WARNING: gore, abuse, serious bodily injury.
Pure Vanilla fucking dies lmfao
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's sweet like saccharine~
What I'd do to have you sitting here next to me~
Looking at you makes me wanna gouge out my eyes,
Bloody surprise,
Like cherry pie,
Will you be mine?
True to what the priestess had said, Pure Vanilla didn't leave the castle. It wasn't really known what was keeping him there, whether it was a fear of the Dark Enchantress's retaliation, a delusion that he could save his old friend, or some mysterious other reason. The end result was that no more changes occurred within the cookies of darkness. Only the boiling froth of discontent present among everyone, hidden under the surface of everyday life, truly showed the precipice they danced on.
After the Dark Enchantress returned, she continued to call Pure Vanilla to meetings so she could enjoy her newfound delicacy. The healer let it happen, no longer struggling against her.
The Dark Enchantress was stronger, and the enchantments around her were a testament to decades of preparation that he lacked. Resisting was not worth the fight and energy that would ensue, so he just let her do as she wished. Even if she gradually increased what she asked of him, it was "in moderation", as the sorceress said. Pure Vanilla could just fix himself up. That by no means lessened the toll that the repetitive abuse took on him, which he successfully hid from everyone but Pomegranate. When the sorceress would cannibalize him, he would sequester away to that high window, where she would pass by.
The priestess tried to barge in and protect him on a couple of occasions. She would appear in the nick of time or right before, tempting the Dark Enchantress with magnificent visions and playing on her hatred of the witches to draw her attention away from Pure Vanilla. She entered her master's mind with the excuse of keeping information away from the healer, so she could do her work without interference. But parlor tricks could only work for so long. When she was telling the Dark Enchantress more about an organization of interest, she interrupted her.
"Pomegranate, do you think I haven't noticed what you are trying to do?"
In the end, The Dark Enchantress did leave to investigate the St. Pastry order. She returned quickly, though, and the priestess ceased to help from then.
Strawberry Crepe began spending more and more time away from the kingdom in the clouds. Pomegranate, if she had been affected by the death flags over her head, kept from showing any outward indication. Licorice was becoming impatient, not understanding why weren't leaving. Dark Choco was diligently waiting.
Someone was inevitably going to break. It was just who would be first.
Red Velvet, on account of Pomegranate's influence and his own internal conflict, happened to be the one to fall. He went to the Dark Enchantress, bowing low, and confessed what Dark Choco had revealed to him. The hybrid had nothing against him- he generally liked him by now- but he needed the Dark Enchantress to be decisive over his worth. If there was any propelling force for the hybrid's actions, it would probably be...affirmation. Not for his loyalty, but for his cause.
The Dark Enchantress sent the general to collect both of them. They instantly picked up on his rigid, becoming suspicious, but followed him on account of the sorceress's command. He led them both into the throne room and shut the grand doors behind him. Upon Pure Vanilla's throne, the Dark Enchantress smirked down upon them.
"Are you two aware of why you were called?"
"We aren't," Pure Vanilla said. "Please enlighten us."
"I had been told about of activity that you two were devising behind my back. I had never expected it- what an out-of-character act for our resident healer! had never thought you would be the type commit such a betrayal to a fried from beyond the grave."
"Pardon me?" Pure Vanilla was confused.
"Do you know why Dark Choco was exiled from his kingdom?
The prince's eyes widened. "Wait, don't listen to her-!"
"He was thrown out because he had killed his father. And all this time he had left you in ignorance and let you fix his curse."
Several things fell into place at once. The prince had never told him why exactly he had been exiled, and though Pure Vanilla had expected something bad, he hadn't quite thought about the possibility of Dark Cacao's death. It would take more than a stab wound to kill an ancient. He suddenly thought about Red Velvet's cut. If the wound was severe, and unable to heal without some serious monitoring...
That malignant magic prevented the body from fixing itself. It would be akin to death from a thousand cuts.
"I didn't kill him!" Dark Choco cried. "It was the whispers- my sword- and we were having an argument. But he was still alive when I left...when he cast me out. He's alive!"
