Chapter Text
“This meeting is over. Your research is based on a hunch at best, it is too risky and could have disastrous outcomes at any state. There are too many variables and mistakes from human error alone. We will not approve it, Doctor Pure Vanilla.” Came the booming voice of the head of the Committee.
“B-but if you just listened to some of the evidence I have-”
“The committee decision is unanimous having heard what you’ve already said. That is Final. Leave now.”
Pure Vanilla hugged his research notes close to his chest. He had never been met with such hostility from the Committee of Sciences. They just didn’t understand what he was trying to do. It would be groundbreaking if they just gave him a chance to prove it properly. He looked like he was going to say something else to possibly help his case, but the hard, harsh stares kept him from continuing. He swallowed hard, reaching up to adjust his glasses for a moment before speaking again.
“I’m sorry… Thank you for your time-”
The Young Scientist quickly turned on his heel and left the courtroom. That certainly had been the first time that room had felt like an actual courtroom, It was like he was on trial. He thought he had finally found something that the committee would really be interested in. The separation of good and evil inside of man. Of course they were intrigued at first, yet the longer his explanation of his thought process and theoretical experiments, even the ones he had already tried to conduct, went on. Concern grew on some faces, anger in others. Met with the ending hostility, Pure Vanilla knew he would get no help or support from them now, or perhaps ever again. The way they dismissed him, they must think he has gone positively mad.
Stepping outside the Courthouse, taking a few steps down the stairs, Pure Vanilla is greeted by a familiar voice. “How was your meeting, Dr. Vanilla?”
“Please- No formality my friend.” He lets out a soft chuckle as he looks up slightly at the taller man before him. Taking a step back on the stairs so they were more eye level. The warm hearted chuckle was returned by him; “Apologies, I just didn’t want to startle you.”
“A bit hard to do with that deep voice of yours, Cacao. What are you doing at the Courthouse?”
“Ah, I was going to meet a potential new client here, but they are more than an hour late. I do not think they will be coming now.” Dark Cacao stepped to the side so both men could start to walk to the more upper side of town together. Both men lived there, not too far apart either. Dark Cacao’s lawyer office and home were only a couple streets over from where Pure Vanilla resided with his fiancé.
“How have things been?” Dark Cacao asked as they walked.
“Things have been going very well, till today that is. The meeting went very poorly. The Committee denied me the funding for my research, down right told me to stop.” Pure Vanilla sighed heavily, once again holding his notes to his chest.
“May I ask why?”
“Maybe another time… I am still very dejected… I’ll probably shelf it anyway-”
He didn’t really intend to shelf his research, yet at least anyway. He wanted to keep the majority of his research to himself now that he didn’t have support. At least until he had concrete proof of his findings and theories.
“I understand. Another time then.”
The two men continued to chat till they came to a stop outside a very nice blue and White House. Lilies adorned the flowerbeds, Ivy hung from pots on the porch that wrapped around to the right side of the house. It was very welcoming. Dark Cacao held his hand out to shake his friend’s hand. “Have a good rest of your evening, Pure Vanilla. Say hello to Lily for me.”
“Of course, get home safe, Dark Cacao.”
And with that Dark Cacao nodded and started off to his own home. Pure Vanilla watched him for a moment before he opened the small gate at the end of his walkway and walked to his front door. Upon entering his home he hung up his jacket and let out a defeated sigh. There were the sounds of pots and pans moving around in the kitchen, they paused for a moment and a soothing voice came from the same direction. “Pure Vanilla? Is that you?”
“Yes, Lily, I’m home.”
Pure Vanilla walked to the kitchen to see his fiancé preparing dinner. “I didn’t expect you to be home,” he said softly, looking over her shoulder. “I was going to try and prepare something for dinner tonight.”
“Golden Cheese had to go home early, she wasn’t feeling well.” White Lily returned his gaze, “I appreciate the thought, but you know the rules. Stay out of my kitchen and I stay out of your study~”
She lightly teased him.
“I messed up cooking once and I can never try again?”
“Love, I don’t trust you to make a bowl of cereal.”
Pure Vanilla couldn’t help the small chuckle her comment pulled from him. “That’s very harsh.”
