Chapter Text
Walking around the Vanilla Castle hallways was something brand new for him, yet felt very rewarding after all those years. Avoiding the Vanillian Kingdom had been his main mission for centuries, not knowing what could happen if he was forced to face the founder of the Kingdom and probably being hit with a wave of unfamiliarity as the person in front of him was not his Pure Vanilla. It was strange to think such thing yet it did hold a huge amount of truth, how come his boyfriend's past self react to see him would remain unknown for all eternity as it was too late to find out.
The only sound echoing around was his heels clicking in the cold cream tiles, his eyes looked around at the different tapestries and paintings telling him the most various stories connected to the Kingdom he was standing, all with different meanings and that the Fount of Knowledge could tell perfectly what each other portraited as he got told various news from Elder Faerie while things were happening around Crispia. His feet abruptly stopped to see a painting of the once crowned king, long since resigned to pursue a way to defeat the villainous Dark Enchantress.
To say that the woman didn't try chasing the Fount of Knowledge to try and recruit him into her dark army of followers would've be a bland lie, everyone in the entire Earthbread knew the immense power he hold inside of him, even with just half of what his soul jam used to be now. Trying to make him fall into corruption would be a great plan, however the only standing virtue was too firm on staying a float after everything and also had no more doubts about where he should position himself in that inevitable battle.
Beside the ancient heroes. It was obvious he wouldn't let Pure Vanilla go to battle without him, he needed to keep him under his wing all the time and protect him for everyone and everything.
He had no idea how Shadow Milk could've been such a devoted follower of Dark Enchantress, who was using the beasts only for her greediness to get all soul jams and become even stronger. And to think the jester was the same person who damaged his precious angel just to retrieve his "stolen" soul jam, he surely wasn't seeing how the real danger was beside him all along.
Talk about lack of intelligence, especially from someone who so eagerly said that he was the keeper of all knowledge. Unless he knew everything and had a plan that got lost while gathering all his memories, the Fount of Knowledge always thought it wasn't a good move to be beside a villain with clear-as-day goals.
Still there was a question traveling around his head: he couldn't stop wondering if Shadow Milk saw the Fount of Knowledge in Pure Vanilla. They were too much alike in the end of the day.
That question will forever remain unanswered.
His eyes traveled around the painting: the king's eyelashes always brushing his fluffy cheeks while a wide smile decorated his face, his perfectly ironed waffled themed vestments almost covering his entire figure and his white with dark brown syrup-drip dress underneath. It was strange to see the cookie rocking a way shorter hair after getting so used to his now feet length hair.
And to be honest, he preferred his long and luscious creamy yellow hair even if he looked perfect either way, but that was a secret he would take with him to the grave.
"Don't tell me you feel in love." the healer's voice echoed the whole hallway, his half lidded eyes staring at him. "Should I be worried?"
"Maybe, if I was single, I would ask him on a date." the virtue commented with a playful tone and tapped his finger in his own chin, receiving some laughs from his partner. His eyes moved to the orchid flower staff painted in the portrait. "I was going to ask how many children you scared with that staff."
"Don't say that about my old friend. It wasn't that scary..."
"I think it looks like something out of a nightmare."
"It would've side eyed you for saying that." Pure Vanilla crossed his arms pretending to be mad, yet failing as his expression exposed how he was about to burst out laughing. "Also, you can't say that when Shadow Milk's hair had a million of eyes."
Blueberry Milk raised his arms up, like asking for surrender to his poor self. "You got me there! You won, you won!"
The healer ended up bursting out laughing, using his staff to maintain his balance and not end up stumbling by mistake. It was always great to see his partner in such great mood, especially after seeing how distressed he looked when they finally met again, he was still very pale with stubborn dark circles under his eyes for probably crying too much mixing with barely sleeping and not eating enough. The virtue was alarmed when he finally received White Lily's very urgent message, especially when finding out that he fainted after having a whole breakdown.
Healers don't faint unless their power is very dim, which meant Pure Vanilla was so distraught to the point that his magic became to unstable curate him for any symptoms.