That proved nothing. The holy weapons caused long-term damage, like a parasite. Pure Vanilla shoved down his emotion and tried to speak to him in a level manner. "...have you ever gone back and checked?"
"No, but-"
"S-see, I'm willing to help you regardless of what happened under the sword's thrall. But you have to tell me these things, Dark Choco."
"You don't believe me..." Dark Choco whispered.
Pure Vanilla was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he attacked his father from the curse's thrall, but he could only suspend logic so far. Dark Choco had lied before, about the teleporter, and he had purposefully omitted the events of his exile. At the moment, the healer wasn't sure he could trust him. The Dark Enchantress, on the other hand, had a habit of revealing the truth for the sake of causing him grief. Currently, he was more inclined to believe her sadism than his spotty affirmation.
"I'm not claiming that it was purposeful-"
"You trust the Dark Enchantress over me?" he interrupted.
"It's not like that!"
The Dark Enchantress was thoroughly enjoying the scene before her.
"How else am I supposed to interpret it?!
"Please, let's save this for later."
"Like hell I'm shelving this conversation! What the fuck had the Dark Enchantress said that make you act this way? Did she ensnare you as well?" He prepared to attack, incensed that she managed to sway someone he cared about against him. Even she shouldn't be able to attack him, so what did he have to fear?
The healer called for him. "Dark Choco, stop!"
He raised his sword at the sorceress and-
slashed Pure Vanilla.
Huh? He was standing over here?
Scarlet splattered across the tile. The healer touched his gushing wound, almost seeming like he didn't process the slice he inflicted. Pure Vanilla's wound was a courtesy, repaying him for his audacity to attack his master.
"Aah- ahhh..." Dark Choco made an incoherent noise, his greatest sin mirrored before him. He took a couple of halting steps back, horrified at his actions. The Dark Enchantress grabbed him before he could do anything else, leaving the room as the healer crumpled to his knees.
She carried him out as he fruitlessly tried to scratch and tear away from her grasp, searching until she found a spot suitably far away from him. The Dark Enchantress set him down harshly in the hall. Circles of magic swirled around him, a physical chain binding him to the castle just like his mental counterpart.
"Ten feet."
Dark Choco tried to chase after her, but crashed into an invisible wall after a couple of steps. He slammed both arms into the barrier, desperately wanting to return to his father's side, to try and fix the damage he wrought. "No no no this can't be happening, not again..." The barrier did not give. He shakily took out the sword again, disgusted at wielding the weapon stained with Pure Vanilla's jam. It went cleanly through the air, unencumbered by the prison trapping him. He had no way to break the spell.
The prince threw it aside, nearly to the point of weeping. He was a sitting duck, trapped in this container until the Dark Enchantress deigned to deal with him. Someone he cared about may be slipping away from him, and he could do nothing.
The voices became more agitated, filling his splintering cracks
Burn kill wreck destroy bleed you slew him again-
Everything went red.
He came to at the sound of a voice calling his name. It was not the one he wished to hear- in fact, he would prefer almost anyone else. As he became aware of his surroundings, Dark Choco took in the circle of carnage around him. Everything was broken or scratched and gouged.
Red Velvet had his back against the wall, standing outside the circle of devastation, rather daunted at the sight of something far more animalistic than he. If he could move his pointed ears as dogs could, the prince was sure that they would be flattened. Good. Dark Choco had not forgotten that he had been the one to indirectly cause him to raise his blade. The warrior lunged at him, only to be stopped by the bindings upon him.
That wasn't going to keep him from expressing his anger at the general. "Red Velvet, what the fuck have you done?!"
"I never expected this," he justified.
"Well that's too damn bad. Get me the fuck out!"
Red Velvet was regretful enough to try despite the potential of his wrath. He entered the circle and tried dragging him out of his invisible prison, with no success. Once the warrior hit that set distance away from where he was dropped, he simply couldn't get any farther. It was like fighting against gravity. By the end of the struggle, they were both panting, and Dark Choco looked about ready to maul the general.
"I'll find someone else to break the spell," Red Velvet said. He sprinted off and left the prince to seethe.
