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The world was going to crumble, yet, it was none of his business.
To serve is to live.
And to live is to prosper.
And you know, shit like that was fun. Fantastic. Great. Love to lie and cheat and steal like the good minion he was.
But this may be out of his pay grade (he doesn’t get paid at all).
Black Sapphire Cookie, under the guise of Grape Vine Cookie, currently flapped his pretty little silvery wings through the Faerie Kingdom. He was good at acting. Acting like he belonged and also acting like this was the first time he ever went through the trees and faeries that greeted him as he blitzed pass.
He didn’t need to worry. Worrying ruined your act. Doubt sealed your fate.
Asking a faerie the way to the Silver Tree, that sealed the deal and making a believable act in his opinion.
Putting on a humble smile and a thankful voice, he thanked the faerie and fluttered that way.
No one was there, all the faeries were either mobilizing or simply worrying about the fate undone. No one guarded the Silver Tree anymore either, its branches were losing its color as it slowly died away, in addition the tree now served as Elder Faerie Cookie’s memorial.
There were few leaves on it in the first place, but it seemed worse than the poor Christmas tree Charlie Brown used to decorate the holiday.
He was delighted to see it in this way, smirking at the twisted branches and unruly roots that clung onto the soil that kept it on the brink of life. Delighted to see the thing that held his master captive after so long to wither away.
Black Sapphire took a hold of his stylish cape (bonus amiright?) and lifted it to let the light into the back.
A darkness, no, a silence dripped out and pooled at the bottom of his feet. Yuck. It was practically freezing him under there.
Ensuring that they were alone, Black Sapphire’s costume dissipated and the silence slowly mounded itself into a sharp form.
Black Sapphire could never get used to the tall, heavy, and positively seething Beast that stood in front of him.
Silent Salt Cookie rose from the darkness and silence, and did not acknowledge the minion behind him.
He started at the Silver Tree that once was. And said nothing. Which heavily annoyed him.
“A ‘Thanks Black Sapphire Cookie! You did me a reeeeaalllll solid!’ would be perfect right about now, you know?”
As much as Black Sapphire would never want to piss of the Beast of Silence, he wasn’t above breaking his character.
Silent Salt looked back to the minion and simply stated. “Thank you.”
Pleased with this, he really didn’t care now why Silent Salt had asked him to bring him here. Elder Faerie Cookie’s memorial of all places?
And that’s exactly what he asked when the Beast had confronted him, helmet dark and not allowing no for an answer.
He also wanted to ask, why him?—you know, to keep his cover— Why ask the minion of the Beast of Deceit who was now having a field day running around trying to spite the forces that thwarted him.
The thing about being good with rumors is that you read cookies like their Vogue magazines, and Black Sapphire is almost certain that Silent Salt Cookie absolutely abhors Shadow Milk Cookie.
Why go to him? And why here? Maybe for some deformation of his memorial- He had asked that and was met with a chilling glare. Well, not technically, he couldn’t exactly see the Beast’s eyes, but never before did Black Sapphire have the immediate urge to shut up before.
Well, he did live to serve! Serve his master, serve the Beasts, and serve cunt.
He did those flawlessly.
Now here, Black Sapphire couldn’t help but wonder why here? Looking at Silent Salt stare at the poor tree, he couldn’t help but see longing in his gaze. Dare he say… despair? Misery? Perhaps a mix of guilt? Oooohhhh he was going to loveeeee this!
“Say, you never really mentioned why we’re here, by the way, and I’d really like to believe that you are staring down this tree with violent intent but I am failing miserably.”
Silent Salt did not waver. He stayed standing and approached the tree to feel the bark, surrounded by the flowers that grew after the death of Elder Faerie.
“Aw, don’t tell me you actually miss the old gnat!”
He heard the clunk of a helmet being pressed against the bark, Silent Salt mourned.
He rose his head and stepped back and sat down, looking up at the branches like they lit up the stars.
