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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.

Chapter Text

It has been way more than century since the once beloved Fount of Knowledge had a good night of rest, the emptiness of his bed always follow him even after leaving the old Blueberry Kingdom and his now destroyed Spire behind, the lack of a very especific warmth against his dough and fragrance evading his nostrils while he closed his black and white eyelashes made his case even more difficult to be resolved.

The whole Vanilla castle had his favorite scent mixed with the floral white lily aroma lingering around the halls yet it wasn't enough to make his mind relax, the soft silk on the sheets made his whole body feel cold and made him turn underneath them at least one hundred times trying to find a comfortable position and hoping each turn would be enough for him to be taken by his tiredness. For his unfortune, slumber only embraced him once the first rays of sunshine finally entered through the sheer curtains and managed to warm slightly the freezing giant bed.

He wouldn't admit it out loud to preserve his dignity, but he was deeply upset at Pure Vanilla for not letting them sleep together.

A soft knock in the door was enough to awake a barely sleeping Blueberry Milk, making him groan in frustration before sitting in the large bed in an exaggerated jump. He finally open his very tired eyes, blinking a few times to get rid of the fogginess and get used to the daylight, his vision traveled to the giant mirror by the corner of the room, seeing how messy his starlight hair was as result of all that shifting and turning during the whole night but that wasn't what made a chill travel his whole body.

Royal blue and cyan mismatched eyes stared back at him, a daily reminder of someone who he wasn't and stared once at him with same colored eyes filled with rage, eager to destroy him and his other half without second thought. The Fount had grown to hate his cyan eye after that encounter and would usually replace it with a golden colored one thanks to his shapeshifting powers.

The spell must've brushed off during his very short resting period.

Another knock in the door made him get back to his full senses, the mage simply snapped his fingers making his eye change its color back to gold and the puffiness under it also poofed away with that terrifying cyan color.

Between people calling him a "beast by association" or a "spy of the beasts", he surely didn't need anything reminding him he was supposed to be their leader and the terrifying beast of Deceit.

"Blueberry Milk?" A delicate yet muffled voice called him from behind the door. "May I come in?"

"Come in!"

The door finally opened and a smiley White Lily peeked before entering, she was clearly glowing with her elegant awakened outfit and wearing the brightest of smiles. The concept of the ancients getting their awakened after defeating their respectives beast counterparts sounded interesting, something never witnessed before in his humongous life spawn until now. He only found about it after recollecting all of Shadow Milk's memories and seeing the anger the once beast of Deceit had felt when he witnessed his precious Truthless Recluse going back to his former self and leaving deceit behind, betraying him in his opinion.

Very different of how things ended up playing out, Blueberry Milk hadn't experienced any of it but had heard the ancient had accompany his long time friend in a journey to the Land of Silence, which almost end up pretty badly for both. That alone made his jaw clench just by the idea of Silent Salt — someone who he once saw as a brother. — daring to lay a hand on Pure Vanilla and hurt him deeply to the point of temporary corruption.

"Oh?" The guardian's voice took him back to reality, his facial expressions soften automatically. "Did I wake you up? I'm sorry."

"No problem, I didn't sleep at all tonight anyways..." his voice sounded raspier and groggier than normal. "I wasn't expected to sleep alone today, but I guess your majesty wanted me to sleep with the cardboard like a lost puppy."

"The truth is things got lost into translation." The ancient's expression reflected pure awkwardness, that alone was enough for Blueberry Milk to raise one of his eyebrows. "Pure Vanilla had told the staff to get you comfortable in his room as his meeting was taking too long, but I guess they skipped a word or two..."

Oh, how great. The virtue covered his face with both hands trying to hide the frustration that started to bubble inside of him, it was an understandable mistake yet it did some weak damage to him. His mind has wandering around some insecure thoughts the whole night, wondering if Pure Vanilla was upset with him about what happened during lunch or what had went down eons ago between them, just for him to come into conclusion that both were probably the reason why.

He still felt dumb for even thinking a Cookie who was clinging to him after they finally reunite and was so adamant on leaving him for a couple hours wouldn't make sure he stayed beside him during the night.

"He thought you had left him behind." The ancient's voice kept echoing around the chamber. "I had to calm him as it was pretty late at night and I thought you were already asleep."

Blueberry Milk kicked his blankets without caring he was only wearing his pajama set with moon and stars printed on the fabric, making White Lily jolt by the sudden reaction. "Where is he?"

"In another meeting." The guardian answered in almost a whisper, hand still in her chest trying to recover from the sudden jumpscare. 'But don't you worry, he is feeling better now."

"Shouldn't you be in the meeting too?" 

She smiled awkwardly before her gaze shifted to her fingers. "No. The representatives are still very adamant that I'm Dark Enchantress undercover."

"Oh my Witches, we are both evil beings!" the mage exclaimed with a clear joking undertone, his hands traveled to his face pretending to be surprised before dropping the act in a sigh. "Yeah, I think you already know the rumors that I'm a beast."

White Lily laughed as the initial words left his lips, covering her mouth immediately to muffle the sounds. "Some people like to spread some baseless rumours. Still I like how you make fun of it instead, I need some classes on how."

The virtue simply shrugged in response. "I will say it's all about not caring what people say, not an easy task whatsoever."

Confidence is always a long journey to everyone who chases it, something not achievable by just waking up one day and deciding to take that road. Between not collapsing in doubtful feelings and not drawing in self hatred, the world always wanted to step on him like a bug that deserved the worse of deaths, making his weakness become more apparent. Blueberry Milk wouldn't say he had accepted himself with all his strengths and flaws, but was now more aware than people would've always be so cruel towards others, not caring to put salt in their wounds or making them have a whole breakdown. He had a whole eternity to finally heal all those traumas lingering inside of his blue dough and to both rediscover and grow.

Remembering all the vulnerable times the Fount of Knowledge had to go through, taking blame from everything happening around him, even if he didn't lift a finger to cause anything. Letting his mind slip into darkness and not being able to do anything other than crying until there was no more tears left, filling his surroundings with milkcrowns. — something that still happens to this day.

Still all of their playful villainous talk reminded him of what went down yesterday, Dark Enchantress possibly spying around the Vanilla Kingdom's surroundings still left him in unease, it was obvious there was a matter of time before she found an proper way to invade without them noticing, unless until it's too late.

"I encounter Dark Enchantress yesterday." Blueberry Milk threw without thinking twice, there was no better way to start talking about the enemy. "She's still trying to recruit me."

"What?!?" White Lily exclaimed while her eyes widened. "I suspected she still has an eye on the Vanilla Kingdom, but you?"

"Not the first time, it was obvious she needs a knowledgeable person beside her." The Fount grimaced after those words left his lips. "Still she hit me with her typical question of knowing why cookies were created."

The silence settled down between both cookies, both with the same expression of worry. Who knew what Dark Enchantress had planned already. — especially having four beasts beside her, who were willing to do all the dirty work of getting rid of the ancients one by one and retrieve all of the Soul Jams, exactly what they were doing so far.

Which only backfired as all of the ancients were now even stronger and carried the full power of their Soul Jams, wouldn't be easy to defeat them but sadly that's never impossible.