“Tough~”
White lily laughed and gently tapped him on the head with a wooden spoon. “Now, dinner will be ready in about an hour. You can tell me all about your meeting over dinner, now get!”
“Okay okay~”
With another soft chuckle, Pure Vanilla left the kitchen and headed upstairs to his study, where his little makeshift lab was as well. Once the door is closed his happy little façade falls. He walks over to his desk on the far left side of the room. He sits in the desk chair and drops his notes on the desk with a loud thump. He felt defeated. He couldn’t tell Lily what happened at the courthouse today, it still left a pit in his stomach.
He leaned on his desk, head in his hands just idly glancing over his work. The separation of good and evil inside someone. Was it just as far-fetched and dangerous as the committee feared? Sure, there were risks, as there were with any experiment. The benefits usually outweigh them, and in Pure Vanilla’s opinion the same was true here as well. Harnessing the evil inside people, removing it somehow would only make way for prosperity and equality. Perhaps that’s where the hesitation lies, how do you remove something as conceptual as ‘evil’? Separation must be possible first. Was that even possible? Would the so-called evil have a new consciousness of its own?
He needed a test subject, all of these questions would go unanswered without one. However that was the first thing the committee outright denied him.
Sitting there, it dawned on him. What if, he was the test subject? Pure Vanilla considered himself a nice person, hardly an evil thought to think of. Perhaps he himself was the perfect test subject to start with.
A new little flame flickered to life inside him, burning bright with new fervor. He opened a drawer and pulled out a new notebook, quickly starting to write these new ideas down. The subject of the experiment would be himself- he knew himself, so it would be easy to keep notes as well. Plus he didn’t need anyone’s permission to try things on himself. It may be reckless, but he needed this drive at the moment.
He slowly wrote out a new formula with himself in mind. Once done, he was ready to try it. He quickly got up from his seat, making his way to the other side of the room where his equipment was set up and turned on a couple Bunsen Burners. Opening a few books he read over a few passages about certain chemicals to double check things before mixing a few together. He only paused once in a while to write down different reactions and time stamps.
Time flew by as he was hyper focused on his work. Everything was going smoothly, things were mixing and reacting the way he thought they would, perfect. He almost didn’t notice a soft knock at the door of his study. He gasped softly, almost dropping the flask in his hands. “Pure Vanilla? I called a few times… Are you alright?”
“Ah- Yes yes- I’m sorry! I got a bit distracted. I’ll be down in a moment.”
“Okay,” White lily said, a tone of relief in her voice. She always did worry too much for him. She quickly returned downstairs to their dinner to wait for him.
Pure Vanilla cursed himself for letting the time get away from him. He gently placed the flask down on the table and reached over to turn down the burners for now. Hopefully the small flame would be enough to keep the different solutions from expiring before use. He gently corked a few open vials as well. Once he made sure everything was stable he turned and rushed downstairs for dinner.
Walking into the kitchen and over to the small table by the window, he wiped the sweat from his brow. Sitting down he looked over the meal before him, smiling at its contents. Salad made from ingredients in their garden out back and a very delicious looking puffball mushroom steak. “This looks wonderful Lily, thank you.”
“Of course~ I hope it tastes as good as it looks.” She smiled softly. “I wish I had time to do more, but there wasn’t anyone home today to help. No matter though, I think it’s enough for the two of us.”
Pure Vanilla nodded, “I didn't notice till now, Silverbell and Sapphire aren’t here, where are they?”
“Right after you left this morning, Silverbell was talking to me about how his father was in town and asked for the weekend off. I said that he could take the week and to take Black Sapphire along as well.”
She mused happily.
“I did mention that we probably wouldn’t be able to pay them their full help wage, but that we would still give them some to enjoy themselves.”
Pure Vanilla wiped his mouth with a napkin quick after swallowing some food. “They deserve the time off. I’m very grateful for their help.”
White lily nodded.
“Silverbell also said his father might want to take us to dinner as well to meet us. He seemed very excited about that.”
“That sounds wonderful! I hope to hear from them soon then. Silverbell is such a great help around here, I would be honored to meet his father.”