Black Sapphire stepped closer, behind the Beast, curious for some answers he knew he had to fish for.
“Please, tell me everything~ I promise I won’t tell a soul!”
A dangerous promise, one that Black Sapphire knows is the best way for any secret to come out.
“Why should I believe that, follower of Deceit?” Came the crisp and focused response from Silent Salt Cookie.
“You know, as much as I love gossiping and telling my fellow associates about the tea and such, as a ‘follower of Deceit” I take pride in lying. I play a dangerous game, yes, but I understand I win dangerous prizes.”
“You will not tell a soul about this.”
“Trust me, you’ll know when I’ve spilled. And I don’t intend to. Sometimes, some things are better to watch from the sidelines. I have better things to do rather than dwell on little things like your conquest.”
“No one will believe you.” He stated simply.
As much as it was true, that pissed him off. He was already under confidentiality for taking Silent Salt here, so why not everything else?
“Indeed they won’t.”
Silent Salt nodded and felt the thin taffy grass and licorice roots that surrounded his dark hands. And silently, he admitted, “I miss him.”
“The old gnat?! You?! Miss HIM?!”
“We were… great friends when the world was new and I was a Virtue. We grew this tree together, using our combined powers. Does that answer all your questions?”
Black Sapphire couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Silent Salt Cookie? And- Elder Faerie Cookie?! Were… a thing? An item even?
“Yes- but… no. No no no no no! Salty- come on! Great friends? With that pest? 6-feet-under, great, and shiny king of the Faerie Kingdom? He trapped you!”
Black Sapphire could read the silence well, it was a talent of his. And a bunch of his conjectures he stated were false.
“No. We were even greater.” The voice was now less crisp than it normally was.
Oh.
Oh no no no no no! He was telling the truth!
And he was making goo goo eyes with that stick of a tree!
“YOU AND HIM WERE?!-“
“Silence. You’ll draw unnecessary attention.”
“Unnecessary?!?” He hissed out. “I wasn’t the one tangoing with the dead butterfly in my past life! You!-“
Silent Salt’s vision did not leave the tree for any of Black Sapphire’s outbursts. And he thought he was going to stay nonchalant. But the lore was too much to handle. He needed power back.
“What’s stopping me from telling everyone this?”
Silent Salt turned his head, and Black Sapphire could swear he saw the fiery gates of hell behind that helmet.
“Tell anyone of what you heard, and I will tell everyone about your entanglement with your faerie here.”
For a split second, Black Sapphire’s eyes opened wide and his heart stopped beating. He panicked, but only for a fraction of a moment. Already, he was back to smiling and hiding behind his panic with a masterly crafted mask.
“Come again?”
“You heard me.”
He turned his head back to the tree, and breathed out, relaxing as Black Sapphire saw grains of salt pour down into the grass from in between the joints of armour.
Shellshocked, Black Sapphire gave up as he sat himself a few feet away from Silent Salt.
How could that- Beast!- know anything about his relationship with Silverbell Cookie! There were two things he was proud of hiding, his stash of Shining Glitter CDs and his frequent visits to the Faerie Kingdom for the cookie who caught his eye and shoulder between an arrow and a tree.
Sighing, he pitifully asks, “So… how did you know?”.
“I see things that Shadow Milk Cookie does not. That none of the other Beasts do not.”
“Well, I guess it takes one to know one I guess.” Black Sapphire jests, however it doesn’t contain the poison you’d think. If anything, the two acted like they just got off their 9 to 5 shift and headed to a bar to drink themselves blind.
“I suppose… it does.”
The two watched the tree in silence. Simply waiting and also wanting. Longing. Like the world did have enough time to stand still for even just a second.
“Does your faerie know who you are?”
“He… Silverbell Cookie knows that I hide my identity. I have a feeling he knows… what I am.” He’s not sure if it’s for his own benefit or not. “It’s complicated.”
Silent Salt snickers, actually snickers! “You… remind me. Of… too much.” Now remorseful. “You know what you must do, yes?”