Dark Choco sat down in a meditative position, not that it really calmed him. Really, what did Red Velvet think would happen if he told the Dark Enchantress about what Pure Vanilla did for him? Pat him on the head and then say that she forgave their insurrection? Well, maybe he wanted that pat, he thought uncharitably.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time she had returned to the throne room, Pure Vanilla had managed to stitch himself up to some extent. He struggled for a second but managed to stand. "Lily," he greeted, with no little animosity.
"Pure Vanilla," she purred, "Have you forgotten how I like to be referred to? Even if you don't think of yourself as my subordinate, at least practice some etiquette."
"I don't want to address you with any hint of respect anymore," he hissed. "You planned all of that on purpose. I said some unspeakable things to Dark Choco, things that he wouldn't easily overlook. I hurt him."
She laughed lightly. "You did. Though he did repaid that experience in full."
It took all of his self-control, curated through centuries of experience, to keep from yelling at her.
"How much Red Velvet tell you?"
"He said enough." The sorceress leaned forward from his former throne. "I honestly didn't think you had it in you, to find a way past the sword. It was a wonderfully complex curse- you must have poured a lot of effort into doing so."
He could tell that, despite her laid-back tone, she was very upset.
"I am simply doing what I think is best. The vow will stop you from physically keeping him here."
"Hmm...I can simply threaten him with imminent harm towards you."
The somewhat-healed cut of the sword stung as it brushed his robes. It was abundantly clear that she knew that she could play them against each other. He should have just pushed the prince into leaving earlier. That would have avoided a lot of conflict.
The Dark Enchantress continued. "But that won't be necessary, would it, Pure Vanilla? I only kept him in the case of leveraging him against the Cacao kingdom, and a single kingdom is nothing in the face of my ambitions."
"There's more to it than the witches, isn't it? I would believe that you truly would wish them dead for the sake of cookies if you hadn't wiped out so many people during the Flour War. Barring a simple reason like revenge, I cannot comprehend your final goal."
"My goal...I have never verbalized it fully, now that I think about it. It's so much closer than what I had originally imagined. The cult organization that Pomegranate showed me- you would be shocked at the acts of blasphemy that they commit. But even their experiments are incomplete. Imagine what we would be able to fashion!"
He wasn't sure what she was talking about. He didn't want to know. The sorceress ignored his apparent lack of comprehension, too caught up in her grandiosity. She proceeded to switch to a topic that he understood and hated intimately.
"These soul jams of ours, which grant us the curse of eternal life- so many years and I have only just begun to realize what they are capable of! Imagine what we could have accomplished with them if only the rest of you decided to give them to me without struggle. They can transform us into beings far superior to what we are, break the laws that govern the world- it may even be possible to resurrect someone from the dead...or bring life to where it doesn't exist." She turned to him, something undefinable within her expression. "This time, we'll do it properly."
"White Lily, you've lost your mind!"
"I'll be god, Pure Vanilla."
The healer remained silent at her proclamation.
"That will be the reason for my existence in this world," she breathed. "I'll be the one who takes, who consumes, and no one will be able to stop me." She turned to him, waiting for him to validate her delusions of grandeur.
"...I suppose you were right after all."
The Dark Enchantress beamed.
"If the way you act is a representation of the witches, then I can understand how creation can be apathetic," he spoke spitefully, "After everything you forced me through at the Blueberry Institute, do you expect me to do it all over again? I don't want to play with people's lives. The notion of violating the laws of the world more than the pre-existing powers that our soul jams grants is abhorrent. As if we didn't have it bad enough already!"
"Watch yourself, Vanilla-
"No. I am done. You are not my master, Lily, let alone my friend. My time, loyalty, and affection- all of that is at my discretion to give!"
In a flicker, the Dark Enchantress was in front of him. He stumbled back and she caught him, fingers snaking around his throat as she lowered them both to the ground.
"Oh, Pure Vanilla...do you think that I will let such words go? Spare some presence of mind for your situation. I could kill you for your insubordination."