"She still insist on wanting to make other cookies know the truth..." The guardian murmured again with a soft fearful tone. "... Even knowing what that truth did to us."

Blueberry Milk simply nodded before throwing himself back into the soft mattress, a truth that made him feel in the verge on corruption and the same that almost killed the woman beside him, there was no way someone would stay sane while carrying such heavy secret in their shoulders.

"We need to find a way to stop her."

"It will not be an easy task, especially because we don't know her next steps." White Lily answered while walking around the room. "I will do a research and we can combine ideas."

A hum was all she got as an answer while the virtue's stare was glued to the white roof, trying to brainstorm any ideas and hopefully find a quick solution in his knowledgeable brain's library, which was met with failure as how can someone silence such strong villain that was probably hidden closer than what one would've liked.

"Oh!" The guardian exclaimed, making the virtue be brought back to reality and stare at her while tilting his head in curiosity. "I was wondering if you want to take a stroll around town with me."

A stroll around town sounded quite interesting when having company, plus it seemed there was not going to be any opportunity for him to steal Pure Vanilla from those boring representatives that just wanted to talk about futile stuff due to their greediness, which made him feel slightly defeated. That was also a great opportunity to catch up with White Lily, it had been years since they last saw each other and, while the guardian was different now, the friendship they build during their time in the Faerie Kingdom was not going to die so easily.

"I guess waiting my prince to come rescue me from boredom will not do." he sighed dramatically, taking the back of his hand to his forehead and hearing laughter beside him. "I accept your offer, madam."

"Well, I will let you change and—"

"No need!" The Fount finally jumped off bed and scratched almost like a cat, hearing the satisfying sounds of some bones popping. "I might use one of my disguises, can't get bothered with people side eyeing."

White Lily stared at him with a frown in her face while the mage walked from a side to another repetitively, his index finger tapping softly on his bottom lip with a reflecting look. There was a long catalog of persons he could pretend to be, from a very old man to even a small boy, still none of them seemed fitting for the outing they were about to take, expect for one.

"I know!" A smirk appeared in his lips, watching how the woman simply blinked before tilting her head slightly. "I hope you're ready for me giving femme fatale."

A simple snap of his fingers made smoke swirl around his whole body, covering the transformation from the eyes of whoever dared to stay. As soon the smoke started dissipating, the virtue could see how the ancient's eyes widened while her jaw dropped clearly dumbfounded.

"I guess we are ready now." The mage's voice sounded lower than usual, typical of his Lady in Azure's disguise. "Oh my, why are you so shocked?"

"I- Sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to shapeshift so easily." the ancient cleared her throat before moving her gaze to somewhere else in an attempt to cover her flushed cheeks. "You look very beautiful."

Blueberry Milk couldn't stop her own face from adopting a darker blue tone and simply giggled before turning her gaze to the mirror, it was always strange to look at the reflection and finding a totally different cookie from what she usually looked like, yet it also carried a relief to know people will not stare at her with a disapproval look due to everything they've hearing going around. It was a tiny escape to reality, dangerous in some way yet needed.

Her hand traveled around her long azureish white hair strands, softly curled in the ends, some of the strands fell perfectly around the sides of her face while the rest were perfectly put behind with a royal blue bow. Her light blue checked dress was perfectly long and full of tule like she liked, with the puffy white sleeves to give that extra elegance, a frilled apron covered the front of the dress giving that perfect finish.

Blueberry Milk really looked like the perfect heartthrob maiden.

"Well, maybe I'm in great danger. Ugh! It will be painful to reject so many man." She mumbled with a overdramatic tone. Not that she was interested on having any man staring at her. — other than Pure Vanilla. "Place your bet, Lils: How many hearts are we stealing today?"

"I hope none..." The ancient answered with a clear shy tone. "I wouldn't know how to proceed."

"Oh, c'mon! Self confidence, Lils! you're a beautiful lady." The virtue finally walked towards the other woman. "You must've received a tooon of love letters in the past."

"No, no letters. I was always the first one to confess." She shook her head and took one of her hands to her burning cheek. "You must be the one who was swimming in love letters"

Blueberry Milk raised one of her eyelashes while grabbing her little basket, the Fount of Knowledge was always seen as untouchable god in the past and no one ever dared to come near him to express any type of feelings towards him, not that the virtue was interesting on indulging on forbidden things or get up from the tall shelf where he was supposed to spread all his knowledge.

That was until his eyes laid on top of Pure Vanilla for the first time, it was like he was hit by one of cupid's arrows and all the air disappeared from his lungs thanks to how breathtaking that angel-like man was, the first time he ever felt equal to someone instead of just a walking encyclopedia. Still the Fount was the first one to confess his feelings, not that it bothered him but it was a difficult task for someone who never experienced such things.

"Well, I never got a love letter in my life, I did however have someone confessing to me once." Blueberry Milk shrugged while shaking her hand in a dismisse manner. "Other than that, I only had one love in my entire life and I also was the first one to confess to him."

White Lily visibility gasped before watching the woman walking to the door. "Wait! Now I want to know about the person that confessed to you!"

"Only when you tell me about all your love affairs!" Blueberry Milk stuck out her tongue before getting out of the bedroom and walking around the halls, hearing hushed steps walking behind her.

"I only had three, and you already know about two!"

"Deceit is not allowed here, madam. We are in the Kingdom of Truth." The maiden answered with a playful tone, turning around the corner to finally walk down the stairs. "I only know about Elder Faerie."

"It's not lying, I thought you remembered." 

Blueberry Milk stopped in her tracks to turn around and look at White Lily, who just stared back at her with an embarrassed look. There was clearly something she should know or was escaping her thought process, yet there was no way she could put a finger on it without any hints, perhaps looking around the list of people that the ancient could've dated or have a casual fling with, which wasn't that huge as they didn't have many people in common, and precisely it only contained one name that would've made sense.

Oh. 

Maybe curiosity does kill the cat.

Her vision went back to the stairs, deciding to continue the path down and trying to hide the pain frown forming while her thoughts became destructive automatically, that insecure feeling latching into her chest like always and the taste of last night's sour brainstorming still lingering in her tongue. Of course Blueberry Milk was perfectly aware he wasn't Pure Vanilla's first love or first relationship ever, normal from someone who lived for so many generations to experience with a lot with love.

Especially when you're just such a fine man, probably the Fount had a ton of competition waiting to fight him for the blonde's heart.

Blueberry Milk started pondering about just leaving and never turning back, there was no way he had all it took to keep Pure Vanilla for a whole eternity where there was so many Cookies who could treat him way better, that had everything it takes to be a great partner. The healer deserved someone who wasn't hated by the entire Earthbread. — even if it was all a misunderstanding. — and someone who he could introduce to everyone without facing any consequences or receiving any disgusted stares, a person who could make them genuinely happy.

But yet, part of the virtue wanted to be greedy for once, to keep that happiness he once yearned exceedingly. — the same one that had him praying to the stars for millennias. Pure Vanilla was his whole world, a piece of him that he wasn't sure to be able to renounce and the one person he ever wanted beside him, the only one who could quiet all those self destructive tendencies by just being there.