“Do? What ever do you mean?”
“You see how my story ended. Now you see how your story will end. I urge you to cease your visits and contact with… Silverbell Cookie immediately.”
Black Sapphire was taken aback by the sudden shift, yet it was the shift that he was expecting in Silent Salt. Cold, yet with logic and rationale.
“No.” And it was a defensive ‘no’. As in, he’d rather crumble away in Silverbell’s arms than stop seeing him.
“What do you mean, ‘No’?” His voice became venomous.
“You cannot make me stop seeing him, so I’m saying: No, I will not stop visiting here. I will not listen to you, as I can do whatever I want.”
“And if your master were to know?”
Black Sapphire fell silent, and made up his mind. “Then I’d disobey him.”
“He’d crumble the faerie.”
“Then I’ll ask for him to crumble me too.”
Silent Salt looked at Black Sapphire now, but the venom was gone. As if Black Sapphire’s wish was once his.
And now, all that was left was… sorrow. Understanding. …fear? No…
Silence.
“Then your time with him is limited.” Silent Salt concludes.
The world was going to fight, and only one side would remain. And whoever would remain, would have to go one as if the loser never existed.
As if Silent Salt wanted to be welcomed once he got out of his tree. But was met with nothing. His everything was gone, butterflies that bled in the field.
…he almost had Black Sapphire wishing that Silent Salt was his master. He shook the idea out of his head.
How different things would be.
“I give you my word, for as long as you withhold the details of my… relationship with Elder Faerie Cookie, I will protect the relationship you have with Silverbell Cookie. But you understand, once this information leaves this circle, you will not have my name to back you.”
Black Sapphire nodded as he understood the situation at hand clearly. Almost too clearly.
Heh… so this is why he is a follower of deceit. Because ignorance is bliss.
Oh to continue being blissful with Silverbell…
“I believe this is the time for you to say ‘Thank you?’” Silent Salt almost playfully asks.
“Don’t get it wrong, Salty, I’m still onto you about Elder Faerie! But… thank you.”
The Beast nods and returns back to staring up at his and Elder Faerie’s tree. Blissful… almost. Butterflies come and land on the helmet of the Beast of Silence.
Black Sapphire could almost hear the metallic aching of Silent Salt’s heart, to see how something that mirrored his own relationship ended like this.
He couldn’t ignore it, but he knew he had to forget it. Silent Salt was expecting him to, and he wouldn’t put it above himself that his own monologue was set to forget it.
“I wish to stay here for much… much longer. Privately. Go to your faerie, and leave me be.”
You didn’t have to ask him twice! His disguise back on, he fluttered away.
In the back of his mind, as he left the memorial and the Beast behind, he couldn’t even imagine hearing the Beast softly crying as he left the pasture. Couldn’t bring himself to hear the choked sobs before the waterfall that made him uncomfortable and fly faster away.
He ignored it. Erased from his memory, was the breakdown because of the enemy.
Still, Silent Salt had promised to shed jam for tears, oh how he himself was a victim!
Oh to hear a Beast of this caliber sobbing in the presence of their captor? Oh, but to see a cookie mourn the tragic loss of his soulmate (whom of which was killed by his coworker, but he doesn’t know that!), that part almost had him feeling sympathetic!
He was a good liar.
But he did it so badly…
So later, when he held onto the waist and rested on the lap of his faerie, Silverbell petting his fake purple hair as he rested silently after that much emotion, he counted the seconds he was in those arms.
The seconds that would dictate their time limited, just like the Virtue of Solidarity and the King of the Faerie Kingdom before them.
But they didn’t know that… that their time would run out.
As Silent Salt Cookie sat at the tree with salt crystals drying up on his armour, the butterflies around him tasting and comforting the poor Beast beneath them, he counted the seconds that he was without his faerie that he was dedicated to serve.
Counting the seconds until he himself was out of time.
Like a stone.
Alone.