He doubted it. The Dark Enchantress did not want him dead- she just wanted him in pain. She wanted him to submit to her. He was quite certain that it gave her some perverse joy to obsess over the suffering that she could inflict on him. The sorceress will keep him alive until she gets tired of it, and he fears that her interest will persist for a long time.
"No, that won't happen."
She scrutinized him, looking for what could make him so sure. He twisted his face into that familiar messianic smile of his, his oldest mask. The remnant of long-past habits grated on the sorceress like chalk on a classroom.
Pure Vanilla didn't think that she had the heart to do it. She couldn't even tell if he was purposefully trying to antagonize her or expressing his truth, but both options amounted to the same outcome. Such a blatant expectation of vulnerability made her deeply furious.
"You've always been weak," she spat. "The weakest of the ancients. Such feelings are worthless."
He gagged as her hands tightened around his throat. His magic floated around them, wanting to attack but unable to pierce her enchantments. He could only use harmless spells, searching, searching, searching hopelessly for any kind of weakness.
"Do you want to die? Is that it? Finally put an end to our 'plight'?" She sneered. "These powers that we have been granted, our immortality, it is only a curse for you! I am not nearly so pathetic. There's little to love about these ordinary, short-lived cookies. I won't miss them when they inevitably waste away."
Cruel, but it had been long since she had cared for any others except for the ancient heroes. In the same vein, she was also dismissing her followers.
"This is why...the cookies of darkness do not follow you out of loyalty..."
"They don't have to! If they stay as my useful minions, then that's all that matters."
"Including Pomegranate?" he whispered.
"That girl...she is a clever one. She knows who to choose in the end, for her sake."
Pure Vanilla thought about his talk with her, where he offered her a better life.
"What has loyalty ever done for you? All those people who you have healed over the years, and none of them are here now. There's no one left to hear you scream..."
The Dark Enchantress was all he had left. That fact made her so happy. Finally, her beloved, popular friend, that shining beacon in her life, was just as wretched as herself. She sought to strip the angel of its wings until it was as ugly a demon as she.
"After everyone else has been saved, Pure Vanilla, who will stay to save you?"
His beautiful blue-gold eyes were filling with tears. She reached up, nails around the socket, and dug in.
Before he fell victim to agony, the healer recognized a small glimpse of magic, buried deep in the sorceress's body.
The soul jam...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The general returned with the entirety of cookies of darkness in tow. That seemed a bit overboard, if he was being honest, and he felt a bit like a zoo animal to be gawked at for his humiliation. Red Velvet caught his glance. "They were together," he explained.
Pomegranate was the first to come forward, tapping him. A faint golden shimmer revealed a binding magical circle, before fading back to nothingness. "What on earth have you been caught up in?" she inquired.
"Ask Red Velvet."
The general scowled and looked away.
Instead of mocking him for this, the priestess frowned. After a moment, she pushed the reaper at him. "Licorice, find a way to nullify the spell on Dark Choco."
"Hey, why me- " Licorice turned toward her in outrage, primed to complain, but she was already gone with the wind.
The priestess hurried to the throne room. If what she suspected was happening played out, then it was in everyone's best interest for her to stop it. If Pure Vanilla died or offed himself, then her master would go ballistic.
She swept in front of the throne room, deciding to listen in before she entered. It was always easier to sway the conversation when she knew where to pick off from. She placed one ear to the cracker-wood to better catch what they were saying. Unfortunately, what she picked up wasn't anything approaching the civility of spoken word.
Those sounds...
Pomegranate changed her mind. Nothing in the world would be enough for her to interrupt the Dark Enchantress during...this. She could practically sense her few good futures crumble to dust.
Why, oh why, did Pure Vanilla always screw up everything? Everything would have been fine if he just bowed his head and accepted the treatment!
"Nothing good comes of fighting back," she mumbled angrily to herself.
No, that wasn't fair. Pomegranate would have refused to be in his position. With the little facsimile of dignity that she had left, she would have held onto her farce of control with her dying breath.
She had never been a fighter, but she still had her limits. Her form of resistance would just be a different kind- anything was better than a lack of action.
That was her personal statute, a theory proven to her over and over even while she remained in her village.
