Chapter Text
“One day, your kindness will become your undoing!”
Those words, spat out like remnants of venom stuck to the Beast’s tongue, aimed with the sole purpose of getting his point across to the other, infuriatingly sweet cookie before him as the Spire began to crumble around them.
Pure Vanilla Cookie... sweet, gentle, conniving Pure Vanilla Cookie. A frown graced his beautiful face as he stared at his other half forlornly. Even while he himself was undoubtedly drained from their brawl, he remained flawless in his appearance. His own staff was clenched in his hands whilst his now long, silky golden hair seemed to flow from the top of his head like a waterfall down his back. His eyes, always so kind and forgiving, stared at Shadow Milk Cookie with what he can only assume to be... pity.
How revolting. It made the Beast’s stomach twist and turn.
He would not be made a fool of. Not again. Not by him.
Curse Pure Vanilla and his soft constitution! How dare this lowly thief come into his Spire, use his own Other Realm against him, and steal his Soul Jam?
Oh, he should have crushed this half-baked flatster as soon as he had him trapped within his claws.
“Shadow Milk Cookie,” that Witches-forsaken cookie was speaking to him again. It made him want to gouge out his own eyes and crush his own dough, “things don’t have to end this way. Allow me to help you! I understand that-”
“You understand nothing!” Shadow Milk snarled, sharp teeth bared like a wild Cake Hound, braced for another prolonged fight. “I won’t fall for your sugar-coated lies again!”
Pure Vanilla had the audacity to look hurt. The utter nerve of this cookie! Acting all innocent as if he hadn’t just taken Shadow Milk’s whole world and shattered it along with that disgustingly truthful Soul Jam of his. Just what does he have that makes him so special? Why does he get to resurface and breathe the fresh air after nearly drowning, while Shadow Milk is still stuck at the bottom, weighed down by his own misfortune?
Why did he have to leave him here to drown?
Pure Vanilla stepped closer, gradually closing the distance and approaching the Beast the same way one would approach a wild animal. His hand, the one that had been previously offered and rejected, reached cautiously upward to cradle Shadow Milk’s face. Any further bile-coated words died in Shadow Milk’s mouth and settled in his stomach like a rock. Shadow Milk’s ears began ringing as something dark and ugly began clawing at his chest like a warning.
Tearing his head away from the sickeningly gentle caress, Shadow Milk hissed. Face darkening until only his wide, angered, slitted eyes remained, he reeled back.
Thwack!
Shadow Milk wasn’t even sure of when he’d reeled his arm back as well, the blunt bulb of his staff colliding with the side of Pure Vanilla’s face with a sickening crack.
Truthfully, Shadow Milk hadn’t meant to strike him like that... but, Witches, did it feel satisfying.
Jam began to quickly spill from the other cookie’s nose, staining his pristine robes with a rose-gold tint. Pure Vanilla’s eyes were as wide as saucers. He looked ridiculous. Though, of course, this wasn’t enough to make him back down. Not even as his own jam stained his white clothes and golden locks, not even as those pesky brats watched on with mouths wide enough to catch several stray sugarflies in one breath. Not even after seeing the bulb of the Beast’s staff stained with his own jam. This cookie was as stubborn as one of his beloved Cream Sheep. Shadow Milk had half the mind to do it again, to try and stamp out that misplaced determination and replace it with the fear he so desperately craved to see upon the other’s face again. To drag him back down under and break his mind all over again until he can no longer find that guiding light that helped break him free from Shadow Milk’s grasp.
But he wouldn’t. It’s no longer worth the effort. Pure Vanilla has already tainted his Soul Jam with his blinding light, and Shadow Milk wants nothing to do with it.
Pure Vanilla quickly recovered from being hit because, of course, he did. “Shadow Milk Cookie... please, just hear me out. Things don’t have to go on like this. Let me help you. Instead of drowning together, we can help each other reach the shore... wouldn’t you like that?” He took a step closer again, with the Beast taking a few steps back to put some distance between himself and that blinding smile.
“What, and you expect me to start bending over backwards the same way you do for those selfish cookies you surround yourself with, too? I’m so sorry for not jumping with utter joy and clicking my heels together whimsically at the idea, but I’m going to have to pass on that!” Shadow Milk’s voice, though clearly strained with irritation, lilted back to its usual mocking and shrill tone. He wouldn’t — no, he couldn’t go back to that kind of life, not again. Not when it took him so long just to break out of those chains the first time.
