#[ ic ] - [ The Foolish Healer - Pure Vanilla Cookie ]

[truthless-recluse]

@cookieofearthbread

How sad...

He looked down through the halls, watching Pure Vanilla Cookie stumble and bumble his way through. A sight that was all too familiar, all too haunting to him.

It was like watching a nightmare played on loop, bound to repeat because he so foolishly refused to listen. Refused to accept that perhaps.. turning back was the best court of action.

He tried, he tried to warn them with his cards. To stop this from happening but-

Inevitability was the cold, hard truth of this matter.

But maybe if he-

"You need to turn back." He spoke out, standing on a staircase just above Pure Vanilla Cookie. He kept his fortune teller robes on for the moment, but his voice.. well.. That was hard to hide.

He was not quite at Shadow Milk's level when it came to his mimicry. But he knew he'd get there eventually. But if the Healer could not recognize his own voice...

Well, perhaps he should just leave fate to be relived once more.

[truthless-recluse]

"Goodbye, fools..."

| Indie, Semi-Mutual, Crossover Friendly Truthless Recluse/Pure Vanilla Cookie from Cookie Run Kingdom | Penned by Hades | Follows come from @milk-and-trickery |

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[truthless-recluse]

There was a roll of his eyecing, the bright, glowing pupils looking then to the side as a blackened portal opened. He reached in, soon pulling out his own staff. It was.. not too dissimilar from Pure Vanilla's own staff. But it's color was all wrong..

And the eyes flickering on the flowers surface.

"Why?" He leaned against his own staff. He felt like that was an obvious question. He was warning them, trying.. multiple times to get Pure Vanilla Cookie to back off. To run. To escape the fate set before him. But he failed each time.

He was too damn stubborn.

"Why!?" His voice rose a bit again, a flash of sharpened teethcing before he pulled back, calming down.

"To see if there was any possible 'hope' left for 'Me'. A little sweet lie to myself that maybe, if one.. just one of us could be saved. But I realize the cold, cruel truth now."

'Honestly, the amount of a headache you got from this hardly seems worthwhile, Vanilly~' Truthless let out a sigh, though it sounded more tired, and less annoyed as hands manifested behind him. Resting on his shoulders.. Familiar blue dough and sleeve ruffles visible.

"I'm realizing that now." Pure Vanilla might have noticed him even leaning into the touch from the jester's disembodied hands.

"Go on.. I'm dealing with this. I'll be up shortly." there was a scary amount of 'affection' laced in Truthless' voice as well as he rose his free hand up to wave off the manifestation of the Jester. Before those white, slitted pupils locked back onto Pure Vanilla Cookie.

"As for you.." He slammed his staff to the ground. The echo causing the stars and paths to shift to his desires. The spire was answering to him.. one of it's two masters. The halls shifted, rearranged until it formed a stairwell leading upwards.

"Since you have no reason to stop... why not ascend further? Maybe you'll prove me wrong. Or.. the next time you open your eyes. You'll be looking through mine."

Pure Vanilla Cookie could only watch the other carefully reach for the edge of the hood before pulling it down which only earned the healer’s face turning much paler when he saw himself staring back but with some noticeable difference.

“Ah…” He wanted to say something, anything, but found his voice failing him as the other was right… Wasn’t he…? He had been abandoned by his friends, especially White Lily Cookie whom he considered his closest friend, and left with children who shouldn’t be involved in matters such as a fight that shouldn’t concern them and an enemy that has been watching him since the beginning without him even realizing it.

And he could see what the future held for him as it was literally standing in front of him… The truth that he didn’t want to accept and wanted to deny so much. Regardless, how it made him look.

Who is the biggest liar?

A yelp was earned from the healer when he felt his collar being grabbed harshly, his eyes staring at the others, before taking a step back and his hand went to fix the collar when it was let go.

