Archive of Our Own ^beta

Blue piercing eyes. Those that were from the Spire of Deceit itself. They peered at the group with intrigue, prowling in the shadows.

It was a quest to find Sea Fairy, a quest to save friends, family, and to find the source of the ever spreading tar. Throughout the group's journey at each kingdom, they ran into multiple interferences and surprises, from a baby to chocolate cicadas. All leading up to here, to the revelation that Sea Fairy had been corrupted by the tar. And now, the rush to save her began. They didn't have any time to waste. 

Just as they were approaching the docks, Black Sapphire suddenly felt a familiar gaze, leading him to halt in his steps. The group noticed his sudden stop and turned back to him with curiosity. 

“Is everything okay, Sapphire?” Affogato asked with his slight worry, stepping over to Black Sapphire. “Are you feeling alright, darling?”

Oh those words, poison that numbed into genuine sweetness. Black Sapphire hummed.

“Never been better, Affogato.” He replied, a bit sharper than normal—and intended. Affogato tried to fight off the frown that tugged on the corners of his lips. Something wasn’t right. Black Sapphire was out of it.

“Are you sure? You seem…tense.” He reached to place a hand on the small of Black Sapphire’s back, to which he moved away from quickly. Black Sapphire opened his mouth to speak, but the words he wanted to say died on his tongue. He searched in Affogato’s pale eyes, just like Affogato was searching in his black and lavender eyes for something, anything that conveyed a hint of true emotion.

Finally, Black Sapphire spoke. “I… can't help the feeling that we're being watched…” 

The group tensed. White Lily and Pure Vanilla readied their staffs as Smoked Cheese set down the slowly waking Custard. 

“Mhm… what happened–?” Custard yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“Stay behind me, little king.” Smoked Cheese said firmly as he took hold of his own weapon. 

Black Sapphire's gaze darted around as he tried to pinpoint the direction from which the gaze was coming from. Affogato did as well, but he failed to feel the same gaze. 

“Are you sure–?” He asked cautiously.

Black Sapphire chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Well… I–”

Almost on perfect cue, a flurry of shrill, high pitched giggles echoed around them, briefly fleeting as they traveled through the air. Pure Vanilla and Black Sapphire immediately recognized the sound, their eyes widening simultaneously. 

“Well, well, well… seems as though our party has gotten bigger!”

Gingerbrave and the kids soon caught onto the familiar coy voice. 

“Wha–?! Shadow Milk Cookie–?!” Gingerbrave exclaimed panickedly, trying to pinpoint where the sound of his voice was coming from. Affogato extended his arm out to shield Gingerbrave, Strawberry and Chili Pepper, feeling a sense of danger at this moment. He glared at the surrounding forest, standing outside of it at the beginning of the dock.

“But where–?”

The laughter grew louder and louder before it came to an abrupt halt, the forest becoming silent once again. The group now on edge looked around cautiously, waiting for him to appear. 

Meanwhile, Black Sapphire's mind was racing. It couldn't really be him, could it–? Had he learned of Black Sapphire's deal?? Had he come to punish him– had he come to crumble him??

Black Sapphire's wings curled around himself, practically trembling with the amount of pure, unbridled fear he felt in the moment. 

Then–

“BOO!” Shadow Milk flew out of the bushes in front of Black Sapphire, causing the host to yelp (yes, yelp) and fall back. Shadow Milk laughed maniacally, arms coming around his stomach as he wiped a fake tear from his eyes while floating on his back. 

“Haha! Got ya, Sapphy!” 

“Master Shadow Milk–?!” Black Sapphire practically wheezed, hand clutching at his chest as if his heart would pound right out of it. “That was– that was underhanded!”

“Oh please, can you blame me?? I never get to see you jump like that anymore!”

Affogato helped Black Sapphire up, who slightly wobbled from shock. A hand went to grip around his waist carefully, while the other remained outstretched, yet not holding onto anything. Black Sapphire jerked away, his eyes narrowed almost in a glaring fashion—as much as he didn’t mean it towards Affogato. Shadow Milk hummed and took the time to give the group a once-over. 