Shadow Milk aimed his staff and sent out another spell aimed at the Ancient. It was a weak spell, and he cursed under his breath as it was easily avoided by the other. Still, he refused to let up as the fighting began once more, each use of his own dwindling energy causing the Spire to tremble more beneath their feet. The more magic he utilizes in his attempts to pulverize this cookie, the less magic is available to keep the Spire standing.
“Master Shadow Milk Cookie!” Ah, that must be Black Sapphire Cookie, calling out to try and warn him of the increasingly unstable environment. “The Spire is going to come down! We have to go!”
Shadow Milk hisses, the words willfully flowing in one ear and out the other. So what if the Spire crumbles with him inside? So long as he can bring that wretched cookie down with him, it wouldn’t matter. Black Sapphire’s shouts quickly became background noise, along with the voice of the other cookies who had also begun to shout warnings to the two battling cookies. Their voices only grated on Shadow Milk’s nerves.
“Shadow Milk Cookie!” Pure Vanilla shouted as his movements became sloppier, trying to keep his balance and repel all of the Beast’s attacks. “That’s enough! We have to get out of the Spire!” His pleas are ignored as the sounds of crumbling tiles and pillars echo off the remaining walls of the top floor. A hardly noticeable flash of mild irritation crosses the vanilla cookie’s face. Shadow Milk would’ve missed it in his blind fury had it not been so unusual for the normally elegant and serene cookie. Pure Vanilla turns his attention to the three children watching from the sidelines.
“Gingerbrave, Strawberry Cookie, Wizard Cookie! You need to get yourselves out of the Spire while the other floors are still accessible! Begin making your way to the Faerie Kingdom! Don’t wait up for me, I’ll meet you all there!”
“But-! Pure Vanilla Cookie-!”
“Now!”
The three young cookies shared an uneasy and hesitant glance before finally pulling themselves out of the room and making a break for the ground. Visible relief sagged at Pure Vanilla’s shoulders.
“Master Shadow Milk Cookie!” Candy Apple Cookie’s voice cut through the fray, wobbly with fear as she made a run for her beloved master, only to be pulled by Black Sapphire. She turned on him, eyes narrowed into a glare.
“Don’t. Master Shadow Milk Cookie won’t listen to us right now. You’ll only get yourself hurt if you try to jump in, and what use will you be then?” Black Sapphire hissed.
“But what about Master Shadow Milk Cookie? We have to get him out of the Spire!” She argued petulantly, stomping her foot on the cracked flooring.
“I know, but all we can do is-”
A portal flickers open behind the two, weak and perhaps a little unstable. The two cookies stare at it wide-eyed for a second or two. They hardly had a chance to say anything as shadowy tendrils rose from the tiles and threw them both in. Shadow Milk couldn’t have his two trusty minions crumbling so anticlimactically, after all! That would be no good, and while it would make for an interesting turn in events, it certainly wasn’t a part of his well-crafted script.
“Master Shadow Milk Cookie!” They cried out before the portal zipped closed. They’ll be safe.
He could still make use of them.
The floor beneath them begins to break, and large chunks of the top floor are only supported by the flimsy levels below. Pure Vanilla stumbled on his half of the room, looking frightened as he looked below the large chasm that appeared before him. The drop was sure to be a painful one should they lose their footing.
The Ancient cookie looks back up at the Beast pleadingly, “Shadow Milk Cookie, listen to reason! We have to get away from the Spire now before it collapses with us inside!”
“Shut up! If my Spire is going down, all the better to bring you down with it!” Shadow Milk snapped.
Beneath the simmering anger hot on his dough, Shadow Milk could faintly feel his Soul Jam growing hotter with each spell he forces out. The pain only made him double down on his attacks, especially after seeing Pure Vanilla’s Soul Jam glowing blindingly bright, undoubtedly burning just as much. Good. He hoped it was as agonizing and painful as the ovens.
Not that he could really relish in the idea for long.
Crack!
Blinding white pain made his head dizzy, and his eyes burned behind aching eyelids. It felt as if he were being pulled apart limb from limb, like someone had stuck a red-hot fork right into his chest, pressing slowly to draw as much agony and suffering from him like music from some messed-up music box to fill their ears and satisfy their disturbed minds. His own ears began ringing, and he almost worried that he'd gone both blind and deaf in that instant as the floor gave way beneath him, the Spire finally tumbling down around them.
Beyond his muffled hearing, he could hear Pure Vanilla shout something as the world seemed to collapse in on itself.