That alone made the mage feel utter blameable, however it wasn't the right moment to pull his own hair off or bang his head against the wall as a punishment for his very dangerous past mistakes when his precious angel needed him by his side.
"But if you need me to scare anyone," he continued, trying to throw all those dangerous thoughts off the window. "I can shapeshift into him."
"You can shapeshift into Shadow Milk?!?"
"Why of course!" the virtue smiled triumphant before resting his hands on his own hips. "Just a snap of fingers and I can become any cookie, my corrupted self is just a bonus."
Pure Vanilla nodded immediately in response, eyes looking at him in awe. Not every Cookie had that skill in hands and Blueberry Milk knew how lucky he was to own it, it had been a while since he used such powers but it didn't make him appreciate it less nonetheless.
They resumed their walk around the grandiose Castle, chattering about the various tapestries they passed by and sharing a diversity of stories. The blonde didn't dare stop holding his arm tight for a single second, it was obvious how the fear of him leaving was still eating him alive and that alone made the mage wonder what he could do to reinstate their relationship.
It was obvious just coming back with open arms wouldn't do it, they had left in a tragic note when the Fount of Knowledge forced him to leave before they could resolve the major problem lingering around them. There was quite a break of truth and really bad mistakes made by both parties and of course a conversation was going to be needed if they wanted to proceed with it in a healthy way.
However, how does someone start a conversation like that? Blueberry Milk was still a learner when it came to the topic of love as he didn't dare to endulge in any type of romantic encounters since then, keeping his promise marvellously. His heart only screamed for one person only to be precise.
And he wanted to do things right this time.
Both cookies finally came to stop when facing a pair of waffled double doors, that were rapidly opened by Pure Vanilla without cerimonies and revealing a grandiose dinner hall, a huge table filled with a high amount of chairs sat by the middle of the room, surrounded by a soft rug and being lit by a fireplace. White Lily was already sat on one of the chairs chatting happily with a cookie that was still unknown in his eyes, the woman looked back at the guardian with a serene expression, a messy ponytail hold her black hair strands and the virtue noticed how her attires were pretty simple, showing her very humble beginnings.
The two woman rapidly noticed the couple's presence, White Lily smiled in direction of both while the mysterious cookie got up rapidly to bow at them, maintaining her impeccable and composed posture.
"It's relieving to see you coming back from Beast-Yeast unscathed, Pure Vanilla." her voice sounded as serene as her expression, yet still remaining her formalities to the older cookies. "The villagers were very worried, some gossip started circulating around that the beast of Silence had gotten you too."
Blueberry Milk frowned while his gaze settled on White Lily, who looked at him with a guilted look. So the rumours were true and Silent Salt had faced both the ancient of Truth and Freedom, which made his heart ache in fear with the thought of the beast going overboard with both of them, he was a very powerful during his time as the Saint of Solidarity, having him as an enemy would be asking for instant death.
Still the mage hasn't bumped into the beast since their last encounter in the destroyed Blueberry Kingdom, not knowing anything about the whereabouts of any of them as they escaped when he was far away from Beast-Yeast. It was obvious they still weren't very fond of him as he was the only standing virtue, who knew if there wouldn't be an attempt on revenge.
A hand caressed his arm with a delicate touch before letting it go and making all his attention drove to the blonde cookie, who was now walking to the unfamiliar cookie's direction.
"It was baseless rumours, everything went alright." The healer speaked with a soft tone before pulling her into a tight hug. "I apologize for leaving the others and you worried sick, Black Raisin."
Black Raisin's expression had a soft flick of relief, probably expecting that no one would notice it in the middle of such stern appearance. Her eyes darted in his direction over Pure Vanilla's shoulder and Blueberry Milk simply let an uneasy grin appear in his face, there was something in her gaze that shown how alert she was regarding him. Fair, he was just an unknown person in her eyes, maybe a bit of stranger danger.
Even when both cookies finally pulled away from each other, the black hair woman's stare on top of him didn't falter for a single second and the healer seemed to notice it automatically before letting a content smile be painted in his face.