“I’m sure Black Sapphire is all kinds of nervous~”
The two chuckled warmly as they talked more over dinner. Even sitting there for a while after finishing just to keep talking. Pure Vanilla couldn’t help but think the life he had was practically perfect. A cozy home, an amazing job, a beautiful fiancé- that’s what everyone wants.
And yet… He still felt like something was wrong. Just an inkling of a feeling that would come and go as quick as a humming bird. These feelings were becoming more frequent as of late however. Every time Pure Vanilla looked at the calendar to cross off a day, knowing that with every passing day their wedding was just a few short months away. He felt a pit of unease in his stomach. Why? What vile doubts could he possibly have? The horrid cruel thoughts of just vanishing on her, the very relief those thoughts brought him for a moment, it made him ill with guilt.
“How did your meeting with the committee go today?” White Lily asked innocently.
Pure Vanilla paused, jarred from his spiraling thoughts only to be spun in another direction. He couldn’t tell her. He had never lied to her about anything before, well besides small silly things. He just needed more time. He cleared his throat.
“They want more evidence.”
He smiled at her,
“I may.. have been a little ill prepared in my excitement. So not funded yet, but they are very interested. I have a month to get my thoughts, findings, and theories finalized. Then I see them again.”
He hoped she didn’t see through him. He tried his damn hardest to seem relaxed and rather happy about the falsified outcome he told her. She just smiled in return. “That’s wonderful! I’ll be looking forward to hearing your news on that day then.”
Letting out a barely noticeable sigh of relief, Pure Vanilla stood up and started to pick up the plates and silverware from the table.
“I’ll be home tomorrow, do you think I can be allowed in the kitchen to wash these, without supervision I mean.”
White Lily thought for a moment, obviously poking fun. “I suppose so~”
She hummed as she stood as well, helping gather a few of the dishes to hand to Pure Vanilla. “Will you be in your study the rest of the night?”
“Ah…I was thinking about it-“
“You usually do when you receive exciting news or major interest from the Committee. I just wanted to double check so I know not to wait up for you.”
“I’m sorry- Would you rather-“
“Hush.”
She walked over, placing the dishes in his hand, then reaching up to gently pat the side of his face.
“It’s no problem, go work, I’ll see you in the morning, love.”
Pure Vanilla placed the dirty dishes in the sink as she left the kitchen. He looked at the door she left from for a moment before he fully turned to go after her, catching her going up the stairs. “Lily-“
She paused, looking down at him.
“Yes?”
“I… I love you-“
He felt like the words were forced. Yet they earned him the same warm smile from her. White Lily’s eyes softened with affection.
“I love you, too. Goodnight~”
“Goodnight…”
White Lily continued up the stairs to their bedroom. Hearing the door shut gave Pure Vanilla an odd rush of guilt. Why did he feel like this? He wasn’t lying! He did love her- she was his best friend. His now fiancé of two years, and it still felt off… The amount of times poor Lily had to correct him in the beginning from friend to fiancé. It was embarrassing and downright pathetic. He hated feeling like this.
He was going to fix it. Fix these thoughts, doubts, feelings- his mind. For her. They could be happy, truly happy. Pure Vanilla wasted no time in heading for his study, turning the burners back up, uncorking vials, spreading out his notes. He was so close to figuring this out. If it could work for him, it would for others as well. He knew he could do this.
Hours passed. It was still dark outside, but what time it was exactly. Pure Vanilla didn’t know. He didn’t care to know at the moment. He was so close to finishing this elixir. The bags under his eyes were heavy, his eyes stung from lack of sleep. his hand unsteady as he dripped a few drops of another mixed chemical into the solution. It just needed to boil for a moment. It should change color and it would be done.
He just had to wait. Placing the beaker on the rack above the open flame, he grabbed his notebook to write down the few steps he just performed. Then he waited. Of course, waiting felt like forever. His tired eyes fought him, he found them falling shut more frequently in just a few minutes. Pure Vanilla huffed, annoyed at his own sleepiness.
Then he heard a soft bubbling sound. His eyes snapped open and he looked at his creation. It was softly boiling. He frantically looked for the small clock he kept on the table to write down the time, 3:16am. Once he recorded the time he watched the dark blackish purple liquid suddenly turn to a vivid bright blue color.
