Chapter Text
Of all the things Pure Vanilla thought he might do in the Spire…might have to do to fully convince Shadow Milk he was on his side…
Well, he did not think snapping his fingers to turn his three friends into tarot cards would be one of them. It likely wasn't even necessary. He knew one of Shadow Milk's minions would be by to recapture them soon anyway. But he just couldn't take it anymore. All that talk about how Pure Vanilla wasn't a liar, how they believed in him, how they trusted him…
It’s Truthless Recluse now, he chastised himself. Why can’t I remember that?
His head had been throbbing ever since he'd resurfaced from the Yogurt River. The old self he was trying so hard to conceal just wouldn't keep quiet and stay hidden. He was supposed to be able to endure it all. Shadow Milk's games, his taunting, his tortures…everything in service of getting the Beast to drop his guard. It would only take a moment…one single moment of the Light of Truth becoming corrupted enough to take control of the Other Realm. Then he could bring it all down.
But there was a fatal flaw in his plan. And it had been gnawing at him ever since the chess game. He could tell when I was lying.
He sat down on the bed, the three cookies-turned-tarot-cards in his hand. They'd still tried to speak to him, forcing him to silence their voices. Each brutal step forward in his plan felt like he was wading deeper into the mire of Deceit. But how else could he be convincing enough?
There was a harsh rap at the door. "Open up! Where are they? Master Shadow Milk Cookie wants your little friends!"
How polite of the rumormonger, waiting for Truthless to actually invite him in. With the three silent cards in hand, he stood, crossed the room, and opened the door.
"They're here," he said simply, showing Black Sapphire his quarry while keeping all three out of grabbing range.
"W-well, well, well!" Black Sapphire stammered, clearly as shocked with Truthless Recluse's actions as the cookie himself was. "As much as I want to have my revenge, Master Shadow Milk Cookie ordered me to bring them alive."
Truthless Recluse pulled the cards farther back. "No. I will hand these to Shadow Milk personally. I need to talk with him in private."
"Excuse me? In case you've forgotten, you're the prisoner here."
"They are the prisoners," Truthless corrected as he tucked the cards into his pocket. "I am a guest. It is certainly within my host's rights to refuse me, but he said himself I am not his servant. Unlike you."
Black Sapphire growled in frustration. But he also had no counterarguments.
Truthless found himself smiling at this smidgen of power he'd found in an otherwise helpless situation. "Do not fall under the illusion that you hold any authority over me. Tell him I'm requesting an audience and bring me his reply. You can handle that, yes?"
"And…how do I know you won't restore your little friends in the meantime and help them escape?" Black Sapphire asked, his voice a touch off-pitch as he scrambled for a way to not return to his master empty-handed.
"That seems an odd course of action when I transformed them to begin with. But if you need reassurance..." Truthless stepped over to a small cupboard in the corner of the room, conveniently with a key already in the lock. He pulled the door open and placed the three cards on the upper shelf. Then, with no further explanation, he locked it and walked the key back to Black Sapphire. The cookie immediately tucked it into his breast pocket, fangs bared in frustration. Nevertheless he flew off as asked.
#
Less than ten minutes later, Shadow Milk materialized out of a portal. As if Truthless Recluse needed any additional reminders about who held all the power here. Seeing the Beast enter disrupted his mind's tenuous balance as well. The part of him tainted by the river wanted to leap up, rip open the cupboard, and tear the tarot cards in half to prove his loyalty. Another part wanted to tear Shadow Milk himself apart for turning him into...
The wave of manic energy ebbed from his body.
He didn't even know who "Truthless Recluse" was supposed to be.
He only knew that when he'd fallen from that tower, he'd lost who he once was. The name came as an attempt to ease the raging battle in his mind--the one that screamed how Pure Vanilla Cookie wouldn't think like this...wouldn't act like this.
But as for how Truthless Recluse should think and act? There he remained ignorant. Well, for now, at any rate. If his offer was accepted, he had no doubt Shadow Milk would help clear the matter up.
"Did you order my minion around?" Shadow Milk asked, his tone perfectly balanced between annoyance and admiration.
"You toyed with my friends. It seemed a fair exchange. But that's not what I wanted to talk about."
Shadow Milk nodded, apparently finding this a valid argument and motioned for Truthless Recluse to continue. His posture read of boredom--sprawled out in midair with his staff dangling haphazardly in his loose grip. But his face read of eager curiosity.
Truthless massaged his forehead, more out of habit now than anything else. "The chess game," he said simply. "When the pieces only moved if I spoke the truth…"
"Oh? You looking for a rematch?" Shadow Milk asked. "I love the idea, but I've got so many other games planned. I dunno if our playing pieces will still be intact afterwards."
"How could you tell?" Truthless Recluse said, ignoring the interruption. "If I spoke the truth, I mean?"
"How could I tell? Because I can read you like a book, Vanilly. You aren't that complicated." When Truthless raised an eyebrow, Shadow Milk rolled onto his back and spoke to the ceiling. "Fine, fine. You did catch me by surprise with your stunt at the end. It was very impressive. Applause, applause, and all that jazz."
"So whether my pieces moved was based on your best guesses? Or did you know for a fact when I was lying?"
Shadow Milk spent an awkward amount of time ceiling-staring before he replied, "You know what's so, so entertaining here? It's how you think I'll answer you honestly."
"I'd prefer a dishonest answer over none. Then I could at least put it to the test."
