

“Hop on,” White Lily said, walking onto the one closest to the entrance to the cave. Gingerbrave in the lead, the three of them hopped on and looked out into the sea. 

“Let’s go!” Gingerbrave pointed his cane out at the ocean. White Lily nodded and pushed the boat out, and they began to float out. 

Chapter Text

Elder Faerie opened his eyes to an unfamiliar sight. Looking around, he saw he was in some sort of ball room. 

This was another dream. They kept coming, even as he was dying. 

He cared not. They were all fake after all, no matter how shocking and gruesome they could be. He stayed steadfast. 

A beam of light illuminated the center of the ballroom, and in it stood two cookies. One was a purple cookie, one of Shadow Milk’s minions. The other was…Silverbell. 

Their bodies were pressed together and their hands were intertwined, their eyes locked with one another. Elder Faerie watched as they danced, swaying this way and that. 

Elder Faerie was confused to say the least. Where he usually had dreams of Pure Vanilla, dreams parading as the past, instead he stood in some sort of nonsensical ballroom. 

As Silverbell and the liar danced, he also couldn’t help but scoff at the sheer insanity of the idea that Silverbell would dance with his enemy in such an innocent way. Unless…

“Isn’t it lovely?” Pure Vanilla was suddenly next to Elder Faerie, a small smile on his lips. 

“If you say so.” Elder Faerie replied. 

“Love is such a powerful thing…its beauty is nothing to scoff at.”

“What are you getting at?” Elder Faerie turned his whole body towards Pure Vanilla. His lips twisted into a grin, his eyes opening to slits. 

“You already know exactly what I mean.”

From above, a thick pink liquid poured onto him. His body was jerked about, and before he knew it, he awoke in a cold sweat in his own room.

“You’re finally awake…” Mercurial Knight went to Elder Faerie’s side, supporting him as he sat up, “are you alright?”

“I am fine.” Elder Faerie said, “just another strange dream.”

“If that is all, then there is something urgent we need to discuss.”

Mercurial Knight quickly explained everything that had occurred. Shadow Milk did make a love potion and had successfully given it to not only Pure Vanilla but Silverbell as well. 

“White Lily and those small cookies are going to Crispia for an antidote,” Mercurial Knight said, “but do you know anything about the whereabouts of the other remaining potion books?”

Elder Faerie took a moment to process everything. Lost yet another silver knight, which left only Mercurial Knight. Two of his comrades were trapped in their own minds. White Lily was not there to defend the silver tree. 

“…I know not where they are.” He simply replied. “But I…need my rest. I must think on everything…I cannot believe that beast took not only his target but also one of our own.”

“I’m sure if not for that…minion…” Mercurial Knight trailed off and looked away. “I shall guard your door, your majesty.”

With that, he stepped out and shut the door lightly. Elder Faerie laid back, closing his eyes with a sharp sigh. 

***

Soon enough, White Lily and the three small cookies landed upon the snowy banks of the Cacao kingdom. The winds howled and the air chilled them to their bones, but they hopped off their boat and pressed forward. 

“Should we go see Dark Cacao?” Gingerbrave asked. “We can explain what’s happening and maybe he’ll help!”

White Lily’s stomach twisted at the very thought of facing her friends. She hadn’t much time to think about it, but she had vague memories of being Dark Enchantress the longer she was awake. She hadn’t any time to bring it up, but now she was regretting it. She wished she had asked Elder Faerie for advice, but the fear that struck her when thinking of Pure Vanilla took up her whole soul. 

She had to save him. 

And if that meant being uncomfortable and turned away by her dear friends, then so be it. 

“Let us hurry then!”

***

The walls of the Cacao kingdom were just as high as last time White Lily saw them. Still standing strong, despite everything. 

“Halt! Who goes there?” A cookie shouted. She jumped down, pointing her bow, only to lower it. “Gingerbrave, Wizard, Strawberry! And…”

“Caramel Arrow! We need to see Dark Cacao!” Gingerbrave said. “It’s urgent!!”