The maiden was so absorbed in her thoughts to the point of not focusing on where she was going or neither noticing when she ended up stumbling in her own feet, only waking up when feeling a stronger arm surrounding her waist with urgency and preventing her from falling down the stairs. Blueberry Milk's gaze traveled to the arm's owner and finding a pair of fuchsia eyes staring back with alarm.

"That was close." White Lily commented in a sigh, finally letting her go once she was back on her two feet. "I understand using long dresses can be a little bit stressful, gotta be careful."

Wrong reason, but that will do. The maiden simply nodded before grabbing the fabric of her long skirt in a way to make it easier to walk down the remaining flight of stairs.

Blueberry Milk really had to mentalize that he already won the battle even if has any competition, Pure Vanilla was his only.

"I apologize. You must've forgot as it was a long time ago." White Lily's voice echoed their surroundings, her cheeks gaining that crimson red tone all over again. "I dated Golden Cheese for some years before the Dark Flour War. We used to get along so well, I think our group was so united before everything..."

Oh. 

Golden Cheese, the holder of the light of Abundance and the only ancient heroe Blueberry Milk haven't got the pleasure to meet yet. Unimportant fact after noticing the nostalgic tone in White Lily's voice, probably getting hit by the bittersweetness that those once comforting memories was giving her, enough to wonder how things ended between them.

But not enough to put salt in her wounds.

"I will say you have quite a taste, eh?" The maiden asked with a teasing tone, hitting her arm playfully with her elbow. "What about the mysterious last one?"

"It was just your typical first love between classmates." She shrugged before looking at somewhere else. "Not quite important."

Ah yes, the typical teenage love that the Fount of Knowledge only was familiar with by reading it in different books or by witnessing it with his own eyes while being the first headmaster of the since forgotten Blueberry Yogurt Academy, never something he had experienced himself. Impossible when you're baked as a fully grown adult and forced into skipping a grand part of someone's development years, only having the task to be the virtue of Knowledge in his hands and being pushed into a crowd of Cookies starving for more answers.

That alone made him wince with realization, the Witches did neglect the virtues badly by not assisting them with anything, by letting them sink into their duties without clear instructions and expecting them to just be bulletproof to the consequences of their actions and the ones around them. No wonder all of them were so troubled in their own ways, not knowing how to deal with feelings they were never supposed to feel to begin with and thinking rebelling against their nature and ideals.

And their godly creators had failed them once again when they decided to seal them in the Silver Tree, making the four of them turn even more enraged and thirsty for revenge. Anger that had now shifted to the five ancient heroes, who now carried the purified version of their Soul Jams, and of course the only standing virtue, the Fount of Knowledge.

The warmth sunrays shone directly to her face as soon as they finally walked outside of the Vanillian Castle and making a smile appear automatically in her lips, the air was filled with the scent of different pastries mixed with the conversation and laughter of people who walked around with a diversity of final destinations. The town square was filled with folks trying to conclude their grocery lists or walking home, some of them just tried to update themselves in the most distinct topics, surely not enough to twitch her pointy ears and eavesdrop whatever was being talked around.

Both women walked with their arms linked to prevent getting lost in the crowd, her gaze analysed every place around them with curiosity and hopefully starting to memorize the Kingdom that was destined to become her forever home, if everything went right.

As expected, the stares in their direction were like clockwork and her ears managed capture some whispers filled with curiosity flying where they passed, ones trying to figure out the identify of the maiden being so close to one of the ancient heroes, others just gushing about such good-looking woman. While Blueberry Milk never considered himself as attractive, he couldn't deny his female disguise was breathtaking to the point of having folks on her feet. — which was just useless as she was not looking to have anyone else's attention other Pure Vanilla's, who wasn't even there to do so.

The virtue had to admit he was starting to missing the blonde more than what he should've.

Blueberry Milk stop in her tracks after feeling a gently nudge in one of her shoulders, looking behind to see a man with a sheepish smile staring right at her while extending a white rose. The floral fragrance rapidly evaded her nostrils while she glanced between the flower and the man in front of her with pure confusion.

"I'm sorry to bother such gorgeous ladies, but I couldn't pass by without giving this to the prettiest woman I ever saw in my life."

What?

Before she could dare rejecting it or protest, the rose was almost shoved into her hand, making one of her eyebrows raise and she watched how the man just took a run after flirting shamelessly with a totally stranger, such a weird interaction. Still was enough to make her feel weirded out, not knowing how to process what just went down so quickly.

"Pure Vanilla has competition?" White Lily asked between laughs, clearly teasing her. "Thank the Witches he isn't here, I'm not sure he would've been very fond of what just happened."

"I don't think he's the jealous type." She shrugged with her gaze still on top of the white rose in her hand. "Plus that man just saw me as eye candy, and I'm not interested either."

Still was strange to finally witnessing someone so openly flirting with him, the same person who never expected to see any romantic interest pointed in his direction and only had two people showing any type of clear feelings towards him before. Blueberry Milk sighed before putting the rose inside of her basket and continue their walk around the markets, focusing on looking towards every stalls like she was actively searching for anything and in hopes to stop thinking about whatever just happened.

It didn't matter in the end of the day, but was enough to make Blueberry Milk pondering if just writing something such as taken or “I have a boyfriend” in his forehead should prevent other situations like this to happen in the near future, even if that was embarrassing, but what other thing he could do that didn't envolve screaming to the whole Earthbread how the once virtue of Knowledge and the ancient of Truth were happily dating?

"Blueberry! Look!"

White Lily's voice made Blueberry Milk automatically come down from her own dilemma, her mismatched royal blue and golden eyes rapidly went in direction of where she was pointing: The window of a jewelry store. Before she could even wonder why they were looking at shiny jewelry, the guardian pulled the maiden by the arm to finally enter the store.

It was a simple store, walls painted with cream tones giving the place the typical Vanillian elegance and the light oak furniture only highlighted everything even better. Her gaze looked around the different pieces of jewelry that were clearly handmade with all the love and delicacy, all of them containing a variety of stones for everyone's liking.

The vendor looked at both woman with the brightest smile. "Good afternoon, ladies! How can I help this wonderful couple?"

A what now?

A surprised look flashed across both cookies' faces with the unexpected commented by the vendor, surely they didn't look like a couple but maybe, seeing how Blueberry Milk's gaze was glued to the rings, had her misinterpreting everything.

"Oh, no no! we are just friends." White Lily answered with clear ashamed tone and trying to cover her flushed face. "She has a boyfriend."

"Oh! My sincere apologies, your highness." The vendor smiled sheepish, before her attention turned to Blueberry Milk. "What about you, dear? Looking for any engagement rings?"

Probably Blueberry Milk would've felt ashamed on how quickly her face turned into a darker shade of blue if it wasn't because her mind started storming too fast with the simply thought of engagement, it was very obvious since the start her biggest wish was to marry Pure Vanilla, to the point of promising him under the starry sky they would exchange vows someday.