"Oh my apologies, I should've introduced you two beforehand." Pure Vanilla commented clearly overjoyed. "Black Raisin, I introduced you to my..."
"My name is Blueberry Milk, also known as the Fount of Knowledge." the virtue interrupted, bowing while extending his hand in the woman's direction. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Black Raisin."
"I'm Black Raisin, nice to meet you." She took his hand in a quick handshake. "The Fount of Knowledge... I've heard a lot."
"I'm guessing you are already on par with the rumours, eh?" Blueberry Milk questioned with an attempt to sound humourous. "The rumours are not true whatsoever, I'm not a secret spy of the beasts. I'm here in peace."
"My crows will keep an eye on you in any case." The black haired woman commented in a whisper, like trying to maintain that information between them. "My job is to protect this Kingdom, and keep them safe from those vile beasts who were once virtues, just like you."
The mage couldn't stop himself from chuckling in response, it was easy to know those words were a clear warning and it was understandable considering how that unsubstantiated gossip about him was going around like a virus, still no one knew him more than himself after all.
"I assure you that we are in the same page, Black Raisin. No one would make me hurt my other half." His voice left in the same tone and volume as hers, his smile never trembling from his lips. "I do like the idea of having crows around me nonetheless, a little companion can't be denied."
Her eyes analysed him from up and down before bowing in front of him and going back to sit in one of the chairs that were by the giant table. His attention went to both Pure Vanilla and White Lily, who witnessed the whole ordeal with widened eyes, shocked by what just went down.
It wasn't shocking considering both were used to a less confrontal version of the Fount of Knowledge. While he was still very tender in his own humble opinion, the trauma he had endured for eons plus all the useless rumours wanting to paint him as a undercover villain due to his past ties to the four beasts had made him grow a backbone and making him adopt more of Shadow Milk's confidence and a bit of his sarcastic jabs when needed. Not that he liked to be considered rude, but sometimes it was deserved.
Still he didn't see Black Raisin as a dangerous threat, she clearly didn't meant it with ill intent but did a mistake to believe such harmful words about him. Still the scholar was sure he could change her opinion about him in the future.
Blueberry Milk finally took his seat beside Pure Vanilla, noticing how the healer's attention was still on top of him with a sprinkle of surprise in his face, he simply gave him a small grin that hopefully served as a silent apology for what just happened. One of his hands rested on top of the other's hand resting on the table, gesture that made him receive the sweetest of smiles as a response.
The way that his eyes always closed when he smiled was the most adorable thing ever, there was no other cookie in the whole Earthbread that was more breathtaking than him.
Still the lunch was occurred and finalized with an awkward silence lingering around the giant room with only the casual sound of cutlery hitting the plate breaking it, none of the cookies present dared to break it and focused on only finishing their meal. While the virtue didn't feel comfortable with the lack of conversation happening, he also knew it wasn't a good idea to try pushing any type of conversations, even if the quietness was starting to cause a ring appear in his ears.
Most likely it was just a normal thing that appeared long after he started traveling around Crispia, not being used to complete silent after years of teaching took a huge tool on his health perhaps. It was still something he never searched to give himself an especific answer of what it would've been, too insignificant in his opinion.
A staff member entered the dinning room accompanied by a group of maids who rapidly started collecting all the dirty dishes to bring it back to the kitchen and leaving the table completely spotless.
"Your Majesty." The staff member called with a soft tone. "The Parfaedians are all ready and waiting in the Council Hall."
The healer's attention turned to the blonde woman wearing a waffle themed uniform before nodding as a response and turning his head in direction to the Fount, who looked at both cookies with a neutral expression and remaining silent.
"Fount?" Pure Vanilla called with a soft tone, only receiving an acknowledged hum as a response. "Do you perhaps want to accompany me to the meeting?"
A meeting. It has been a long time since he sat in a long table surrounded by different nation's representatives, ever since he left his role as the headmaster of the Blueberry Yogurt Academy, back when it was still standing and not a long forgotten place. While everyone probably thought there was no topics the Fount of Knowledge would've turn down, politics were always his less favourite one and the only one he considered draining.