“It’s about Pure Vanilla!” Strawberry said. “He needs our help.”

“As soon as possible!” Wizard chimed in. 

“Right! This way!” Caramel Arrow led them in. White Lily took caution in her steps, looking around. Soldiers trained, their weapons sharp as their eyes. Other civilians worked hard as well, hanging up laundry and cooking meals. Just as it was all those years ago, she realized. 

Soon, they reached the citadel. Caramel Arrow led them in swiftly, turning corners easily. Soon, they were in the throne room. Caramel Arrow took the lead in, the three little ones following close behind. 

White Lily took a deep breath before she entered. She didn’t know the last time she entered into this place, for her memory was far too fuzzy for her to pinpoint the last day. 

“Your majesty, your friends are here.” Caramel Arrow said, bowing down. White Lily lifted her gaze to see Dark Cacao staring down. His gaze turned stiff when he saw her, staring up and clutching his sword. 

“White…Lily?” He asked. “Do my eyes deceive me?”

“T…they do not, Dark Cacao.” She said softly. “I am here. I…”

Her words got caught in her throat. Could she even continue speaking? Could she express what she needed? She would have to, but as she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. 

“You’re alive…” he said breathlessly, “…even though you’re…?”

“Dark Cacao…” she stammered. “I understand if you do not trust me…let alone like me, anymore, but please-“

“White Lily.”

She froze and looked up at him. He walked down from his throne and stood before her. His face was hard, but his eyes softened. 

“I don’t know how you stand before me, but I do not care. You and I, we are still allies. I trust you.”

Her eyes widened. Just…like that? That was so easy…

She clutched her chest and smiled at him, “T…thank you, my friend.”

“Still, why are you here?” He questioned, looking at Gingerbrave and his friends. 

“Oh! Yeah, yeah!” Gingerbrave’s said, his mouth set. 

“Pure Vanilla is in trouble…!” Strawberry said. 

“A beast gave him a love potion and took him away!” Wizard cried. 

“What?” Dark Cacao’s brows furrowed. 

“An evil cookie by the name of Shadow Milk,” White Lily explained shakily, “as well as his friends have escaped their confinement in Beast-Yeast and are going to wreck havoc on the world. And, as they said, Shadow Milk, the beast of deceit, has taken Pure Vanilla hostage with a love potion…”

“Pure Vanilla…” Dark Cacao Said softly. “…I shall gather my troops at once.”

White Lily smiled gratefully. “Thank you…so, very much.”

“I…would do anything for Pure Vanilla.” Dark Cacao cleared his throat then turned to Caramel Arrow. “Get the watchers prepared. I shall get ready here.”

“Of course, s-“ before Caramel Arrow could finish, a cookie came running in, panicked. 

“Help! Help!” She screamed. 

“What is the matter?!” Caramel Arrow asked, rushing to her side. 

“Cookies, they’re-they’re-“ she gulped. “-turning to flour!”

***

Silverbell stared at Black Sapphire, who danced alone in the middle of a large ballroom. His heart raced, still thinking about what Pure Vanilla had told him. 

“Who cares about the silver tree when you can have love?”

Was it true? Was love more important than anything? He had a hard time believing that, but he also wanted it to be true. 

He wanted to rest in Black Sapphire’s arms…but that was ridiculous. He was still his enemy. 

…perhaps…

He could have his cake and eat it too. Yes…his duties as a silver knight wouldn’t have to go on the wayside. 

He’d just have to convince Black Sapphire to leave this life behind and return to the faerie kingdom with him. His head told him that was impossible, but his heart told him love would overcome everything. 

“Bell-bell!” Black Sapphire cooed, twirling over to the other and taking his hands. “Come and dance with me!”

“Don’t touch me.” Silverbell snapped, his face turning red. He didn’t want to dance, he knew he would be clumsy with his armor. Besides, he’d never danced like how Black Sapphire was. 

“Come on!” Black Sapphire stroked Silverbell’s cheek, smirking. “It’s fun! Or…do you not know how?”