That was millennias ago. While that dream was still intact in the virtue's part, it was also evident it wasn't the right moment for them to get engaged and take such huge step, not while a lot of things needed to be resolved between them and they needed to rebuild their relationship slowly before Blueberry Milk dropped in one knee to finally propose to Pure Vanilla.

"It's too early." The maiden finally answered with a small smile in her face, trying to ignore the bittersweet taste those words carried. "However I would love to some day, and of course you're will be our maid of honor, Lils."

"I hope you keep that promise, I already have some ideas in mind." White Lily smiled while her eyes analysed the different rings. "Oh wait! What about a promise ring?"

That idea alone made something light inside of the maiden. It was the perfect idea and the one that could perfectly summarize all of Blueberry Milk's intentions, promise rings were the symbol of commitment and a plead to a future together, a promise of a future engagement or just a long-lasting relationship filled with loyalty. Hopefully it would be perfect to ease Pure Vanilla's heart filled with fright, always in the edge with the possibility of being left behind again by the virtue. — which wouldn't happen ever again, unless the ancient himself dismissed him.

Even if his destructive thoughts tried getting the best of him, Blueberry Milk wouldn't leave him behind ever again, he would be greedy for once.

The maiden's sparkly mismatched eyes looked around for the perfect ring until stopping in a pair that was the right choice: a sun and moon themed golden rings with some blue gemstones, clearly both rings had their color scheme and were exactly what both represented in the eyes of other people. — even if the Fount of Knowledge was more related to the stars than the moon itself, sue him.

The only con is that those were clearly engagement rings...

...

Blueberry Milk ended up making an impulsive choice.

Both cookies left the jewelry store with White Lily shining like she was getting married soon, Blueberry Milk's eyes were still glued to the little bag containing two white velvet boxes inside and she sighed rethinking her choices, maybe hiding the other box in the other realm until the right moment arrived would be a great idea, there was no way Pure Vanilla would find it before the proposal.

Not now, some day.

"Oh, maybe a wedding in a garden would be so pretty! Middle of spring would be a great idea." The guardian daydreamed while both walked back in the Castle's direction. "Vanilla orchids and blue primroses decorating the whole place too, blue and cream do fit a lot."

"I guess you would be a great wedding planner." Blueberry Milk commented between laughs. "Maybe some milkcrowns would be a great too."

"I thought Milkcrowns made you cry."

"Nop." the virtue answered simply, making a little pop noise in the end. "Milkcrowns are fruit of my teardrops, still it hits home a lot and represent me in some way."

"What an interesting fact nonetheless. Still I hope we don't see milkcrowns bloom ever again, unless they can be fruit of happy tears." She stopped on her tracks to stare at the maiden. "I have to say I'm happy that you two are back together, I really want both of you to be happy."

A smile appeared in Blueberry Milk's lips with the guardian's words, it was great to have the approval of one of Pure Vanilla's closest friends since the first time he finally decided to confess everything that went down between them.

It was another sleepless night for the Fount of Knowledge, the moon was high in the shy and shining with all its glory, lighting his surroundings with a silver light. The virtue was sitting in front of the Silver Tree while a since forgotten book covered his lap, his mismatched eyes stared right into the blue light one of the branches reflected. — shaped just like Pure Vanilla's Soul Jam.

There was some days where sorrow hit him harder than normal, feeling regretful and he could always swore his dough started to become freezing cold, even if it was now covering by the same blanket his partner had knitted for him years prior and magnificently preserved thanks to a magic spell. It was obvious his whole body was longing for Pure Vanilla's warmth and for his fragrance, yet it was still something unreachable for him.

"Fount?"

The virtue looked behind to see White Lily staring down at him with a worried expression, he simply smiled before pointing to beside him. The ancient rapidly understood what he meant and sat beside him, yet her fuchsia eyes kept focused on his face.

"You're crying... Did something happen?" her voice sounded delicate as always. He could see how she reached to one of her dress's pockets to remove something. "Here. If you wanna talk, I'm here for you."

The Fount haven't notice the tears dropping from his cheeks and the milkcrowns that had started to bloom around him until White Lily had mentioned it. His vision went down to the woman's extended hands and seeing the light cream colored handkerchief she was offering, he didn't think twice before taking the fabric in his hand and took it to his face, only to get frozen in place when a very familiar scent invaded his nostrils.

It smelled just like vanilla beans with cream. His favorite scent.

That was enough to make him break into sobs and leave White Lily in panic. After that, the Fount decided it was the best if he just revealed his relationship with Pure Vanilla and how everything came to be to her, obviously the ancient was flabbergasted with the sudden confession but then became ecstatic to finally be aware that two of her favorite people were dating.

It still warms Blueberry Milk's heart to remember how supportive she always has been, especially to be considered one of her favorite people in a short time. It was clear that both cookies had an instant click and a lot of things in common, a friend match made in heaven. 

Entering inside of the castle felt like a relieve and was enough to make Blueberry Milk's sigh in delight, her only thought in her head to finally melt her disguise away and hopefully lay in a bed to nap for the rest of the day. 

"Oh my poor old man bones!" The maiden commented while stretching like a cat and hearing White Lily laughing in response. "You really want to kill me, eh?"

"It wasn't that long of a stroll, but I guess I'm guilty for not letting you spend the whole day in bed." She answered before taking one of her hands to her own mouth to muffle her giggles. "But you should go rest a little."

Blueberry Milk nodded in response, surely some rest would've do her some good after a long almost sleepless night. She opened her mouth to finally say their farewells before parting ways when one of the maids walked in hurried steps to where they were.

"Your highness." The maid bowed in front of them. "I'm sorry to interrupting, but your majesty is looking for mister Blueberry Milk, I was wondering if-"

The maiden couldn't hold her laughter, it was interesting to see how he was so unrecognizable with his disguise to that point. A simple snap of fingers was enough for the disguise to finally melt away and to see how the maid's eyes widened while her jaw dropped in complete shock.

Blueberry Milk simply adjusted his jester hat before smiling widely. "May I ask where's your majesty?"

"I- In the gardens, sir..."

The virtue nodded before bowing to both women in a more theatrical way and turning to walk through the long halls in direction of the gardens' entrance. His heart was pounding too fast in chest and Blueberry Milk could feel his hands starting to sweat nervously.

It was time to have the conversation. Even if he had thought about that for so long, no amount of preparations could help when it's finally time to proceed.

He just hoped everything went alright.

Chapter Text

Shadow Milk wasn't the type to love people, he always preferred that lingering hatred for every creature that dared cross paths with him than to drift into any love affairs, that was only for weak and mortal cookies who had time to waste on getting terrible heartbroken and lamenting themselves for being so naive for doing so. 

Which that hit home a lot more than he liked, remembering him of an innocent Fount of Knowledge walking around an unfamiliar ballroom and bowing to everyone who crossed his path with a courtesy smile. Silver tones illuminated the whole venue, people laughed in glee while dancing with their respective partners, some were by the tables filled with appetizers just tasting those flavourful snacks or sharing a pleasant conversation while drinking some drops of berry juice.