They were passive idiots, all of them, peaceful sitting ducks waiting for their demise. Pomegranate was different, though. It had come of her ability- most of the village wasn't seers, and those who did dip into the practice only had vague, blurry images.
Since childhood, Pomegranate would be able to see her death in violent, excruciating detail. It was this power, a curse and blessing in one, that brought her to the center of attention. Everyone in the village saw heard her wails and heralded her pain as a mark of "genius". Those who sat on the sidelines could never understand how frustrated she was when they refused to prevent their inevitable destruction, because it was apparently against the rules for a prophet to change their own fate.
At the first opportunity, she had chased after a woman lost to the world and made her a demon, sooner than what fate had decreed. That woman had then gone back and seen the village of seers, cookies with fiery red hair like the one that created her and sought its destruction anyway- being able to venture across the fields of time was a dangerous ability, after all, and the Dark Enchantress thought to get rid of them before they became enemies.
Pomegranate was the one to go back and burn her village to ashes. Because if the Dark Enchantress had attacked them in her place, she would have left no survivors.
Mitigation was the name of the game.
She enjoyed the power that being second in command brought, make no mistake. Pomegranate was closer to her master than the others and that had its benefits. But then the healer came and turned her scrap of superiority onto its head.
He had gotten her master hooked on the taste of flesh. She had found the source of all her potential deaths, and it all stemmed back to their master. Should Pure Vanilla be taken out of the picture, then as the person that the Dark Enchantress cared for the most, she would take his place.
Fuck. That.
More and more, that seemed to be her eventuality.
She went back to the others. Licorice, not turning away from the enchantments, began with the insults. "Oh, finally decided to gift us with your presence rather than let me do the dirty work, huh?"
"Shut up, Licorice."
Something in her facade must have given her away, because he listened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dark Enchantress wiped her face, an act that just smeared it more. She had showed Pure Vanilla that he was not a weakness of hers. Besides, having to take him bit by bit was getting tiring. She had yearned for a genuine feast and finally got it.
Even so, the sorceress had to admit that she had lost control and made a right mess of everything. The room was going to take more than a couple of spells to return to its former cleanliness, not that that was a high bar to begin with. She kicked the healer lying nearby.
"Pure Vanilla, get up. You've played dead for long enough, now heal yourself."
She sent an invigorating spell his way. Nothing happened. As if the accentuate her failure, he dropped his staff. It rolled on the ground stiffly.
The Dark Enchantress went and got his staff from the ground, a bit tense. She shoved it into his hand and wrapped it around the living wood, but it simply slipped out and rolled away. The flower's pupil was blown wide, nearly covering the entirety of its iris. She had never seen that before.
"Damn thing..."
She went to get the flower again. Placing it on Pure Vanilla didn't do anything. It wouldn't, of course. Event sentient artifacts cannot truly act without a wielder.
(In some cases, without their masters, they become fragile or rot away entirely. Like a wilted lily, lying upon a high platter shelf.)
Of all the talents that the Dark Enchantress had, she had never been able to grasp healing. The warrior Dark Cacao and Hollyberry weren't capable of any magic beyond their special skills and Pure Vanilla couldn't cast nature magic, but they had complemented each other's lack. But the sorceress was now confronted with her glaring mistake.
The flower trembled uselessly. The sorceress picked the staff up and threw the staff aside in a fit of rage. It snapped in half.
"Shit. Did I really use that much force?"
She could only leave the task of fixing Pure Vanilla to himself, and he wasn't waking up.
A compassionate boy had once told her, The worst part of being a healer was...
"His soul jam should have activated by now, right? For me, it had been near the moment of death. That's how it should work." Despite her unknowingly true theories about what the soul jams were capable of, she was ignorant of Pure Vanilla's power. She could only recognize that the magical failsafe wasn't working as she had expected. There was an infinitesimal chance that this was some freak accident, or that his ability did turn out to be resurrection. But on the off chance that it wasn't...
Will the Dark Enchantress risk Pure Vanilla's life for that chance?
No, she wouldn't.