“O-of course I know how!” Silverbell stammered. “I’m not good at it, is all.”

“I’ll lead you, problem solved!”

Black Sapphire planted his hand on Silverbell’s waist, securely wrapping his other around the silver knight’s delicate fingers. 

“So small…” he murmured, blush rushing across his face. 

“You’re just big.” Silverbell shot back. Black Sapphire let out a laugh before twirling him around. 

It was true, Silverbell was clumsy. His clothes were heavy, and he couldn’t stop staring at their feet. But they just made it all the cuter to Black Sapphire. 

“Sil~ver~be-e-ell~,” he purred, leaning his face close to the others, “I could just kiss you all over, my faerie.”

“What did you just call me?” Silverbell murmured. Black Sapphire smirked, which resulted in his foot being stomped on. 

“Aah! Eek! Ow!” Black Sapphire whined, huffing at Silverbell, who couldn’t help but laugh. 

In the far corner, where a dark doorway stood, Pure Vanilla looked in. He smiled, sighing as he leaned against the doorway. 

“Aren’t they so cute?” He whispered. Shadow Milk appeared from the darkness and snuggles into Pure Vanilla’s neck, breathing softly. 

“Young love, yes yes,” Shadow Milk mused. 

“But not nearly as cute as you,” Pure Vanilla turned to look at him, booping him on the nose, “you are the monarch of cuteness.”

“Awww, Vanilly~” Shadow Milk kissed Pure Vanilla’s cheek.

“I hope to stay with you forever.” Pure Vanilla said wistfully. Shadow Milk smiled widely, his teeth showing. 

“There is one way,” he said, trailing his hand down to his soul jam, “you give me your soul jam…I shall have the power to keep you by my side forever. Your hand in mine, like a marriage but better.”

Pure Vanilla immediately reached down to pull off his soul jam, but Shadow Milk stopped him with a tut. 

“Ah-ah! I have something far more special in mind.”

“Like what?”

“We’ll have a ceremony,” Shadow Milk kept trailing his hand across the soul jam, “in which you shall dress up, and I shall too, the nicest we can be. Then you’ll give me your soul jam, and you shall me mine forever.”

“Oh, yes!” Pure Vanilla grabbed onto Shadow Milk and smiled at him. Once his power was rightfully returned, he would make Pure Vanilla even more perfect. 

The need he felt for Pure Vanilla was overwhelming. His friends called cookies like him thieves, but Shadow Milk disagreed. 

Whether or not intended, Pure Vanilla was created just for him.

He belonged to Shadow Milk. 

He wouldn’t let anyone else have him. 

Pure Vanilla stared up at Shadow Milk, love in his lazily opened eyes. 

Shadow Milk stared back, lust behind held back solely by the soul jam that pulsated with fear. 

Chapter Text

Immortality was a finicky thing.

Shadow Milk knew that. The soul jam is what gave its wielder immortality, and obtaining immortality other ways was…difficult, to say the least.

He wouldn’t have even considered taking away the very thing that would keep him and Pure Vanilla together, for if he just took his soul jam back, Pure Vanilla would eventually crumble away, if not for something he read in the potion book.

“Potion of immortality,” he read quietly, “made with a base of water from the eternal fountain of youth, coral from the deepest depths of the ocean, star flowers on the highest peaks…”

Such a potion would be deadly if made wrong. But he wouldn’t make it wrong.

Another potion caught his attention. “Potion of eternity, makes it so no matter what antidote is made, any potion consumed will last forever.”

Now, he liked the sound of that.

A smile crawled across his lips as he sat up, shutting the potion book and tossing it aside after reading all the ingredients.

“Seems as if I have work to do,” he sighed, opening a portal, “no matter, it will be worth it in the end.”

He laughed as he entered the portal, his awful laughs reaching Pure Vanilla’s ears as nothing more than beautiful music notes.

***

Dark Cacao and the others ran out to see many cookies in the ill tent. All the sick’s bodies were disintegrating into fine, white powder.

“What is this…!?” Dark Cacao demanded.