His mismatched royal blue and cyan eyes analysed his surroundings in hopes to find his virtue friends, a feeling of claustrophobia started crawling around his chest the more people bumped into him by mistake and almost succeeding to knock the poor mage into the cold tiled floor each time. He surely wasn't baked to attend those fancy gatherings, yet he knew the importance of this one as the urgency to unite all nations grew bigger with the idea of a war breaking down in any moment.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts to the point of not feeling his body bumping into a taller cookie until a pair of arms holded his waist instinctly to prevent him from falling. A shocked gasp left his own lips unauthorized when realization hit him, he blinked a couple times before wide eyes stared at his "saviour", air knocking of his lungs when coming across a pair of gorgeous periwinkle colored eyes staring down at him with a smile to die for painted in his face.

To say it was love at first sight would've been an understatement. The once well behaved Fount of Knowledge would find himself escaping from his duties just to visit his lover, who not once lifted a finger to do the same for him due to not waiting to leave his Kingdom unattended. It was obvious at the other's eyes the sentiments between both weren't at the same level, while the virtue was ready for full commitment and not caring if the Witches didn't approve of their relationship, the same couldn't be said about the other man.

And it shown when the Fount of Knowledge started corrupting, surrounded by nothing but loneliness, noticing how not once the same man who filled him with empty promises visited him and letting him fall into the sweet abyss of deceit to escape all those damaging thoughts, hoping that would bring him any real love. Feeling a terrible sour taste in his tongue that came with the realization, he finally decided to take one last trip to his lover's Kingdom, just to confront him and hopefully end with all those destructive thoughts.

"I'm sorry but..." the man stopped for a few seconds, clearly trying to gather the best words to continue. "Our ideals don't coincide anymore."

"So you really used me." The once virtue murmured with anger, tears streaming down his face while looking at the man with narrowed eyes. "You only care about the oh-so-almighty creators and whatever they want."

"My Fount, that's not-"

"Shut up!" His scream almost shook the whole Kingdom without trying, the eyes in his hair stared at the other with distain. "Yes, I'm a monster! And not once you, the same person who swore to protect me, checked on me while I was breaking, while I was in utter pain."

The man simply gazed at him dumbfounded with a sprinkle of fear reflecting in his irises, making Shadow Milk feel sick to his stomach to see the same person who promised the world to him just see him as a monster after giving all of him to that same person.

Perhaps that story was meant to happen over and over again and would always be one of the main reasons to push him over the edge. However Pure Vanilla had shifted everything with simply appearing in the past and crashing that same destiny that was supposed to follow him around in every outcome, by becoming his first and last lover.

Making all those thoughts of a turbulent love story become an alternative not reachable to him. The virtue had met the same man from Shadow Milk's memories with utter horror, wanting to run away even after being sure he couldn't hurt him like it happened in another universe. Surprisingly, he still had the guts to sit beside him one fateful day and confessing his feelings to the Fount of Knowledge, who looked at him with wide eyes for a few instants before smiling fondly.

Blueberry Milk was very delighted to announce his heart was very much taken.

The virtue looked at his reflection in the long mirror by one of the hallways, he looked so different from what the ancient was used to and yet he hasn't asked why those changes happened so far, not that Blueberry Milk wanted to talk about all his nerve-racking traumas and everything that was supposed to happen before he saved him.

Maybe it was true when the blonde said he would love him and stay beside him regardless of who he become after all, yet the mage was truthful too when he said he wouldn't come back if he had break upon repair, especially knowing now how wicked the beast had been. Shadow Milk wouldn't loved Pure Vanilla even if they tried building something brick by brick, he was too emotionally unavailable to experience another relationship.

But that didn't made his possessiveness less apparent, not wanting the ancient to belong to anyone else ever again and being capable to do everything in his power to stop that from happen. To say that finding out that Pure Vanilla had picked the Fount of Knowledge instead of him hurt his ego was an understatement, making understandable why those narrowed blue and cyan had once looked at his past self with the urge of tearing him down slowly and making sure he followed the path to corruption, to make sure Pure Vanilla would always belong to Shadow Milk.

But like a twisted surprise, Blueberry Milk won the battle against the destructive thoughts lingering in his head and stayed on float even when everyone tried putting their foot in his way, trying to make him stumble and fall in the deep abyss of darkness.

His eyes darted to the tiny bag in his hand and a smile drew itself in his face, sure that he had made the right decision to fight his seen inevitable corruption even if his body trembled in the edge of the cliff more times than people would've swore. Everything had turned his backs to him after the falling of the beasts and yet living in the Faerie Kingdom for so long had shield him from the hatred.

At the start, he thought everyone had forgotten about the once Fount of Knowledge and that he could proceed on living life pretending to be just a powerful mage. For both his surprise and dismay, the judgemental stares had been automatic when he finally step into his the Parfaedia city. — which was his first destination when he arrived at Crispia. — and noticed immediately how everyone was whispering around about him and his connection to the four beasts, it did hit him like a truck to see how people were so nasty without knowing the full story or anything regarding that.

That alone was enough to make Blueberry Milk feel his mission of not corrupt was a complete failure, even if he didn't see Shadow Milk in his reflection everytime he stared at the mirror and knowing the Soul Jam he carried had no deceit inside of it. It didn't help his case of trying to just blend in with the townfolks and hope for the best, it ended up feeling like he was suffering the karma that wasn't his.

Blueberry Milk shook his head to hopefully spook those thoughts away, it didn't matter in the end of the way when he finally found his way back to the only person who's opinion mattered. Whilst his mind liked to torture himself by painting himself as not enough for Pure Vanilla, there was part of him that wanted to keep fighting for their happiness and for their future together without letting those destructive thoughts get the best of him.

Perhaps he only feel the taste of victory once they finally exchange wedding vows, when he fulfills his promise to marry the love of his life. 

His fingers ran down his white bangs to finally fix them and he finally breathe in hopes that was enough to prepare himself for the long awaited conversation. Blueberry Milk finally took back his path to the gardens with trembling legs, trying to wonder how it would be the best way to finally speak his mind to Pure Vanilla. — who was unaware of everything happening around him and how much things changed.

No amount of knowledge would make someone be good at expressing feelings.

The Vanillian gardens were breathtaking, a diversity of flowers coloured the whole place with perfection and made the air have a fainted floral scent floating around. The fountain in the middle of the place was the perfect decoration and the sound of birds chirping brought that peaceful atmosphere to whoever step into the cream step stones, probably the perfect place to read a book or just take a quick rest. Blueberry Milk could easily tell how well taken cared of the whole place was and how every single flower was grown with love and patience, typical of who was into gardening or just a skilled gardener.

His eyes looked around the whole place in hopes to find that glimmering silhouette he had grown to recognize everywhere but to not avail, making him sigh in disappointed before looking back at the bag in his hand. The maid clearly said he was in the gardens but he was yet to be found in that sea of colorful flowers, making Blueberry Milk wonder if Pure Vanilla had suddenly decided to move to other place in the enormous castle.

"Oh great..." The virtue murmured to himself while looking around for a last time. "Well, I guess today is not my day either."