The reticent girl held the pieces of a glass in her palms, and she wasn't able to fix it. But the boy was not awake to do it either, and if he did ever manage to awaken, would he want to? She tossed away the dead pieces of the flower, deeming it beyond repair.
The healer was splayed right where she left him. The destruction of one of his senses hadn't elicited any reaction. She went back over to her old enemy and shook him violently.
"Pure Vanilla..?"
...
The Dark Enchantress burst through the meeting room, too panicked to transform into her compressed form. She ran around the winding halls, looking for Pomegranate, knocking over lights and arches. The sorceress cursed herself for lacking a talent for healing.
She quickly found her priestess in some kind of discussion with the Cacao's child, who was still in his circle. The Dark Enchantress, in her state, failed to notice that her invisible barrier had been removed. She barged toward them, interrupting whatever they had been talking about as she dropped Pure Vanilla's torn body onto her closest aid. Pomegranate nearly fell over from the weight, but managed to right herself. She wrapped her arms around his limp form, a knee-jerk reaction. "...Mistress?" she said, shocked.
"Heal him!" Her voice cracked from the stress.
Red Velvet made a high keening noise, pinching his nose as it was assaulted by the sickly sweet stench of jam. The priestess blinked at her and then at the body. "Mistress...what is this?"
She asked too late. The sorceress was out of the hall the moment that he was in her arms.
"Is something wrong?" Poison Mushroom asked innocently. Licorice had his arms over both the children's eyes.
"Nothing. let's go," he said tersely.
"I'll find out, even if you try and keep it from me." Strawberry Crepe threatened.
The reaper didn't respond, ushering them both away.
"Witches, fucking hell..." Dark Choco looked like he wanted to take the healer's prone form away from her, but he stopped short, as though forgetting he was no longer bound by the barrier. His hand twitched over his sword and his gaze darted between her, the destruction around him, and the desecrated body she held. "...Pure Vanilla..."
Pomegranate was seriously worried that he would go berserk again, but this time without a spell circle to bind him. But even that concern took a backseat. She needed somewhere to put Pure Vanilla so she could work on him, and she wasn't quite strong enough to move him without risking further injury. Anything else would send his remaining foot into the grave. A quick survey showed that Red Velvet had gone off somewhere, and she and the prince were the only ones remaining.
Dark Choco was on the edge of a panic attack, freaking out at the scene before him. Pure Vanilla was dying in her arms. And she was agitated and soaked in his jam, the sensation making her sick to her stomach. Most of all, there was nothing for her except the darkness of oblivion.
All of this, all at once.
Pomegranate weighed her options and came to a decision.
She walked in front of Dark Choco, stood on her tip-toes, and slapped him. It wasn't a break of the vow that had been made for the prince's safety because as of this moment, Pomegranate no longer considered herself a cookie of darkness. She would sacrifice her stability and control if she could get rid of these self-imposed chains. At this point, putting effort towards the other path wasn't worth it.
The prince broke from his spiral from the dull pain in his cheek. "How did you...?" he warbled.
"It doesn't matter. Carry him to my quarters, Dark Choco."
She pushed his weight off and Dark Choco shifted him into his arms. He carried the blonde gently, as if he was something precious, then went after the priestess.
She quickly stripped some unnecessary sheets from her bed and they laid him on the soft sheets. They quickly became stained, but there was nothing that could be done. Pomegranate took over, peeling his clothing from his body. The soaked rags joined in communion in a pile, seeping red onto the cold tiles.
"Oh..." Dark Choco breathed.
It was much worse than expected, that's what it took to bring an ancient cookie to heel. Dark Choco queasily looked at him, but couldn't find much evidence for the slash he inflicted under everything else.
The man was barely recognizable as their Pure Vanilla. Most of his hair and face were stained, rendering the light blonde almost non-existent. He was littered with massive tears and crushed holes, as though a large creature had bitten on a toy and shook it around. The prince tried to find any sign of life, nearly hypnotized in his horror.
Pomegranate tugged on his sleeve. "Get some bandages. I can't help him with air and prayers, as easy as that would be."
Dark Choco nodded faintly and ran to aid her.