“It… it did it-“
Pure Vanilla was almost in shock, the solution did as he predicted. The bright blue is a bit of a surprise but nonetheless it did it, it changed. He quickly took it off the flame to make sure the color stayed. After a few moments of no change he jotted down more notes. In the past, most of his experiments took a few tries to get a desired result. He took this as a good sign.
“First try- I can’t believe I got it first try… Now- to test it.”
While he waited for the beaker to cool down, Pure Vanilla walked to a cabinet on the other side of the room. He grabbed a fresh test tube and a brand new pipet that had never been used, it still had the protective wrapping on it.
He made his way back over, using the pipet to fill the test tube, leaving plenty of his elixir in the beaker for further testing. He held up the test tube, the light catching and dancing in the liquid. He couldn’t help but find it pretty. Blue was his favorite color after all, it cemented the idea this was right.
“This is it… this is the moment I send all my doubts and demons on their way.”
He gathered up his notebook, small clock, and the test tube. He sat comfortably at his desk, laying out everything properly. Looking at the clock and making note of the time before he steeled himself and brought the test tube to his lips, swallowing the solution like a shot of pure alcohol. It burned going down all the same actually.
“3:28am… consumed solution, burning sensation going down. Leaves the mouth and throat warm. The taste is somewhat unpleasant, leaves a sickeningly sweet taste in the mouth.”
He speaks aloud to himself as he writes down things he notices, things to possibly analyze later on.
“No noticeable changes after five minutes…”
He slowly stops speaking, and soon the writing stops as well.
An awful feeling started to bubble in his throat, like needles suddenly crawling up his throat from his stomach. He tried to clear his throat but all it earned him was an involuntary gagging response. Even though the burning pain grew, he still tried to keep composure and write down the side effects he was feeling.
A sudden sharp stabbing pain shot through Pure Vanilla’s left eye. He dropped his pen and grabbed his face in a futile attempt to dull the sharp pain.
“A-AAHHH!”
He couldn’t help the pained cry that escaped him. He grit his teeth so hard he thought they might crack.
“What is- H-Happening!?”
Was he dying? Did he somehow poison himself? It sure felt like it. His knees felt weak as he pulled himself out of his chair, standing only seemed to make the stabbing pain in his head and eye worse.
The mirror- He had to get over to the mirror on the wall. There had to be something happening to him visually. He quickly made his way over to the mirror. Stumbling along the way he caught himself on the small end table that was placed under the mirror. He forced his eyes open. What he saw frightened him. The sclera of his left eye had turned black.
“Wh-what?”
The pain in his head suddenly got worse, it made him hiss through his teeth. His knees buckled and he fell to the floor holding his head in pain as he writhed.
“Th-this isn’t right! AH! Make it stop!”
He openly sobbed, his mind slowly growing fuzzy. He felt a smile slowly tugging at the corners of his mouth- why? That shouldn’t be happening. This was awful! It was like he had no control of his own face.
“Ha…haha-HAHAHAHA!!”
Finally, the pain ceased as quickly as it had started. With great difficulty, Pure Vanilla got up, claws digging into the wood floor. Wait… claws? Those… those weren’t his hands. He tried to pull away but his body refused to listen. It was moving on its own.
“Finally…”
That was not his voice that just came out of his mouth. Standing up straight, he made his way back over to the mirror. Taking his glasses off and crushing them in his grip. The glass cutting into light blue skin, blood dripping down the palm.
The sight made Pure Vanilla cringe. Finally he looked into the mirror. His face did not look back. Bright, mad, mismatched blue eyes were where his own blue and yellow ones should be. Light blue skin, messily braided black and blue hair, white bangs hung over the one seemingly normal eye. All of it tied together with a wicked sharp grin.
“Hah… I’m Free.”
The figure looking back began to cackle again. Pure Vanilla felt nothing but fear in this moment. It was short lived however, as his consciousness began to slip. No matter how much he fought it and panicked, his consciousness was ripped away from him. The last thing he saw was the stranger using his body to grab his spare coat and hat that he kept in his study, dawning them before opening the window that led to their backyard.
After that he was gone. Another crazed laugh ripped from the stranger who had taken over Pure Vanilla’s body, changed it.
“Get some rest, sweetness… Now that I’m free, no one is going to stop me from having some fun.”