Tears pricked at his eyecing as he brought his orchid staff as close to him as he possibly could as if it was a lifeline… He didn’t want to accept the truth… He didn’t want to accept that he had been abandoned… That his entire life has been set up from the very beginning and he was facing an inevitable of walking on the same path as the jester and becoming the cookie that stood before him.

A fate he didn’t want.

Pure Vanilla Cookie only shook his head, staring at the ground but not before seeing the other’s smile widening and manic, as the chuckling echo in his head.

They were really a fool for believing that he would not falter...

“.... Why are you doing this…? What do you possibly gain from this when knowing the outcome..?” He spoke in a low voice that was almost hard to hear.

[truthless-recluse]

A deep sigh echoed from the 'fortune teller'...

"It's fate, Pure Vanilla Cookie. Face it, you were abandoned by 'our' so called friends, left with mere children to face an enemy that has been steeped in our very life since day one. We are doomed to become.. him.. His other half." He rose his hands upward, blue, claw-like nails gently taking hold of the edges of the hood he wore.

"He's in-grained into every part of us, mind, soul and dough..." He pulled the hood down, pale blonde icing rolling over his shoulders. It was even stained white at the edges. Tired eyes looking out at his younger self with a solemn look. In the shadows of the hooded robes, blue eyes popped into existence, all looking at Pure Vanilla Cookie with.. disappointment.

He sounded, dejected, looking at his younger self, watching their expression as his remained flat, and neigh unreadable.

Truthless Recluse was silent for several moments, letting the other soak in this news, this revelation before he took a step forward, and almost.. maybe too harshly, grabbed Pure Vanilla's collar, his own eyes turning to slits.

"And for WHAT!? Hope!?" A pause as he'd let go of the healer, inhaling sharply before taking a calculated step back. Anger slowly replacing itself with.. a small smile, a look of acceptance.

"I should have known that I could not change the past. But you refused to listen to me." A smile that slowly grew more manic, a slight showing of sharpened teethcing as well. He even started.. chuckling.

"Pure Vanilla Cookie... Oh.. Pure Vanilla Cookie..." He tilted his head to the side.

"We really are just a damned fool, aren't we?"

A hitch of his breath as his body shivered…. Surely the moment he stepped foot in the Spire and in Shadow Milk’s domain. Even with every doubt that was seeping into his dough like poison and haunting him just like the jester; he wasn’t doomed…

He wasn’t doomed, he repeated to himself... Again... Again and Again.

So why was he hesitating? And why did the air feel so heavy?

“I refuse to let that happen… I have… will stop him from creating that world even if it means crumbling in the end.” His hands shaking and if he could apply any more force onto his staff; no doubt it would snap in half from the pressure that the healer was applying to it.

But the thought of being at Shadow Milk’s side and twisting the world until lie and truth were blurred together until they were indistinguishable from each other made the healer’s stomach churn… 

He did not want that… He didn’t want to break the world as he wanted to protect it… It was his purpose and mission to prevent the darkness from consuming it. It was his promise to protect cookies from forces that wanted to tear everything apart.

He didn’t want to ruin it! He WANTED to bring Hope!

Pure Vanilla Cookie was about to speak more until Truthless Recluse spoke again which made him freeze up completely, his eyes widening, and his mouth open.

“W-what…” Was the only word that left the healer when a few minutes passed which felt like an eternity for the healer; his mind clearly progressing the words spoken to him.

What… Did the other mean that…?

[truthless-recluse]

It was like looking into a mirror, and trying to fix a stubborn strand of icing that refused to get back in place. It really was incredible, in some ways. To know he'd been so stubborn. So full of hope, and determination.

What a fool he had been. And what a fool he was now.

"You're only condoning yourself. The mere fact you set foot in this Spire had already doomed you." He was nearly right in front of Pure Vanilla Cookie by now. He.. really couldn't change fate here, could he? Another little lie, to be expected. He wondered if the Jester was watching now. Likely through the eyes that coursed around them.