He tried debating all the pros and cons of atending the mentioned meeting would give him: the only pro would be staying beside his little angel for the whole meeting's duration, which could take hours or even the whole day. The cons however consisting on him not finding any interest on whatever those old wizards were about to discuss with the Vanillian representative — which he doubt had anything to do with magic — plus getting judgemental stares from those who clearly were up to all the stupid rumours.
The cons won.
"While I would love to spend the whole day beside my angel, I just know I'm not welcomed nor would I enjoy hearing about politics." His attention focused on the blonde, watching his eyes gloss with sadness. "I will be here waiting for you, don't you worry."
"It saddens me, but I know you must have your reasons to not join." the blonde answered while getting up of his chair and letting a sigh escape his lips. "See you later tonight?"
A simple nod was all the virtue gave him before watching the ancient walk outside of the room accompanied by the staff member and Black Raisin. He finally turned his head back to his front in hopes to find White Lily still sitting in the big table, just to notice he was completely alone there for his own dismay.
Great. Surely being alone in such a massive palace was all he needed right now, it didn't help he didn't know which direction any of the bathrooms were in or where to drive himself to in hopes to make time go faster and distract himself while waiting. He was starting to regret not attending that stupid meeting, no deadly stares would be more painful to not know where to go next.
He finally rose from the table letting a indignant grumble come out of his throat and arranged his royal blue coat trail before taking a few steps to finally leave the silent dinning room. A diversity of butlers stopped their cleaning just to bow at him out of respect and receiving an acknowledged nod every time, the politeness of everyone who lived in that Kingdom was refreshing, especially when the most of Earthbread was lacking the same warmth.
After a while, he finally decided to step outside the Vanillian Castle and the warmth sunrays shone directly in his blue dough, making him take a deep breath and being hit with the wonderful smell of vanilla ice cream with a sprinkle of fresh bread lingering the air, before continue his walk in direction of the gates. No plans of what to do in an undiscovered Kingdom circulated his head, and sincerely walking around the stores didn't seem attempting at the moment.
The virtue sighed before dropping his arms in both of his sides, this wasn't he imagined his first day in the Vanilla Kingdom would play out and yet there he was, not even knowing how to proceed with his day. While he had imagine spending the whole rest of the day glued to Pure Vanilla until somehow the other's smell got stuck into his dough for eternity, it was understandable how his plans were ruined in a blink of an eye.
I guess that's what happens when you date the representative of a Kingdom.
A frow appeared in his face while twirling his key staff in his hand pondering what to do next, maybe traveling around the nearby forests would be a smarter idea and surely there wouldn't be any cookies staring at him like he stole candy from a child. Plus there was a chance he could find any plants to develop a new or improve an existent healing potion, that was far from Blueberry Milk's expertise, yet the Fount of Knowledge inside of him still liked to expand Earthbread's knowledge and find a way to help cookies.
Can't also skip the fact that, if he was going to stay in the Land of Healing, might as well entertain himself by helping in his way.
Walking down would be a giant effort so of course the virtue decided to take the fast route by just opening a portal to the forest below the floating Kingdom, stepping inside of it without cerimonies and almost stumbling in his way out. A grumpy grumble escaped his lips with the thought of kissing the dirty ground if he so happened to fall down like a sack of potatoes.
The forest was very dense and filled with a diversity of tall trees, a complete labyrinth full of possible dangers hiding on the lookout for a prey to everyone who never stepped into it before. The only sound echoing the place was the crunch of leafs caused by each of his steps and the distant singing of birds, his pointy eyes twisted softly very once in a while to capture any surprising noises around him, the possibility of bumping into a cake hound pack was very high this time of year and surely it wouldn't be a fun experience if he was distracted enough to not spot them in time.
A rustle of leafs coming nearby made his head rapidly turning in direction of a tall tree and spotting a little crow in one of the branches, the little animal's sharp eyes darting right where the virtue was standing and clearly spying every single move he dared take. A simple smirk appeared in his lips before turning his gaze back to his surroundings, Black Raisin really kept her promise to watch him close in the meantime.