His vision stopped in a tiny greenhouse in the far corner of the garden, enough to make him debate if he should just go there to make sure if Pure Vanilla wasn't there waiting for him. His eyes traveled back to the bag he was still carrying around and showed, maybe it was a good idea to hide the bag and its little secret before it could spark any curiosity in the ancient.

Blueberry Milk took one of the little velvet boxes from inside of the bag and decided to hide it inside of one of his pants' pockets. The mage decided the perfect place to hide the bag containing the other box was in his other realm, despite being aware of Pure Vanilla having access to it after what happened between Shadow Milk and him, he was sure the healer couldn't step on it without his permission.

That was perfect until he could think on a better place to hide it.

Blueberry Milk took a deep breath before starting to walk in direction of the greenhouse again, the sound of his heeled boots clicking into the stepping stones become the only noise he could capture in a sea of worrying, rethinking his speech detail by detail to try figuring out what's the best way to say everything locked in both his mind and heart for several hundred years. Somehow the apprehension was bigger now than when the first time he finally confessed his feelings to Pure Vanilla, in some way the idea of rejection was also worse everytime he wondered about his reputation, damaged by imbecilic rumours.

Still a sparkle inside of his heart didn't let him turn in his heels and run away like a coward.

Entering the greenhouse left him instantly dumbfounded, a sea of white lilies covered both sides of the path and the scent was overpowering, it was different from the rest of the castle that had a bigger amount of vanilla orchids decorating the surroundings. That alone made him wonder what was the reason for the insane amount of the same flower in that especific place.

His eyes traveled around until landing into the giant gazebo in the middle and finally finding who he was looking for all this time, sitting by the stairs. Pure Vanilla's whole body leaning in one of the columns, his eyelashes rested perfectly by his softly rosy cheeks and his long creamy blonde hair fell to one of his sides like a curtain, his typical cone shaped hat seemed to have fallen into the cold tiles while the cookie rested peacefully.

Adorable. Enough to make Blueberry Milk just stay glued to the floor and staring down at how Pure Vanilla slept so peacefully, yet perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to just watch someone taking a quick nap.

"Fount...?"

The virtue froze in place while his dual colored eyes widened in shock, pondering if he was awake or just somehow whispering in his sleep due to how low and groggy his voice came out between his lips. His question didn't take longer to be answered as Pure Vanilla slowly opened his butter yellow and milky blue eyes and a wide smile started to form in his face.

"You're finally here..." His voice whispered in a drowsy tone, voice way deeper than what Blueberry Milk was used to. "I was waiting for you."

Blueberry Milk started coughing awkwardly while looking around for a brief moment to try distracting from those words echoing in his mind over and over again, that deep voice tone surely had to go if the virtue wanted to avoid fainting out of nowhere. He had to be a strong soldier, surely not being the first waking up between the two saved him from hearing that wonderful voice.

Not the moment to drool over Pure Vanilla's barely awaken voice.

"Well well, miss me much?" The mage commented with a playful tone and his stare fell back to the blonde, finally noticing how his eyebags had gotten darker. "Pure Vanilla, you didn't sleep again."

"Oh..." The healer stopped to finally clear his throat and adjust his posture. "My apologies, bluebird. I missed you dearly."

"You really didn't sleep because you thought I left you behind?" Blueberry Milk sighed before sitting by the gazebo's stairs. "I'm not going to leave you, Pure Vanilla. I'm staying until you want me to leave."

"What if I don't want you to leave ever?"

Blueberry Milk's gaze glued on Pure Vanilla's sparkling eyes, a silence growing around them as the mage pondered what the other just say, it was obvious he couldn't leave the place where he belonged and where his other half was if he so desired. The virtue needed to fight the panic lingering inside of him, ignoring what he couldn't change or control and proceeding with his efforts to become the best partner possible, even if mistakes were made along the way.

"Then I'm staying forever beside you." His hands took a few hairs that were covering the other's precious eyes. "That still remains as my wish, and I'm content to know it is yours too."

A beaming smile was drawn in Pure Vanilla's face as he extended his arms in Blueberry Milk's direction, who rapidly understood the assignment as he fell into the Vanillian cookie's embrace and cooed contently to finally breathe that sweet vanilla beans and cream fragrance after longing for it for almost a whole day, and was enough for all his senses to finally calm down and to feel his entire dough finally warming up after being stuck with that freezing cold sensation for centuries. The blonde decided to hide his face in the crook of the virtue's neck and sighed in delight, clearly feeling as cosy and in glee as him.

Perhaps, in a world where the once Fount of Knowledge wasn't confident about what was his role in the middle of society anymore, that was what mattered in the end of the day, feeling how Pure Vanilla maintains his arms around him while resting glued to him like it was the perfect resting place.

For moments, Blueberry Milk even wondered if the blonde had just fell asleep on his embrace, just hearing his very light breathing and no slight moviments from the other's part, which was adorable if it was the case nonetheless, yet it was doubtful that the position would be comfortable for him to sleep in. The virtue started thinking between trying to move him carefully to his lap in hopes that would be more snuggly or just calling him to see if there's any answer.

"Pure Vanilla?"

A soft hum was all Blueberry Milk got as answer from the healer's part, confirming to him that Pure Vanilla was indeed still awake. Maybe it was the perfect moment to start their must needed conversation, especially seeing how the other was so close to just fall asleep in such peaceful embrace.

"We need to talk..."

Pure Vanilla slowly dropped his arms to both his sides and moved away to face him with worried twisting on his expression, enough to make Blueberry Milk regret spitting things without thinking on a better way to express their need to talk about their relationship moving forward.

"Some reassurance before we start: I don't want to end what we have, I also haven't fallen for someone else. Impossible when I already have such a catch, don't cha think?" The virtue finished with a wink, watching how the ancient blushed with the comment. "I just think it's important for me to tell you everything that happened all these centuries."

His hands traveled to where the other's pair were resting, holding them firmly before breathing in slowly. Blueberry Milk was aware that no amount of preparation and thinking would make the conversation easier, especially with the fear of rejection was eating him alive as the seconds passed.

"First, as you can probably see, I didn't corrupt." The virtue commented with a triumphant smirk in his lips. "No more Shadow Milk, just moi!"

Pure Vanilla raised his hand like a student wanting to give his contribution to the class, Blueberry Milk simply nodded to let him talk. "I was wondering how I still have my soul jam in that case..."

"One can say I made a little sacrifice." His vision kept fixed on the pair of half lidded eyes staring back at his. "I gave half of my soul jam's power away." 

Out of all the reactions he could ever imagine, Blueberry Milk wasn't expecting to see tears starting to stream down of Pure Vanilla's face and that alone was enough to make him panic, holding the other's hand tightly by instinct while staring at him with wide eyes. "My angel, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"You shouldn't done something like that, my Fount." The healer answered with a shaky tone, his features screamed how worried he was. "What if it crumbled you?"

"It didn't hurt at all, it was easy peasy!" The virtue lied with his whole teeth, it was an agonizing pain and too draining for him to give up something he was baked with, however Pure Vanilla didn't need to know. "Besides, I would've given my whole life for you if needed."