“Your majesty!” A nurse said. “You must stay back! You mustn’t be infected!”

“These are my cookies,” he said, “I am sworn to protect them.”

“Even so…!”

“Are you not caring and saving them, despite the risks? Is that not what I’m doing?”

The nurse murmured and bowed, “y-yes sir!”

“Do you know where this illness came from?” Caramel Arrow questioned.

“We are suspecting that it came from the pale flour storm that came from Beast-Yeast,” the nurse explained, “we’re still trying to figure it out.”

Dark Cacao softly sighed and turned to his friends.

“It appears you’ve come at a rather inconvenient time.”

“We can leave-“ White Lily started, but Dark Cacao raised his hand.

“No, please stay.” He said. “You came from Beast-Yeast, could you help?”

“We’ll always help!” Gingerbrave said, raising his candy cane staff. Strawberry and Wizard agreed, nodding their heads.

White Lily quietly looked around. White power came out of cookie’s mouths when they coughed, and many of them appeared to becoming paler.

“This seems like,” White Lily said, “the flour disease that I heard of vaguely in the past.”

“Do explain.” Dark Cacao urged.

“It was only a rumor, but, it was said that a cloud of flour would decent onto the world, reducing cookies to nothing but their core ingredients, specifically flour, when the master of the Ivory Pagoda returned…” White Lily bit her lip. “…which she has.”

“Master of the Ivory Pagoda…” Caramel Arrow clutched her bow. “She will pay for this!”

“I see,” Dark Cacao furrowed his brow, “thank you, White Lily…we will go at once and swiftly defeat this cookie. Then, I shall meet you again to save Pure Vanilla.”

“I…I shall be heading to get the others.” White Lily murmured.

“Mm…good luck.”

She knew she’d need it. She had no clue how the others would react to her—she was lucky enough with Dark Cacao being forgiving.

“Will you three,” White Lily turned to the three small cookies, “continue to travel with me?”

“Yeah!” Gingerbrave said. “With us here, we’re sure to convince the others to help!”

“I hope…” White Lily murmured.

“What are we waiting for?” Wizard asked. “We’ve still got two kingdoms to check on!”

“The Hollyberry kingdom is the closest to here!” Strawberry said. “I remember!”

“Let’s…let’s go then!” White Lily said.

“Safe travels…White Lily.” Dark Cacao said. She nodded and the four of them left, swiftly out into the dark and snowy wilderness.

Caramel Arrow approached Dark Cacao and warily watched them leave. “Are you sure we can trust her?”

“Yes.” Dark Cacao said. “I felt it…in my soul jam. I just hope the others can too…for the sake of the cookie world.”

***

Mystic Flour opened her eyes to her ivory temple. She harshly sighed before kneeling down, crossing her legs and waiting.

“So you’re…going to have him come to you?” Eternal Sugar said in disbelief.

“I don’t care if my ‘other half’ comes or not.” She simply said. “It matters very little to me.”

“You don’t even care about your soul jam?”

Mystic Flour opened her eyes to slits. “It would merely be a convenience to have. Besides, last time, it was only a burden.”

“Awww,” Eternal Sugar sighed and draped herself over her cloud, “such a shame that only me and the jester have something in common~! I think my other half is quite adorable.”

“I hope you have meaning in telling me this.”

“Come on! I need some girl talk. How can I talk about my darling Hollyberry if not to my only real girl-friend? And do you want me to be the only one talking?”

“Why does it matter to you?” Mystic Flour folded her arms into her lap. “If I talk or not?”

“I quite like it when you talk! You’re so quiet and mysterious all the time, and you and I haven’t had a conversation in quite a while. I miss it~!”

“Hmph.” Mystic Flour closed her eyes and lowered her head.

“Come! Aren’t you even a little attached?”

“Not in the slightest. I have no desire to make any connection with any new cookies.”

All she did was merely send a cloud of her flour to his kingdom. They would all turn to flour—she was sparing him from ever facing anymore hardships.