"You test me? Oh, that sounds delightful!" He floated up into a seated position and rested his hand on his knees, almost like he was modeling his pose after the plushie on the nightstand. "Alrighty, then. Yes, Vanilly. As the cookie of Deceit at home in my Spire of Deceit, I can, in fact, sense when you say something deceitful."
As Truthless Recluse expected he would reply. Time for the test to begin, then. Without preamble, he stated, "I no longer care what happens to my friends."
"Lie. Though you wish it were true, which I find both intriguing and adorable."
Truthless Recluse nodded and continued, "My name is Pure Vanilla Cookie."
"Factually true on paper, but in your mind, another lie."
The Soul Jam quivered. Nothing he needed to point out. They could both sense it, after all. His head swelled with pain once again...half of it telling him to disengage, the other half telling him to continue. He knew what his last question had to be. Something Shadow Milk couldn't get by guessing or even knowing his past experiences. Something hidden about those experiences. "I remember every patient I ever failed."
Shadow Milk lay on his stomach and floated right up to Truthless Recluse's face, their cheeks brushing as he whispered in his ear, "Lie. And it kills you."
Truthless Recluse went still for a moment as Shadow Milk pulled back away from him. Then the headache flared into an intolerable blaze. His stomach churned. The lights felt far too bright. And yet through it all, he laughed. His crazed hysterical shrieks filled the room as tears welled in his eyes. His plan was broken from the start. The biggest lie in all of this was his belief he could somehow make it work. And yet the Soul Jam still hummed and vibrated, still stubbornly refused to corrupt in full. Why?
"Hey, now, Vanilly!" Shadow Milk said. "This is your second bout of maniacal laughter without letting me in on the joke first. Humor's no fun if it's all your head."
"The joke?" Truthless Recluse said once he got enough control of himself. He squeezed his eyes shut against the too-bright lights and stumbled back to sit on the bed. "The joke is me! The joke is my entire plan! Trick the Cookie of Deceit himself? In what world did I think that could possibly work?" He gritted his teeth. "And why is my Soul Jam so stubbornly loud?"
"Ah. You noticed that as well?" Shadow Milk asked, making no comment whatsoever on his counterpart's obvious pain. "And here I thought you were too dense to pick up on it. But congrats on your first truth in this conversation. I'd love all the juicy details on that plan of yours." He leaned his elbows on absolutely nothing and rested his chin on his interlaced fingers.
Truthless Recluse could feel himself bordering on hysteria once again. The Spire's influence? His own Soul Jam fighting him? He supposed, at this point, it didn't matter which. "Oh, I'm sure you would. You do love good entertainment. Very well. I knew you've lived a solitary life. I took a guess you'd want companionship. That you'd much prefer me wielding my Soul Jam for your purposes than you wielding it yourself."
"I neither confirm nor deny that. So your plan was to offer friendship?"
"More than that. My plan was to offer partnership. Let my Soul Jam corrupt enough to convince you I was yours. Fall deep enough into Deceit that you'd permit my power to access your Other Realm."
Shadow Milk dropped his arms. His eyes widened. He did not laugh, but as far as Truthless could tell, it would only because he'd been too struck with shock. "And another truth? No way! You honestly thought you'd snatch my Spire, my realm, my WORLD out from under me? You believed you could pull off that kind of betrayal?" He clutched at his stomach and curled into a ball, turning over and kicking his feet as he fell into a giggling fit. "Don't answer! I know it's not a lie, but--oh, my! I don't think I've ever been so entertained by a truth in my life! And lemme tell you, buddy, I've lived a long time!"
"I'm glad I gave you a laugh," Truthless Recluse said weakly. "Now... perhaps you will return the kindness?"
"Oh?"
Truthless Recluse lowered his head, dizziness threatening to topple him. "The Yogurt River didn't fully work. Part of my Soul Jam, part of me is still clinging to Truth. And it's tearing my mind apart."
For as much as Truthless expected the reply to this to be another chuckle or snarky remark, it was neither. Shadow Milk stood upright, floating just barely above the floor, giving Truthless Recluse his full, intrigued attention.
"I think you know this feeling--the contradictions in your mind when the Fount was losing himself, no longer sure what his heart desired. I can't stand this war in my head anymore. So I'm begging you. If my current situation is hopeless, give me a different solution. Help me quell this stubborn flicker of Truth in earnest." He forced himself to smile. Whatever lay at the end of this path he was stepping onto, at least he'd no longer be tortured at the fork. "Help me embrace Deceit."
#
Elsewhere in the world, a small boat with two passengers made its way down a river. The waters were lifeless, as were the caverns of this cave its passengers traversed. Dark rivulets ran down the sides of stalactites, dripping into water too cold to remain a liquid. And yet the boat traveled on--one cookie rowing while the other sat at the bow. She used to dress in such verdant colors, this cookie. Yet these days, it was only black.
The rower dipped in his oar, pushing water aside to propel them ahead. Then he addressed his passenger with little volume or emotion: "You surrendered so quickly. May I ask why?"
The cookie's dough, now gray and lifeless as stale flour, shifted slightly as she turned to reply: "Because someone important to me is falling. And I trust no one to mourn him properly but myself."
The rower said nothing. He understood her and she knew as much, therefore no words needed to be exchanged.
"Take me to the Spire," she said. "I wish to remember the spirits trapped there."
The rower nodded as he methodically lifted his oar, dipped it from the opposite side, and pushed forward once again. "So be it."