The healer simply stared at him with utter surprise, probably not expecting the Fount of Knowledge to sacrifice so much of him for his lover. Maybe it was a normal shock when comparing to Shadow Milk's obsession to get the Soul Jam of Truth and hopefully wake up the long since dead light of Knowledge again, however Blueberry Milk was different than the beast of Deceit when it came to it, preferring the peace of having only half of his original power at his disposal had brought than the times where he had nothing else other than obligations.

"I couldn't let you go, Pure Vanilla." One of his hands traveled to the other's tan face to finally clean the trail of tears marked on his cheeks. "There's no other person I would've wanted as my other half. Plus you are needed in this world, both by me and a ton of other cookies."

"I'm speechless..." Pure Vanilla murmured with concern still lingering in his tone, his buttery yellow and milky blue eyes still glued in the virtue's face. "I don't know how to thank you for thinking about me, it feels wrong."

"I guess that was my way to prove how much I'm in love with you, Pure Vanilla." The virtue answered while shortening the distance between them, feeling now the healer's breathing hitting softly in his face. "It is my apology for my past mistakes too."

"What past mistakes...?"

"I shouldn't have forced you to leave back then, not without us resolving what happened beforehand. I could've let you stay and find another way to bring you back to the future once it was resolved." His fingers didn't stop caressing the ancient's cheeks for a single second. "It was a huge mistake on my part."

"You were upset at me, it was understandable." Pure Vanilla knitted his eyebrows softly. "I should've been the one telling you the whole truth, I feel I failed a lot."

"I thought a lot about what happened through the years. At the start, I was indeed very upset at you for occulting it from me, I felt like you broke my trust." Blueberry Milk took a deep breath trying to maintain his calm demeanor. "After gaining all of Shadow Milk's memories, I understood one hundred percent why you didn't tell me. I want to apologize for not doing things right."

"Shadow Milk's memories?!? So you know... Everything?"

Blueberry Milk nodded in response, his hands finally fell into his own lap. "Almost everything, a lot of things got erased from his memory, a normal trauma response."

Both cookies didn't move an inch after the virtue's words, remaining looking at each other in pure silence. It was one of those moments Blueberry Milk wished he knew how to mind read as he could observe how Pure Vanilla's face was twitching softly with pain. Both clearly weren't used to communicate like that, opening to each other was always difficult since the start as them preferred to hide everything inside of their heart like it would go away someday, plus their relationship had been flawless until that especific point.

"It must be painful to know how tragic his life was and what destiny reserved for you." The ancient finally broke the silence while turning his head to look somewhere else. "I hope you forgive me for everything I did to both you and Shadow Milk, my Fount."

"Well, I will say everything you did to Shadow Milk was deserved, he was a total jerk to your friends and you." Blueberry Milk answered simply, watching how Pure Vanilla rapidly faced him with wide eyes. "As for me, you did nothing wrong. You saved me, Pure Vanilla, I don't think I would've been here today if it wasn't for you."

The virtue's hands cupped his face delicately, his dual colored eyes went down to his lips and was enough to cause a fight in his head to not just kiss him, perhaps sharing one would tell more things than any words. Yet it was obvious Blueberry Milk needed to spill everything before daring to do anything else, it needed to leave his chest finally.

"The only problem is that..." Blueberry Milk pause to bite his own lips, feeling the nervousness washing his whole body. "Everyone thinks I'm one of the beasts, maybe because of my disappearance for centuries after they got locked into the Silver Tree."

"I know, Black Raisin told me all about it as she was worried about it, but I reassured her it wasn't the case." The healer broke into a smile, making the mage almost melt with how breathtaking he looked. "I don't care about what people think, I trust you with all my heart and I can also feel you're being honest with me."

Now it was time for Blueberry Milk to hold his own emotions tightly and do everything in his power to prevent breaking down in the front of Pure Vanilla, it felt wonderful to be reassured he didn't disappoint the love of his life while picking his own path accordingly. It was like all the weight covering his whole body got finally lifted, making him feeling lighter like a feather.

"I don't know how happy it makes me feel to hear that, my sweet orchid." His voice broke mid sentence, betraying him completely. "Now that I have a second opportunity to do things right, I really want us to not hide anything from each other ever again."

"I promise, my Fount." Pure Vanilla lifted his pinky finger and extended it in his direction. "I will not dare hiding anything else from you this time."

Blueberry Milk didn't think twice before interlocking their pinky fingers, locking the promise of a better future together. — Which he heavily believes will be the case, even if there was people trying to separate him actively. It was clear like water that Dark Enchantress and her minions, including the four Beasts. — who he once called family. — would try their everything to separate the ancient and the virtue, yet the mage wasn't scared of what they could do to him.

He was petrified on what they could do to Pure Vanilla.

"I think you need to know Dark Enchantress has an eye or two on me." Blueberry Milk commented while seeing how the ancient's expression changed to surprise. "I will not fall for her cheap propaganda, however she doesn't want to leave me alone."

"It makes sense, you were always known for being powerful and it would benefit from having you beside her." Pure Vanilla murmured softly, yet the virtue could tell how anxious he sounded in the midst of trying to sound confident. "Do you think she somehow knows about Shadow Milk?"

"No, not at all." His hands traveled to the healer's blonde locks to twirl it carefully between his fingers. "What I'm sure is that she's still spying on you, but I will not let her hurt you."

"You don't need to, bluebird. I don't want you to end up hurt and—"

"Oh c'mon, Nills! I'm like a cockroach, they can't get rid of me that easily." Blueberry Milk hit the other's arm using his elbow playfully to try making the blonde relax. "I promised to you years ago I was going to protect you and I still stand by it." 

"I should be the one protecting you, not the opposite, you—"

Enough chitchatting. Blueberry Milk cut the distance between their faces to finally leave a quick peck in the healer's lips before pulling away again, watching how Pure Vanilla's automatically gained a crimson red tone and his eyes widened as his mouth dropped in surprise.

"Ok, enough of that." Blueberry Milk's fingers caressed the other's blushed cheeks while opening a dazzling smile. "I won't let you oppose to what I already decided."

Pure Vanilla glared at him shooking his head, clearly disapproving what the virtue once said but not daring to push their mini discussion any further. That alone made Blueberry Milk wonder what topic to bring up next or if he should just propose going on a walk around to spend time, everything that could smooth their mood better before doing his big confession.

It was somehow his way to prevent questions regarding the four beasts, he wasn't ready to put salt into his wounds by remembering everything that went down millennias ago.

"While this place is pretty, I feel we should go on a walk." The virtue commented while getting up from the steps, he finally turned to the healer and extended his hand. "We are old men, we need to exercise to keep our joints healthy, don't you think?"

Pure Vanilla blinked a few times before almost bursting out laughing, the other's hand finally hold his for support while getting up from the cold floor. Both cookies walked towards the exit of the greenhouse, none of them daring to let go of the other's hand as their fingers intertwined with plans of not breaking the soft contact.

Blueberry Milk's plan was simple, he would start by doing a whole speech about his never dying feeling as it felt more than appropriate to confess over again and perhaps officially asking him to be his boyfriend after they totally skipped the question first time around. To close the whole lovey dovey moment, he could finally take the white velvet box from his pocket and give him the ring with a promise of being forever beside Pure Vanilla, with an engagement coming when the perfect time arrives.