He'll be back, but she needed to send him out for a little while to clear his head. She didn't know if the prince was deluding himself or if he genuinely missed it in the chaos. He had carried the healer, so he should have been the first to notice that Pure Vanilla wasn't breathing anymore.
She brushed his congealed hair aside and nearly retched at the sight of the large crack in his face. Had this been anyone else, she would have thrown in the towel at the first sight of such severe injuries. Trying to heal a corpse was a waste of her magic and mental facilities. She had buried more than enough people to know death when it stared her in the face. She should probably just leave the poor man alone and let him pass on. At this stage, it may be a mercy.
Am I willing to be the passive observer? Could I walk out of this mess and survive without being bogged down by regret?
(Dark Choco, Strawberry Crepe, and Licorice)
Pure Vanilla knew her more than the cookies which she had been around for years, whom she had facilitated into joining the cookies of darkness.
He had found out her motives, right after their mission to the small kingdom. Even if he hadn't exactly complimented her for them, he had understood the nature of her sacrifices. No one else could boast that achievement- her village had called her mad for being the architect of their ruination, and the other cookies in the castle despised her, for valid reason.
Pomegranate would hate to lose that. There was some horror in the concept of being known, but at the same time, if someone can even glimpse of what she is...well, even villains craved validation. Plus, she also wanted to give him an earful for sabotaging her future by proxy.
Just once, I'll make an exception and choose the improbable choice.
"The legends of the past had practically worshipped you. They revered the ancient heroes as saints. So come on and prove it, Pure Vanilla. Show me a miracle."
Dark Choco returned with a bucket of water, antiseptic, and enough bandages to drown in. She took the stuff and promptly kicked him out so that she could work alone. The prince may have wanted to help, but he was a bumbling oaf with no practice in healing and would only serve to get in her way.
She took off her outer robes and put on some gloves.
...
Twelve hours.
That's around how long it took for her to heal and stabilize everything. It was no easy task, especially when more of Pure Vanilla was outside of his body than in, but desperation and her skill at keeping a calm demeanor eventually won.
Pomegranate, though she was desensitized to violence in general, was not prepared for something like this. Nobody could be. Despite that, she labored, bandaging him over and over as the strips eventually bled through as she cast her magic that was never strong enough to be called proper healing.
Sometime during the process, she became aware of a blue gem, shining next to him. It hadn't been there earlier, and she hadn't seen how it had gotten to the healer's side, but she left it there. The soul jams functioned in incomprehensible ways, and if it appeared, then maybe there was a glint of light at the end of the tunnel.
Despite this faint sign of hope, as she continued to stitch him together with her magic, no signs of life showed. The priestess forced her way forward, though. She had already committed to it. Her clothes were gradually stained with blood as she slowly chipped away at the injuries until she could do no more.
Pomegranate was a seer, and though she knew the principles of healing, she was never meant for the role. Her work, no matter the effort, would be imperfect.
Healers knew not to touch the mind, and most of the injuries didn't heal properly, even when she had followed every procedure for proper care. He was left with large scars that spanned across most of his upper body, his legs, and a missing eye.
A pretty, preserved, dead body.
She checked him over once more, then wearily dragged herself to a corner and passed out.
...
Pomegranate was soon interrupted by someone's attempt at being silent. She got up to Dark Choco shuffling into the place, anxiously trying to ascertain his mentor's condition. Wonderful, she had to witness his inevitable sorrow. Pomegranate was too exhausted to console him or even fake being nice.
"Forget it," she called over. "I did all I could."
"What do you mean? He's unconscious, but he's still alive."
Pomegranate shot up, sprinting over to his bedside. As the prince said, Pure Vanilla was lying there, chest slowly rising and falling. The gem beside him was no longer glowing. She sighed and sank into a squat, an immense sense of relief passing through her. Those terrible hours she had spent didn't go to waste, and the Dark Enchantress won't eviscerate her when she inevitably returned.
"Pomegranate?" The prince was actually concerned.
"I am exhausted, as anyone would be after a large expense of magic. Don't make assumptions about me."
"...Alright. Then what about Pure Vanilla?"