This was the Master of Deceit. He was…much shorter in real life. Nonetheless, Affogato straightened himself out.

“Now these ones are new for me to see, yeah?” Shadow Milk asked, floating above Smoked Cheese, Affogato, Custard and Chili Pepper. “Makes things more interesting!” He gave a sharp toothed smile, eyes gleaming with unknown intent.

“What’re you doing here?!” Gingerbrave narrowed his eyes. “What’s your plan?!”

Shadow Milk threw his head back and cackled. “Ohhh Gingerbrave, you are so so so so so soooo silly to think I’m up to something!”

“Knowing your usual ploy, he has a right to be wary.” White Lily narrowed her eyes and pointed her staff at him. 

“Welllll you’re all wrong!” Shadow Milk exclaimed, clasping his hands together. “Y’see, you silly Cookies automatically think that a previous foe you faced is always a danger!” He then gestured to Affogato, Smoked Cheese and Black Sapphire. “There was no exception to these three either!”

The trio gave a quick nod. That much was true. Gingerbrave and the group were quick to jump into battle mode when seeing an old villain. It happened with Affogato in the Duskgloom Sea, and it happened when Black Sapphire joined the group.

The Duskgloom Sea…oh how Affogato missed it. He was missing his mother dearly with each passing stop.

The glow of his Soul Jam flickered, and Shadow Milk caught sight of it. For once, his smile seemed to still completely.

“…you’re one of them, aren’t you?” He managed to ask, almost incredulously. Affogato perked his head up, holding his staff to his chest. Then, it clicked. Was Shadow Milk asking if he was one of the Ancients? The group originally consisting of five heroic Cookies with Soul Jams? 

Was he somehow a secret Ancient? Some secret hero that even he was unaware of? Witches, it made his head spin.

“If I was,” he chose his words carefully, “I would’ve already known.”

“Has your Soul Jam spoken to you?” Pure Vanilla chimed in, moving carefully to Affogato. Affogato nodded.

“It began speaking to me in the Duskgloom Sea…then at Dragon City. Speaking of some sixth Beast Cookie.”

White Lily stifled a strangled gasp as she cupped her mouth with her palm. Pure Vanilla visibly tensed at this information, and Shadow Milk let out a “hmph!” of acknowledgement.

“So you know about the so-called sixth Beast?” He floated over to him quickly, flipping over on his stomach and kicking his legs up.

“By word of Soul Jam.” Affogato stood back, eyes narrowing. “We have yet to see who this sixth Beast truly is so we can properly defeat them.”

Shadow Milk's eyebrows furrowed, as if he knew more than he was letting on. Black Sapphire noticed. 

“Master Shadow Milk…? Do you know who this sixth beast is??”

Shadow Milk hummed once more. “Not what she goes by now.”

Deeper than I expected. Affogato pondered, brows furrowing once more. He flicked his gaze in between him and Black Sapphire, noting the uncomfortable atmosphere. Smoked Cheese also caught onto this, and he and Affogato exchanged a glance.

“She used to go by Sweet Syrup—but she goes by Twisted Ganache now, so we heard. We… we thought she was dead.” Shadow Milk sounded almost… solemn. But it was gone as quick as it came. 

“But why are you here, Shadow Milk??” Gingerbrave asked skeptically, crossing his arms as a means to try and be intimidating. It wasn’t working. 

Shadow Milk giggled at Gingerbrave's question, floating over to him with a mischievous smile.

“Well, first of all–!” Shadow Milk floated over Black Sapphire, placing his hand atop his head and very roughly ruffling his hair. “You have my minion here with you!”

“And second– I wanted to give you a little something.”

Black Sapphire felt the pit in his stomach grow deeper. He… didn’t know. Didn’t know the close tie his Master had to Twisted Ganache, whom he had been working with behind his Master’s back. His wings jittered anxiously as they hugged around his body. Praying that Shadow Milk didn’t catch on.