Good. That alone didn't bother him at all, it only meant she really was focused on staying vigilant, just had pick the wrong target.
Didn't take more than a minute before Blueberry Milk resumed his walk around the tall trees, crouching a few times to collect some plants he knew weren't poisonous and reserving them for any potion uses later. The chill breeze of the place blew some of his starlight hair strands and messing his perfectly brushed hairstyle, that made a quick thought of how painful would be to get rid of those nods later.
"This may be enough." The mage finally talked to himself after noticing how the sunlight was slowly fading and the forest becoming more eerie by the second. "Don't you think, little crow?"
His mismatched eyes traveled back to the same branch where the crow was spotted last time and noticing the black fathered bird still darting in his direction, the virtue simply shrugged before snapping his fingers, making his key shaped staff appear in his right hand, maybe it was about time to return back to the Vanilla Kingdom and just wait for Pure Vanilla to leave the meeting so they could spend the rest of the early evening and night together hopefully.
Yet he stopped on his tracks when a particular smell invaded his surroundings and making him scrunch his nose bothered with it. Probably the type of scent that would be undetectable for any other Cookie that dared pass the same path, however the Fount of Knowledge was skilled on detecting all types of magic with just smell.
Dark Magic, carrying a very poisonous fragrance with a drop of promegranate syrup. It had been a while since he had spotted any signs of it around him and had left some hope that especific group of cookies had gave up on persuading him around like they could succeed someday.
"You really are very persistent, eh?" Blueberry Milk commented, pretending to yawn after hand. "Oh my, and I really thought you got the memo already."
An explosion of red smoke appeared in front of the virtue who didn't flinch not even a millimeter. As the smoke started to fade, a now familiar figure appeared in front of him wearing the same typical black and red attires as always. "Fount of Knowledge, as I live and breathe."
"Dark Enchantress." The mage looked at the villain up and down before staring right at her red eyes with boredom. "Still spying around the Vanilla Kingdom? I'm starting to think you want to marry its founder instead of getting rid of him."
A scowl was everything he got as an response for a while, clearly touched a nerve successfully. "If that was what I wanted, I've had him kissing my feet a long time ago. Pure Vanilla is very easy to persuade."
The Fount simply stared at the villain unimpressed, activating all his self control to not fight her and make her shallow those disgusting words one by one. It wasn't the right moment to slip up and let his defense ruin everything, especially because of the high possibility it would raise suspicions regarding their relationship and the last thing he needed right now was Dark Enchantress using Pure Vanilla as a bait to get to him in some way.
"Oh, I bet you would." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, the situation surely was getting too boring for his taste. "Still you are over here. Perhaps the grandiose Dark Enchantress is missing her arch nemesis, eh?"
"I'm not here for Pure Vanilla." The villain answered with a calm tone, taking a few steps to get even closer to the virtue. "I'm here for you."
Touché. Blueberry Milk couldn't stop himself from laughing with mockery in response. "So you really didn't get the memo? Boooooring."
"I need you to answer something." The woman's face got even closer to his face, the strong pomegranate she exhalated making a headache bloom in his head. "Tell me Fount of Knowledge, do you know why cookies were created?"
The mage took one of his hands to his jaw while his expression twitched with surprised to be hit with that question, the number one question most cookies seeking for knowledge would drop on him in hopes to get a clear as day answer, with the expectation it would draw a brand new path to them, just to receive a sugarcoated answer from the virtue of knowledge everytime, one that always contained what every Cookie wanted to hear from his lips and not the painful truth.
It wasn't the case this time, he knew the truth must be spilled if he wanted to hit his target with success. His expression darkened before a smirk appeared in his face, glowing and narrowed eyes stared at the woman before spitting simple three words like venom. "To be eaten."
The expression drawn in Dark Enchantress' face after those words left his lips was priceless, the villain took a few steps back and looked at him with disgust. "You— You're a foul heartless monster, just like the Witches."
"Wrong!" Blueberry Milk imitated a buzzer sound while raising one of his eyebrows. "Opposite of farce that your little group wanna pass as, I will give my everything to protect the innocent Cookies who don't deserve to know that disgusting truth."