Perhaps he found entertainment here, witnessing his own performance at play. A desperate plea to change the past. Maybe that would be an idea to jot down later, to discuss with the clown for a future performance.

Though he could feel anticipation in the twisted air. His 'other-half' was certainly waiting. He wanted to see more.

"He won't rest.. true. From remaking the world where truth and lies are indistinguishable." He stood within mere inches of Pure Vanilla Cookie now.

"And if you don't turn back, you'll be right at his side doing the very self-same thing. As it was always meant to be, as it has been planned.. scripted." Inevitable.. Yes, he knew it was. But a little lie to give him some hope to save even a past iteration of himself still had burned long enough to get him to this point.

"All you're doing, is dancing to the strings he's wrapped around you since.. 'we' were but a boy." Perhaps now.. the grand reveal was within reach. But he'd wait, bask in the anticipation.

Perhaps this was just a 'little bit' fun.

Pure Vanilla Cookie merely stood on the spot as the other took each step closer to him, the grip on his staff tightening to a point where his knuckles were turning white, showing the tension in his body. His mouth going dry at the comment made from the Fortune Teller.

He saw the faint glow under the fortune teller's hood which only made the healer feel uncomfortable; shuffling on the spot for a moment, before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down.

The healer couldn’t afford to falter regardless of the danger that lurked in the darkness.. Not if he wanted to bring peace to Earthbread with his friends and allies that had joined in the cause.

“.... Nothing… If I turn away now and leave… I will be condoning Earthbread entirely… The Beast Cookies and Dark Enchantress Cookie will not hesitate to spread darkness and chaos onto the world…" He answered, straightening up, as there was a hint of determination in his voice.

"And…. Shadow Milk Cookie won’t rest even if I give up and turn away from this… I have to stop them all from destroying everything.”

[truthless-recluse]

It was endearing, seeing that determination on the face of himself. How naive, how innocent he was. Fighting for something as fickle as the happiness of all cookies.

What a joke in the face of harsh truth.

With each word, he stepped one stair closer toward Pure Vanilla Cookie. The tarot cards should have worked, they should have filled him with enough dread for both he and his friends to turn and run from this accursed place.

But all it did was harden them more, the exact opposite of what he wanted. It was pathetic to see them hide in their lies.

"Moving forward? For what? For Peace and Happiness? None of that awaits you here." His tone was flat, and dry. Tired.. but maybe if he drilled it home further, perhaps Pure Vanilla Cookie will wizen up. Push away this false brave lie and accept the truth.

Before the Truth crumbled his mind.

"Only darkness, and cruel bitter truth under the Jester's gaze." He took a few steps closer toward Pure Vanilla Cookie.

Did he really once look so.. haggard? So burdened by lies and truth alone on his shoulders. But, he was close enough now that one could just barely see the dull glow of his eyes under the fortune tellers hood.

"What must I do, to make you leave this place?" What warning must he utter, what must he do to save this poor, younger self of his from what is to come?

Or was he always doomed from the start.

He didn’t know how long he'd been wandering around the hallways with how it twisted and turned around him until at some point, the healer wandered if he was trapped in an endless maze, before he quickly shoved that thought away… No… Surely there was an end to it and he would reach it.

No matter what… He had to if he wanted to find happiness and bring peace to Earthbread.

Soon Pure Vanilla stopped in his tracks when he heard the warning echoing out, blinking for a few moments, then seeing the figure standing on a staircase…

The figure… It was the fortune teller back at the inn... He warned him before, didn't he? And told him to go back then with the tarots cards that were shown to him and his friends...

There was a feeling of dread tightening around his dough and a large lump forming in his throat. As he noticed something... The voice.... It sounded like his own voice as if it was being reflected back at him...

Was it a trick on his mind? Or was there more to it then a simple illusion? Either way…

“You’re…The fortune teller back at the inn… I…. I can’t turn back now.” He replied; a hint of hesitation laced within it. “I need to keep moving forward.”