TW: SPOILERS!!!!!! (and kinda cringe ngl) Okay, I said to myself that I would only ship this under VERY SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES!!! ... And then Beast-Yeast episode 7 happened. *siiggghh* (To be fair, the fanfiction itself is adorable, though--) This is mostly in the POV of Shadow Milk, btw. And please read all the way through!!! Please enjoy!! TToTT I couldn't believe it. My plan had worked! Well, of course it did, I'm a genius, but that's not the point. The point is, that idiotic thief Pure Vanilla was now under my complete and utter control!! And, I now had the power that was so rightfully mine! The whole world was now under MY command! And I knew just what to do first... "The cookies have been dealt with, sir." Ah, there he was! "Truthless Recluse! Just the cookie I was looking for! Tell me, how are your 'friends' doing, hm?" "They have fallen to a great depth, sir. Just as you ordered." "Ah, good, good! Now we can get on with our plan! Tell me, what kingdom should we visit first? The Dark Cacao kingdom? Or maybe Hollyberry? Or should we visit your old home!" "The choice is yours, sir." Hm. Well, he may be very loyal, but he's definitely much more boring than he used to be. But I had an idea to mess with him. "Say, what if instead of visiting a kingdom, we visit a person! After all, the last threat to my rule is still out there, and is learning to use her very annoying power to try and defeat me! I mean, if we get rid of her, we rule the world, don't we?" "The choice is yours, sir." Hmph. I was sure that would get to him. He holds White Lily Cookie very dearly. "Uhm, HELLO??? Earthbread to Pure Vanilla? I was just talking about killing your girlfriend. You should be shocked, not all 'The choice is yours.'" "Is that an order, sir?" Okay, seriously, what is wrong with him?? He's acting weird. And I'm cool with weird, but this is... w e i r d. "Uh, I shouldn't have to order you to do that. Are you okay? Did me forcing you to throw your friends off a pillar make you all depresso or something?" "I am not sure what you mean, sir." Okay, seriously, what the hell?! He's acting like I OWN him! And what's with all this "sir" stuff? Like seriously, it's like he's-- ... Not even there... Ah. I see the problem here. He's "dead." I sorta severed his soul from his body when I took back my Soul Jam. And, therefore, he is technically "not him." Eh, whatever. I can bring him back to his senses. All I gotta do is rebuild him from the ground up! Show him all his memories, give him the ability to think freely, and boom! I have my Silly-Vanilly back, and we can rule the world together, correctly. Easy peasy! "Alright, Truthless Recluse! I have a new assignment for you. Come with me!" I led him through the Spire of Deceit to the "Memory Chamber" with the Light of Truth in hand. Often times I used the Memory Chamber to mess with peoples memories, or to learn what I could use to my advantage. Occasionally, I would try and look through my old memories, but those things are a jumbled up mess! But today would just be a playthrough. Nothing too interesting. I placed the Light of Truth in the Memory Deposit, and I walked in with the living husk behind me. I looked for the earliest memory I could find. "Ah, here! This one should look pretty familiar." Suddenly, we're in a field of what looks to be about ten sheep. If I'm correct, when I look to the side, Truthless Recluse should look like a little kid again. But to my surprise, he looks the same. Huh. How odd. He should be a little shepard, herding his tiny little sheep. So why isn't he? "Sir? What am I supposed to do?" I look at him, confused. Nothing's changed... Well, no matter. I can still fix him up. I mean, I can just have him reenact the scene! No harm done in that! "You are to herd the sheep!" "Yes, sir." He immediately walks up to the sheep, and starts doing what any average Shepard would do! But... It was strange. There was no emotion to it. He was completely apathetic. Like Mysty, I thought. Obviously, this memory wasn't working. But thankfully, there were millions of others to choose from! "Recluse!! Come here!" He walked back toward me. "Yes, sir?" "Stay right there until I tell you otherwise. I need to find a more powerful memory." Without another word, I went to find something that may work better. Something that was an important part of him... Aha! This memory should do! We suddenly found ourselves in a canyon, with many sickly cookies around us. Once again, Truthless Recluse's appearance was unaffected. "Now, heal those cookies!" "Yes, sir." Without another word, he started healing the sickly cookies as best he could. But there was none of his normal reassurance. He just tended to their wounds. (Continue in Notes and Credits)
(Continued) I was frustrated, to say the least. I thought this would be a piece of cake, but it turns out rebuilding a cookie's personality is not that easy. "Truthless! Come back over here." He returned to my side. There was no emotion on his face. Not a single thought but the orders I gave him. "What's wrong with you?! I don't understand why you aren't regaining your personality. I'm literally showing you your old memories! Aren't memories what make a personality?!" No response. He just stared at me blankly. "Stay here. I'll go find something else." What was I doing wrong? What was I missing?! I don't understand, this was a perfect plan!! I needed to find something that I knew would work. Something that was important to him. Something that made him who he is. ... Or someone. I quickly found his most vivid memory of her. I knew it would work. She was his everything. She helped him through the tough times. She made the good times even better. She was the voice that guided him away from me. It was perfect. We were in his old school. MY old school. I knew this school like the back of my hand. After all, I built it. White Lily Cookie was in my old garden. She was caring for some of the flowers there. I knew this memory vaguely. I looked to the husk of a cookie beside me. "Go up to her and say hi." He walked up to her. This has to work, I thought. There's no way it could fail. "Hi." There it was again. The blandness. The blank and empty stare. It failed. Again. I stopped the memory immediately. "Why?! Why are you still so BLAND with it?! I don't understand!! She was your everything, she was the only thing keeping you away from me!! What did I do wrong?!" "I don't understand, sir?" "Of course you don't! You don't understand because you're no longer YOU. And if I fail to bring you back, this will all have been for nothing!" "Sir?" "Please, stop calling me 'sir!!' Just... Just call me Shadow Milk, for once! Like you used to..." "How I used to, Shadow Milk?" He'd never truly get it. I knew he wouldn't. But why couldn't he?? Why couldn't I bring him back?? Was my Knowledge not enough? And that was when it hit me. My Soul Jam. No. It was HIS Soul Jam. His SOUL. Without it he was just... THIS. "... Come with me." We walked out of the chamber. I grabbed the Light of Truth. "You belong to ME. Let go of his soul and reattach to MINE. I am your rightful owner!" It merely shimmered. As if to mock me, saying "I choose who I belong to. I am one with Pure Vanilla. Let me go." ... I knew what I had to do. I couldn't rule the world if it was a world like this. It was unbearable. I gave the husk the Soul Jam. "Leave. Out the door of the top spire. You'll know what to do then." "Yes, Shadow Milk." He walked up the stairs. I was alone. I understood the price that power held. And I wasn't willing to pay. (Pure Vanilla POV) I woke up with a start. The others were standing over me, looking hopeful. "Wha... GingerBrave...?" "Oh, thank the Makers!" Wizard Cookie exclaimed. "You're okay! I knew that fight would get you back to your senses!!" GingerBrave quickly hugged me. "We're so glad you're alright!" I smiled. "I'm glad I am, too." I was confused. Did all of that really just happen? Or was it just a dream? "Are all of you alright?" They all nodded. "Good. Now, we must get going. I was stuck inside of the Light of Truth, and I think I know where Shadow Milk Cookie is. We must hurry!" They all agreed, and we began our journey once more. I was still contemplating what happened, but I knew there was no point dwelling on it. After all, the fate of all Earthbread was at stake. But still, when I saw the shadows move in the corner of my eye, I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you." I hope you enjoyed!! Pretty good for a supposedly cursed ship, huh??? Please no hate, I can't handle it rn--