The Fount of Knowledge had discover about that information by mistake in one of his last visits to the Witches' Castle, after witnessing with his two own eyes how one of the Witches ate a freshly baked Cookie like it was a light snack. That image alone had haunted him for centuries. — to the point that closing his eyes would bring nightmares where he was the one being consumed or witnessing someone he loved having that tragic end.
In the start, he wanted to betray his nature and take revenge on the Witches like Dark Enchantress herself, however he noticed that would've done more harm than good, the whole Cookiekind deserved having someone who would take care of them instead of a villain who also wanted to crumble them one by one.
Like Shadow Milk. Even if they shared the same soul, Blueberry Milk acknowledged that inflicting pain into other folks couldn't cure every wound in both his dough and soul.
"Tell me, Dark Enchantress." The mage finally walked around her in a circle, not daring taking his eyes off her for a millisecond. "Do you think hurting and killing thousands of Cookies will free them all of that trauma?"
"I thought—"
"You thought wrong." He finally stopped his tracks to side eye her. "I will never stand beside you or the Witches. We have totally different ideals, I will always stand beside the Cookiekind, not like the beasts and you, who'd crumble them into pieces pretending you're doing god's work."
Dark Enchantress' jaw clench and he could really see the fury in that pair of red eyes, like she was controlling herself to not turn him into flour. Great, hopefully now she would take the memo finally and stop trying to pursue him into joining her army.
"You're just like the futile ancient “heroes”." The villain spitted in total anger. "You will regret this, Fount of Knowledge."
In a blink of an eye, the woman disappeared into thin air, only leaving some red smoke invading the air around him. Blueberry Milk finally let all the air caged in his lungs escape from his mouth in a trembling breath and let one of his hands rest on the side of his aching head, that confrontation alone surely did drain all his remaining energy for the day, too many emotions for one single day.
The virtue had to hold himself tightly by one of the nearby trees, legs trembling while his stomach was turning as a result of awakening those memories all over again, probably there was no way he could find the answer of why the Witches could do such appalling stuff to the same Cookies they created, it only cemented the thought that they never cared about any of them. Maybe he needed to have a conversation about it with someone and find a way to stop Dark Enchantress from traumatizing more folks, yet the only person who shared the burden of holding the same truth is White Lily, the only one who could help prevent it from spreading.
They needed to talk about it as soon as possible.
Nonetheless, he was now sure Dark Enchantress was probably aware he was residing in the Vanilla Kingdom and wouldn't take time until the group found out about his relationship with Pure Vanilla. The idea left him in unease, knowing how their main focus was always the soul jam of Truth due to having half of his original power, anyone would've become automatically stronger by having a pinch of knowledge on their side.
Good. Now Blueberry Milk was sure he needed to keep an eye in his surroundings to prevent both soul jams of Truth and Wisdom from being stolen, only over his crumbled dough.
He moved his staff in a circle to finally open his portal, rapidly entering it to stand in front of the Vanilla castle that was illuminated by the moon high in the sky, his mind could only think about taking a long relaxing bath, slipping in his soft pajamas and hopefully fall into Pure Vanilla's arms for the rest of the night or until his body couldn't stop himself from falling asleep.
The perfect plan.
As soon as he step into the main hallway of the palace, the wonderful scent of vanilla orchids mixed with white lilies invaded his nose and he noticed how one of the staff members walked in fast steps in his direction, welcoming him with a quick bow and maintaining a serene expression in her face.
"Good night, sir." The woman speaked in a soft and educated tone. "Please let me guide you to one of our guest rooms."
What?
The virtue's expression twitched with surprise before following the staff members throughout the hallways in silence, surely he wasn't expecting to sleep all alone in a guest bedroom instead of staying beside his partner like they used to did before. That alone made him wonder what could've happened for Pure Vanilla to suddenly downgrade him to sleeping all alone, perhaps it was due to his tiny confrontation with Black Raisin or something he did or said without meaning any ill intent.
It surely wasn't Blueberry Milk's day nonetheless.