It had been a combined effort from Eternal Sugar and Shadow Milk in creating little windows for each beast to look upon their counterparts. “Other halves” as Shadow Milk and Eternal Sugar called theirs, or “thieves” as Burning Spice called them—Mystic Flour disliked both of those names. She thought of them as “burden holders.” Of course she would reclaim her soul jam if Dark Cacao came to her.

But if he didn’t, that burden was his to keep.

“Mm…you’re ignoring me.” Eternal Sugar pouted. “I bet Hollyberry wouldn’t ignore me!”

“If you’re so sure, why don’t you go find her yourself?” Mystic Flour asked.

“Ah! You’re right!” Eternal Sugar hopped up and sighed happily. “I shall go see her kingdom at once!”

And with that, Eternal Sugar was gone. Finally, peace and quiet. Mystic Flour sighed and sat in the silence.

***

Something felt…off. Hollyberry could sense it. She wasn’t sure what, but her soul jam seemed to be warning her of danger.

She walked out into the castle gardens and watched as her citizens walked by, chatting and reveling in the nice weather. She smiled slightly and stopped at the edge of the water.

“Hollyberry!” She looked up to see Queen Jungleberry walking over to her. She smiled slightly and stood next to Hollyberry.

“Ah, Jungleberry! What are you doing out here?” Hollyberry asked.

“Ah, just coming out for this nice weather.” She said before becoming serious. “Are you…ok? You’ve seemed on edge the past few days.”

“Ah, well,” she carefully looked around before leaning in, “it’s probably not best to talk about it out here. It’s just a feeling, but…”

Jungleberry nodded slightly. “I understand. Shall we go then?”

Hollyberry nodded and pulled back, smiling. “To the throne room! Aha!”

The two of them went swiftly into the throne room. Royalberry stood nearby, and he looked up when he saw them.

“Ah- mother!” He said. “And my dear! How are you two?”

“Fine,” Jungleberry said, taking his arm and smiling, “I’m here to discuss something with the queen mother, if you will stay to listen?”

“Ah, it’s important? Then of course.”

Jungleberry looked to Hollyberry, who sighed and held her soul jam up.

“My soul jam had a been telling me…something is wrong,” she said, “I’m unsure of what it is, when it will come, if it’s already in the kingdom—but something dangerous is out.”

“And your soul jam told you this?” Jungleberry clarified. When Hollyberry nodded, Jungleberry nodded seriously.

“I’ll have the guard be on high alert.” She said. “Can you try and figure out what this thing is?”

“I can try, but it’s not like I can talk to my soul jam whenever I want.” Hollyberry gave a sideways smile. “Don’t worry, though! Whatever this danger is, we can defeat it together.”

Jungleberry and Royalberry nodded, smiling at her.

“I shall be off then!” Hollyberry said, turning and walking towards the exit, “I’m sure a look around the kingdom will help me.”

***

Hollyberry slumped under the shade of a tree. A walk did NOT help her, and she was still at square one regarding this danger that was supposed to be coming.

Had she been wrong? Nothing seemed to be off, everyone was fine and the guards had seen nothing out of the ordinary.

She had been running around all day, stressing over a danger she could not find. Perhaps she should go back to the castle and see her family once more, that would definitely help clear her head.

She pushed herself up with a “Hup!” and stretched. She was about to begin walking again when she heard a soft voice.

“Ah! Excuse me,” she turned to see a pink cookie with large wings standing before her, staring up at her with some strange mix of respect and desire.

“Ah, hello!” Hollyberry said. “What do you need, fine cookie?”

The pink cookie giggled and walked closer. “You are Hollyberry, yes?”

“You are correct! In the flesh!”

“Good! I’ve been wanting to meet you forever now.”

“Ah! How embarrassing,” Hollyberry said, cheeks flushing a little, “I forget how many cookies outside my own kingdom know me!”

“Ehe, yes~ I’m so excited to be seeing you with my own two eyes!”

“Ahaha! How charming you are! What’s your name?”

“I am Eternal Sugar,” she boldly pronounced, “and I think you and I will get along just wonderfully!”