"Physically, he'll live, though fine would not be a suitable word. He's missing some of his brain. That doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be vegetative!" she interrupted before he could say anything. "Technically, someone in this state shouldn't be alive in the first place. But...the soul jam revived him, so it may also keep his 'self' intact. Who knows."
Dark Choco looked stricken.
"He's about healed enough that we can check, so I might as well get it over with now." She tapped him with a spell.
The healer slowly awoke, though it seemed to require a lot of effort on his behalf. He felt the blankets, then slowly got a sense of his injuries and bandages. Well, he still had the capacity for thinking, at least.
"Pure Vanilla...you're awake. Does everything feel okay?" Dark Choco asked.
The blonde shifted toward the sound of his voice. "Who...Who are you?" he rasped.
Dark Choco was stunned. "You don't remember me? I've known you since I was a child!" Dark Choco tried to embrace him but Pure Vanilla pushed him away, frightened.
"Don't cause him to panic." Pomegranate berated him. "My hard work will be undone!"
"I- I don't...who are all of you? Where am I?!"
He truly did not recognize Dark Choco, even after hearing his voice. This wasn't some measly gut reaction to waking up in pain.
Pomegranate needed to go into his mind and check the damage. His staff had been broken and he was completely blind, so she had no way to enter. As Pure Vanilla fretted anxiously, trying to move despite his injuries, she suddenly reached forward and grabbed him by the upper arms. He froze, moving as if he was going to run, not that he could get very far in his condition
"Listen to me. I'm the one who healed you, but I need to do some things that I am not capable of at the moment." She sent a wave of magic into him, a soft pull that would draw him into her mind. Pure Vanilla resisted the pull of her power, as she hoped, and they both remained in the real world "Do you feel this magic?" she asked. "I need you to do the same, but in the opposite direction. Let me in."
Normally, it would be inconceivable to expect a regular mage, let alone an amnesiac, to copy instantaneous magic. But this was Pure Vanilla, one of the greats. If anyone could, it would be him.
There was a moment when it seemed like he would disobey. She was worried that he would be wary on account of his memory loss, but after that faltering second, he reached for her and reversed the flow. The world fell into darkness and she prepared to land among the flowers.
Instead, she arrived in an ashen field devoid of any life. The pillars around the garden had cracked and sunken into the dust.
"S-so, what do you want?"
The person that she met wasn't the one she wanted to find. It was that flicker she had seen so long ago, when he was in stasis- someone identical to Pure Vanilla, but everything above its mouth empty. The headless thing from before shifted uncomfortably under her apparent dissatisfaction. It didn't appear hostile, at least.
"There's someone that I seek within this realm. May I be graced with who or what you are?"
"I'm...not sure, actually." The flicker said. "I think I'm a healer, so call me Healer cookie for now. That's about as much as I know."
No, this was Pure Vanilla. It was the person that he was without any of his memories and experiences. Even now, his avatar remained, the unconsciously formed shadow of practiced habits.
Pomegranate had found him, but he wasn't whole. She should have anticipated this- an experience as physically traumatic as death would most likely impact the psyche. But hadn't he mentioned losing his memories once before, during his talk with the prince? When she had been driven away from eavesdropping on Dark Choco and Pure Vanilla's first conversation, she had scried on them instead. The point was, if his memories could return once, then it should be the same again. The brain damage hadn't screwed him mentally so much as to destroy his avatar.
And as long as a person was still present and living, their identity could be found. Just like Red Velvet's stuffed leg, or Dark Choco's set of white armor, she had to find the healer's counterpart. She needed to reach the center of Pure Vanilla's heart.
She spoke to the flicker. "Let us seek that man together. He must return, for he owes me a better future."
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In which everyone fucks up just a little, and now they all know that the Dark Enchantress is a cannibal. No one is happy with this. The amount of "..." breaks in this chapter is really something. These cookies are going through it.
I had quite the time deciding what this chapter should be called. It could have been Saccharine, Sins of the father, or Motive. Eventually, I chose the first cause that's the song that inspired this fic.
Alright, we are at a turning point in this fic! Old things are gonna slowly come back up and their role in the plot will be revealed. I'm so happy.