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( His voice reaches the both of them, and Pure Vanilla rushes further with White Lily until the pull of his Soul Jam begins to cease. He won't hesitate to rush to his side, instantly using his healing magic to seal the self-inflicted scratches.

It's difficult to breathe for a moment, his heart and stomach sinking and his throat is dry. Even when Shadow Milk seemed to lose himself in anger, it was nothing like this. It was not as agonizing or painful to feel.

He reaches for one of his hands. Never mind the blood. What matters now is making sure he's alright, that he'll be alright.

We're here is what he intends to convey without repeating himself. His words are said slowly and quietly, and he's not able to hide the way his voice shakes. Another hand moves to gently tuck stray hair behind his ear. )

You do not have to answer yet, but-- What has happened?

( He won't ask if he's okay. He isn't. It'd be foolish to ask. It might just make it worse. )

[It's strange. This should be the lowest of the lowest for him, this moment. He just learned that everything he's ever destroyed or wrought, ever little lie or rumor he's ever told, all of it had been for nothing. The kingdoms he toppled, the lives lost, the blood on his hands.]

[It had been for getting the witches attention, for rejecting the role that had given him when cookiekind had rejected him. Even if it seemed briefly they returned, just to imprison them, then it had meant he'd won. But now? Now, none of that had been true. A sweet lie being held right under his nose.]

[This should be it for him, this should be another moment of him standing above the yogurt river.]

[But it isn't. He called out and someone answered, and now as he cracks his eyes open, as the beholders in the room settle on the two before for him, he smiles, just a little through the blood on his face. He leans his face into White Lily's cupped hand, squeezes Vanilla's fingers and chuckles a little.]

Nothing that matters anymore. Ancient history.

( something happened. which is incredibly obvious, yes, but- she's never seen him like this before. her thumb brushes against his cheek softly as her other hand reaches for his own free hand.

silent saltwas involved somehow, if only because he knew to send her this way to begin with, but... ...should she pry right now?

a faint glow emits from her hand, soft and warm against the gashes on his cheek. her healing is nothing compared to pure vanilla's, so she'll understand if he joins her, but- she has to. she has to. )

It still hurt you like this...

( For just a second, Pure Vanilla glances between White Lily and Shadow Milk. It's brief enough to be barely noticeable. He has questions, yet they can wait. His attention is instantly back on his other half, and he won't interrupt White Lily's healing with his own. Rather than that, he sends her a grateful look. If he takes over, it's only if Shadow Milk's wounds aren't completely closed.

The smile doesn't reassure Pure Vanilla, but instead he focuses on the way that he squeezes his hand, the fingers intertwined within his and his response to White Lily. It isn't unusual for Pure Vanilla to see his affections at this point, and yet he can't help but think that the comfort that the both of them are offering him are ultimately what he needs the most right now. )

White Lily Cookie is right. Anything that effects you as it has now... it is nothing insignificant.

[After a moment, when the healing has run its course, and the pain he is so used to using to outlet the tumultuous emotions that often rage through him has ebbed into something strangely warm and comforting, he sighs through his nose and considers the two in front of him.]

For the self proclaimed Master of Deceit, you’d think I would catch a blatant lie told right in front of me. Haaa twice now, I’ve had the wool pulled over my eyes!

[A soft bitter laugh.]

What a riot, huh? Tell me, what story were you told when you arrived in the Silver Kingdom? About how we were sealed away.

When one is an expert, they often fail to see clearly their domain.

( especially when they come with an ego. though for once she refrains from running her mouth and accidentally kicking him while he's down...

lily frowns though as the words echo in her head. )

The Five Virtues fell to corruption as their power drove them mad, and they began slaughtering their very charges. As a result, the Witches sealed them away within the Silver Tree and bade Elder Faerie Cookie guard it and ensure the seal never broke...

... Is... that not the truth?

( Pure Vanilla frowns grimly. He understands Shadow Milk enough to know that if it was truly upsetting him as much as it has, then what he had known as the truth was... not the case at all. Perhaps... the truth was simply something that was being protected.

Pure Vanilla knows -- lies can hurt, but... the truth can hurt just as horribly.

He looks to White Lily for a moment. Just as what Shadow Milk had learned, her words speak a harsh truth. )

If you were without knowledge of the truth, then I believe that it is not without reason.

Shadow Milk Cookie... for something to have hurt you so, then it must have been a truth that you strongly believed in. It is not something that you alone have done or experienced.

( He reaches forward then, gently cupping on his cheeks, thumb circling around skin gently. )

Both of us are here to listen, no matter what the truth may be.

[Shadow Milk is eerily quiet at first before there’s a lurch almost, from his chest. Something distraught and unhinged bubbles out of him, laughter of someone who’s been broken for thousands of years.]

[He sits there being cupped and held by gentle hands but the tears fall regardless, Milkcrown blooming denser on the ground around them.]

The Witches had abandoned us. Their silence had been a curse, a black spot in my mind. Tirelessly I worked! To burn down everything around me, to drag as many down with me as I could! To destroy everything I had ever cared about, just to get their attention.

[He pulls away, curls up against his knees and fists his hair.]

It was all for nothing! The Witches had never come back! What a hilarious lie we were all fed! Hahahaha! Sealed by the one I worked so hard to bring down with me! In the end he was the one who had the last laugh! Upstaged by that fool, I can’t believe it!

[By the end his voice is frayed, raw. He sounds like he might start screaming or sobbing its hard to say which, perhaps he will dig his nails right into his skin again.]

( lily listens, eyes growing wider and face growing paler with every word echoing in her mind-

silent salt cookie had lost everything at the hands of his fellow virtues. and in turn... in turn, he had sealed them and himself away.

a betrayal on both sides, heartache that seemed completely inevitable for everyone involved- was this the way the beasts were meant to be? abandoned, self-sabotaging, backstabbing? and the witches... the witches-

but she's quickly ripped from her thoughts as he starts clawing at himself again. lily pulls his hands away, holding them tightly in her own. )

Shadow, please, don't... we're with you, now.

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Cw: more self harm Heeey ive never used this icon before congrats

my BABY