Chapter Text
The Spire is aglow with magic, spells being launched every which way by the two halves of Knowledge in its courtyard. Black Sapphire and Candy Apple are below them, on the ground, fighting the brats that the traitor brought with him.
Another dash forward from Shadow Milk, starry markings on the undersides of his wings glittering in the light, another dodge from the feathered wielded of Truth.
“I've been wondering; instead of taking my Soul Jam by force, you decided to test me, and see if I could truly fall, Why?” Shadow Milk pauses midair, six bat-like wings keeping him afloat. He's about to snarl back, but bites the tip of his second forked, dark blue tongue. He doesn’t need that long to think, Deceit is his entire thing! So Why… No. He knows what to say. Just lie through your false fangs…
“Oh, can't I have a little fun? Seeing the seeker of Truth tremble, consumed by self-doubt. So scared to be devoured by my Deceit!” He croons, his voice wavering slightly. He hopes the other can't pick up on it, that would be embarrassing. Ugh. He has to stick to the half-baked script his mind is weaving. What is he supposed to do when he’s only improvising? Half baked is better than nothing, after all. Right? No. No room for doubt.
“You say that, and yet... I saw your records. I saw how happy you were to see my Soul Jam touched by Deceit.” He had- THIS LITTLE GNAT. Sneaking around, going through his things… he has half a mind to sever his head from his body. Of course he was thrilled, seeing cookies suffer brought him immense joy, especially if said cookies had stolen what was is rightfully his…
He rushes again, not bothering to use the effort to respond. His mind is too busy plotting. A cookie's weak points are the neck, knees, and elbows… especially the neck. I just have to hit one…
He's easily tossed back by a shielding spell.
As it turns out, being blinded by fury,betrayal, and mania makes words—and proper planning— rather difficult, a lesson he's learning as he struggles to form anything other than a wheezing giggle. Throwing himself temporarily off balance to hit his head with one of his primary wings, he finally manages to find… one, singular, word.
“... What…?” Ugh. He hates how he sounded, not being on-guard enough to add the typical drama to his voice. This caused Black Sapphire to lose focus long enough to be tackled by Strawberry Cookie, he's quickly pinned to the ground. Shadow Milk's pupils narrow into barely more than a thin line as he watches this unfold. Clearly a losing battle.. How long do we draw this out…?
He is perfection, and yet here he is, claws slipping. Utterly. Pathetic. Worthless. A failure.
Though he's quickly snapped back to attention by that idiot speaking once more. "I could feel how lonely you truly are." …That is, arguably, one of the most hilarious things that he's heard in a long time. "Hah… hahaha… AHAHAHAHAHAH!!" He cackles. "Lonely?! Now, who's the clown here…? Ah, I'm tearing up." He mimics the motion of flicking one of the irritating salty drops from below his eye. And if there was anything there… Well, he'd never admit that.
…
…
…..
Something is pressing on the back of his mind, at the metal walls he's carefully constructed to block out everything that a fool once believed in.
He doesn't like it.
Not.
One.
Bi—
That thought is cut off before it can finish,
And, in a breath…
He's there again.
Luminescent Milk Cookie stands on his usual podium, grey marble with gold,black and blue strewn through the patterning. The same questions— pointless, menial… they could easily find answers themselves if they only looked. But they do not. That is why he is here. To be useful. To be their tool.
Luminescent Milk does not have another choice, he cannot abandon his sacred duties, even if the god who bestowed this power upon him has long since vanished.
His vision is blurry, the answers half-hearted and effortless. Mumbled complaints as cookies make their way up, his apprentices tucked close to his waist for protection.
"Fount of Knowledge! Do you think Foxglove Cookie likes me?" He doesn't know either of these cookies. He does not know. He answers 'yes' anyways.
"Fount of Knowledge! When will the next rains be? My fields are parched and the villagers are starving… Oh, how upsetting. .. for them. He says it will only be a few days. It's more than two weeks away. That was the time he had first caused death. Not just one, but over a hundred, of starvation, disease, or dehydration.
"Fount of Knowledge!" Luminescent Milk nods as a sign for the cookie to continue. "Please, Fount of Knowledge! How and why were cookies created?" This question again… none have liked the Truth. He must think.
"Why Cookies were created…?" He trails off. "Yes! Why were cookies made? You know everything, Fount of Knowledge!" False. He does not know where the gods went. He does not know how to cure the corruption brewing in his allies. He does not know.
He does not know what to say. So he lies. It slips easily off his silver tongue, and over his fangs.
"Well… the gods who created this world.. baked cookies to fill it with sweetness… they baked us with love, in the image of themselves…" Half-true. She had… cared about him once. Now he sits here, rotting alongside the others.
"They shared Life Energy with us, so that we could live happily." He finishes. False. False. False. Liar. LIAR. "Golly! What a great story!" A sigh leaves his lips. "But…" his feline ears perk up. "You just made that up, didn't you? So that we can live blissfully unaware…" DON'T TELL THE TRUTH DON'T TELL THE TRUTH
"I… what are you saying?" Feign ignorance. Sink deeper. Lie. Lie. Lie. I am a liar. "The Witches made cookies. They made us so they could eat us, right? That's what I've heard. DON'T TELL THE TRUTH DON'T TELL THE TRUTH "No… that's not…" He is cut off. "I've also heard the Witches don't care about our happiness. We're nothing but little playthings for them." DON'T
"No…" His voice is quiet. "No, you say? Are you saying what I heard was a lie? So the witches didn't bake cookies to eat them?" DON'T "Well…" DON'T DO IT DON'T DO IT LIE TO THEM "Yes. That is a lie. The gods baked cookies with love." Good. Watch them believe every word you say…
"Oh! So that was nothing but a myth? Phew.. silly me. I can't believe I had doubts for a second there!" The smile on their face makes him feel ill. "Oh Fount of Knowledge, thank you for guiding me towards the Truth! Now I know what I must do!" What? That's not how this is supposed to go. I'M RESPONSIBLE IT'S MY FAULT—
"I'm… glad I could help." LIAR
"We shouldn't let these cookies spread such nasty lies!" It's just like before. "Bad cookies who slander our gods and spread lies must face divine judgement!" NO NO NO NO NOT AGAIN. I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAI—
Jam on his hands… ███████████ Milk gazes out over the cliff face. So much destruction… because of him… and his failure to stop ███████ Spice.