Hopefully it wasn't as far away as one may think.

The sun was already setting in the horizon when both finally left the greenhouse and the sky was slowly adopting its typical midnight blue tone with a variety of twinkling stars adorning it, ready to welcome the moon who was slowly raising to its place high in the sky to show everyone its silver lighting and illuminate the endless places in the whole Cookiekind. 

Night time was always Blueberry Milk's favorite moment of the day, where nothing other than the quietness remained in his surroundings and he usually would spend the next hours just studying astronomy, spending a ton of sleepless days as the curiosity regarding what was hidden in the endless sky was bigger than any trivial necessity.

The Fount of Knowledge wasn't baked to feel any need to sleep or even eat, he was a divine emissary whose mission was to spread his endless teachings and make sure than the peace around Earthbread persisted. It wasn't easy when you were supposed to be bulletproof, yet the screams of revolt towards you always made you feel like a weak freshly cooked dough.

Things only seemed to gotten worse after he given half of his power away, becoming more sensitive when it comes to emotions and seeing his energy starting to decrease after spending just two days without sleeping or eating. One could say the once holder of all knowledge wasn't god-like anymore, just a gifted cookie.

The night sky was the only memory that didn't stay tainted for Blueberry Milk, reminding him of everytime the moonlight glowed around Pure Vanilla like a halo and the stars becoming a witness of their never dying love and all the promises that were said while they hold each other's hands. 

Maybe it was a cliché idea to want to renew their relationship with the moonlight brightening their doughs, with the stars continuing to be testimonies of their romance and how his eyes still stared at his partner with the same loving gaze as centuries ago.

The virtue stopped walking arrupty and let go of Pure Vanilla's hand, watching how the ancient rapidly turned around to stare at him with curiosity sparkling in his mismatched half lidded eyes. That was enough for anxiety to hit Blueberry Milk like a truck and his hands started to sweat coldly, not knowing how to proceed with his plan or how to let free everything that was locked in his heart for so many years.

"It has been millennias since I saw your face and yet there's not a single moment I could stop thinking about you. To be honest, I think I started discovering my love with everything art as I started sketching your face out of habit and fear of forgetting." He could feel his whole face start to burn out of embarrassing for admitting it out loud. "Uh... That's not what I wanted to say! I apologize."

Pure Vanilla's very apparent shock didn't help him feel less ashamed, perhaps that was something he should've kept very hidden on his memory and bring it with him to the grave. Blueberry Milk started coughing awkwardly while trying to remain his initial confident act in hopes to be seen as unshaken by the whole confession.

"What I wanted to say is not once I stopped loving you and yearning to have you in my arms again. Remembering my words when we first met and saying them again, everything I felt for you only become stronger as time passed." The virtue continued with his gaze glued to the floor, trying to not get even more nervous. "I was sure I wanted to spend all my eternity beside you before, now that desire still persists. There's nothing I wish more than be with you, Pure Vanilla."

His duo colored eyes finally turned to the healer in front of him, noticing how he looking back at him with his jaw dropped and wide eyes. It was enough to make him wonder if he was doing it right, being the once Fount of Knowledge wasn't enough to make him good with wording or expressing himself.

"I want us to continue being partners and continue what we left on pause years ago." Blueberry Milk said with a beaming smile appearing in his face, knowing there was probably hearts sparkling in his eyes. "I want your face to be the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see when falling asleep, I want to continue seeing your pretty smile, hearing your soft laughter and voice, to witness how your eyes always stare at me in the intention to make me feel loved, and I want to also continue staring at you with that same love."

His hands finally reached to the pocket of his pants to take the white velvet box from it and hearing how the blonde cookie gasped in surprise. The mage finally opened the box to reveal a simple gold ring with blue gemstones and diamonds, surely one could say his pocket was hurting after such big purchase.

"I know it's too early for us to get engaged as we reunite with each other pretty recently, but..." The virtue finally hold both of the ancient's hands carefully while his stare continued glued to the other's surprised face. "I want to give you this ring as a promise that I want us to marry one day, to show you that I'm going nowhere and I'm staying here with you as long as you want. With that, I will always be here with you through thick and thin, Pure Vanilla."

For a brief moment, the only thing filling the air was the sound of tree leaves rustling nearby as both cookies stared at each other. It felt like hours had passed until Pure Vanilla eventually moved forward to almost throw himself on top of Blueberry, with the latter simply involving him in a bear like hug as almost quiet sobs left the healer's lips.

"I love you so so much, my bluebird." The ancient managed to murmur between mewling, which made the virtue hope it was all of happiness. "Thank you for coming back to me, thank you for believing in us. I promise that, this time, we will stay together forever and nothing will separate us."

The mage couldn't stop himself from smiling as he squeezed the other's body against his chest tightly, feeling on cloud nine to be back where he belonged. Blueberry Milk finally separated from Pure Vanilla enough to take the ring out of the box carefully and hold the healer's left hand with delicately to place it in his ring finger, finally sealing the promise of commitment and a long future together.

"No one will take you away from me, only over my crumbled dough." He whispered while taking the other's hand in direction of his face, being able to leave a kiss in his knuckles. "I love you, my sweet angel."

His free hand traveled to the other's face to clean the trail of tears, who insisted to keep falling from between his snowy eyelashes. "Don't cry, my love. You will make a ton of milkcrowns bloom around, y'know?"

"My apologies, I'm just utterly happy." The healer murmured with a raspy tone while his arms surrounded the virtue's waist. "I don't think my tears can make milkcrowns bloom..."

"True, that's only my thing." The virtue shrugged before holding his chin, giving the impression he was speculating what to do next. "Should I fill the gardens with some milkcrowns someday?"

"If there's a way to make them bloom without you spilling any tears, I would love to." Pure Vanilla answered with his typical soft tone. "I would love to have a piece of you around the Castle."

To pretend like those words didn't do any effect on him would be a tremendous lie, especially how his face turned a darker blue out of shyness. It surely reminded him of his own words back in the Spire but never he expected to hear the same phrase throw at him like that. Blueberry Milk started coughing to hopefully hide the whirlwind happening inside of him in that precise moment, even if the sparkle on Pure Vanilla was a clear sign the latter had acknowledged his state.

"Okay okay, mister seducer! Enough flirting for today." Blueberry Milk shook his hand trying to dismiss the conversation, hearing how the ancient simply answered with some giggles. "To be honest, I do prefer more kissing and less talking."

The virtue finally hold the other's chin carefully to raise it up and finally locking their lips together in a tender kiss that rapidly was reciprocated. Didn't take too long until Blueberry Milk asked for permission to deepen it even more and almost getting inebriated by the sweet taste of vanilla beans mixed with a touch of whipped cream, that started to have notes of his tart blueberries with milk flavour in the mix.

For both cookie's misfortune, the kiss had to be cut short as air started to be urgently needed. The blonde leaned against the virtue and nuzzle his face in the crook of his neck, making Blueberry Milk smile as he squeezed him tighter in his arms.

There was no other place he would rather be.