He collapses to the ground. How… Why…
Questions he cannot answer.
He is a killer. Though not by his own hands.
He is numb.
Summoning a portal back to the ruins of the Spire of All Knowledge, ███████████ Milk weeps alone.
Falling. He's falling. Twisting his spine in order to catch the air, Shadow Milk swiftly manages to regain his balance right before he can hit the ground fully— only breaking one of his crystalline spikes in the process.
"Are you.. alright?" Fool. While he's distracted, Shadow Milk nails a hit directly onto his Pure Vanilla's Soul Jam, making the other falter long enough for his body to hit the ground, hard. "Aww.. all worried about the big, bad, Beast, are you?" He jeers as the other pushes himself up.
"Why would I not be worried?" Shadow Milk narrows his eyes. This, is so blatantly obvious it makes him ill. Liar.
████████ Sugar wraps one of her wings around ███████████ Milk's body. He leans in to it, soft rumbles leaving his throat. It's warm, the sunset shining in oranges and indigos as the blazing ball of fire sinks beneath the horizon. He hopes this never ends.
The others have been silent, ever since ███████ Spice corrupted. ██ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████. He knows he can't. Turning back time… as much as he wishes it was…
It's not possible. Chronomancy takes too much power for it to be worth it.
So for now, he'll enjoy his sister's company, █████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████.
His breath is shaky, coming out in short bursts as his lungs claw for any air he can get. He's furious— tail lashing, spikes refracting the blinding white light in every color imaginable as he tries desperately to maintain control. The flowing tips of his hind wings trail limply in the cold breeze. "I don't want to fight you.." LIAR Pure Vanilla says slowly, approaching him the way one might a feral kitten. "Then what's all this?!" Shadow Milk cracks his spine in an unnatural way as he gestures around the area. "You, are nothing more than a pitiful, foolish liar, and I should have erased you when I had the chance." He snarls. "And yet you did not." Like he needs to be reminded again of that mistake. Mistake after mistake after mistake. Since the day he was created. Nothing. But. Mistakes.
He should have driven a stake through his viscera millennia ago. Why is it only now he regrets pulling it out before it could sever his twisted spine?
"Oh please. Like that means anything." A beam of light hits his bad eye.
He doesn't react.
"It does." Gnat. Insufferable. Gnat. "It means you are not undeserving of—" Shadow Milk lunges, barely grazing his neck with the teeth of one of his pharyngeal mandibles. "Cute. Though you forget one thing." A rhythmic tapping of his claws as he turns back. "I. Am nothing like you", He hisses. "I am a god. Cookies fear me. Look at this place! Bask in its absolute splendor! And you have the guts to—" A hand is raised. "I will say this again. I do not wish to fight you, Shadow Milk Cookie." A pause that went for either seconds or centuries. "And I will be returning to Crispia." Shadow Milk snorts. "Though if you would like to join me, I would not be opposed." A burst of outrage from the brats and his own minions, the distraction long enough for Black Sapphire to wriggle free and fling another spell at the wannabe wizard.
"You've forgotten. I know your tricks, and I know exactly what you're trying to do. You think you— and that little half-a-cookie, can lie to me, the Beast of Deceit himself, and trap me with my own game." He snarls, inky black claws pointing at Pure Vanilla accusingly. "Well. Guess what? I, my dear… am much, much smarter than that."
He leans closer, closing the distance and only leaving a hair's width between their faces. "And I refuse to go in that tree again without a fight." He rears back, floating up a few feet to where his wings are just off the ground, before looking back.
Pure Vanilla is giving him an all-too-familiar look.
Pity.
I want to claw that off of his face… the Light of Deceit whines in his mind. They don't want pity, nor do they need it.
Another pause, Shadow Milk taking the time to write a quick little letter to Eternal Sugar and hand it off to one of his rabbits before the feather brain speaks again. "It's not a trap." LIAR. TRAITOR.
That's exactly what he said, before piercing his chest with silver.. and look where he'd ended up. In pain, suffocating, the vines slithering up his body and snapping his glorious feathers off, one by one.
"Aw, yknow who you sound like? Another fool, a looooong time ago. You wouldn't know them, but really. It's a near perfect match!" He croons. "They're responsible for all of this, and here you are, mirroring their exact footsteps.. I must admit, it's truly not doing you any favors."
A hastily made, sloppy apology is made. Shadow Milk just giggles. "You think I want your apologies? Think I'll just roll over like some pathetic creature?" He leans in again. "Well, Pure Vanilla Cookie." He grins, all of his teeth showing. "I won't."
He motions to Candy Apple and Black Sapphire before using the last bit of his main reserve to summon a portal to what little remains of his other-realm.
No one should be able to find them here, and he doesn't want them to. Weakness should be extinguished, Solidarity had said, the last time they'd spoken before everything came crashing down. The sign he was too late for everyone.
Those words have haunted his consciousness ever since.