But he did: he always did. He arched a brow and swirled around his minion, an expression of what seemed to be like concern—though this was Shadow Milk of all Cookies and he typically didn’t express such emotion around others.

“Your wings are doing the thing.” He noted. Black Sapphire wanted to crumble right then and there. He wanted to lie his way out, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Not when dealing with the Master of Deceit.

“Oh! Uh… are they–? I didn't even notice—” 

“Are you…”

Shadow Milk hovered dangerously close to Black Sapphire, his expression turning dead serious. 

“...lying to me right now?”

Black Sapphire's throat went completely dry. He was going to get crumbled, Shadow Milk was going to kill him— 

“It's Candy Apple.” Someone cut in. They both turned to Affogato, who had a firm yet slightly concerned look.

“Black Sapphire's been… anxious about Candy Apple's disappearance. He hasn't said anything about it, but I can tell he is.” Affogato explained. Shadow Milk's expression softened, and he slowly hovered back onto ground level. Black Sapphire felt simultaneously grateful for Affogato’s intervention yet also embarrassed that he had been exposed. 

Shadow Milk turned to Black Sapphire, tilting his head. 

“Is that true?”

Black Sapphire almost choked on his own anxiety.  “...y-yes. That's all.”

He did it. He just lied to his own Master. And he did not like the way it made him feel.

“We understand the anxiety.” Smoked Cheese chimed in. “We are plagued with the same thing. Our own companions are missing along with your other minion.”

Shadow Milk glanced between Smoked Cheese, Black Sapphire, Affogato and then Pure Vanilla.

Pure Vanilla. 

“Well, well, well… I didn't expect to be meeting you again so soon.” Shadow Milk trilled with a grin laced with venom. Pure Vanilla only smiled. 

“Good to see you, Shadow Milk! I hope you've been doing well.”

Shadow Milk grimaced at the immediately unwavering kindness from the hero.

“Ugh.” 

Shadow Milk then turned back to Black Sapphire, deciding to ignore Pure Vanilla. 

“Fear not, Sapphy! Candy Apple will be back with us soon enough! And once she is, we'll go back to our plans of spreading deceit throughout Earthbread.” Shadow Milk proclaimed in a sing-song voice, summoning a little jester hat to place atop his head. 

Black Sapphire offered a forced smile. 

“Of course, my lord.”

“Woooonderful!” Shadow Milk belted out, making the jester hat disappear. He leaned closer to his minion, letting out a thoughtful noise. “Now, I want to give you this.” With a flick of a wrist, a deck of cards appeared in his hand. He, with a surprising amount of gentleness, shoved them into Black Sapphire’s palms and closed his hands. “Use this when absolutely necessary. Don’t go using these willy-silly-nilly now. Understood?”

Black Sapphire briefly opened his hands to stare at the cards. He then nodded again, clutching the cards closer to him.

“Understood.” He said firmly. Shadow Milk promptly patted his head in small, rapid motions, before his hand stilled. He silently ruffled it, messing up the nice, black and violet hair Black Sapphire had.

“Well then! You all are off to the Tower of Frozen Waves!” He exclaimed, pulling away from the group. “Don’t crumble! …or do! I don’t care!” With a short series of cackles, his appearance soon faded.

“Gone already…” Chili Pepper scowled. “I was waiting to use these on him.” She sheathed her daggers.

“Rather suspicious that he popped up randomly…” Wizard tapped his staff on the ground while he went into deep thought.

“But he didn’t hurt you fools.” Black Sapphire chimed in with an eye roll, strolling down the dock to the nearest ship. Affogato scoffed.

“Hold on now—” He reached for Black Sapphire’s hand, watching as the radio host snatched it away. At this, Affogato frowned. The sudden shift in behavior was odd. Why the sudden coldness? 

The sudden snark in his words was like poison, and Affogato thought he was immune to poison after all these years: he stood corrected. The sudden tension drenched him like the Duskgloom Sea’s oceans, and he found himself thinking.

Overthinking. 

What went wrong? What had he done? Was it something he said, or did? They were lighthearted and bantering in Dragon City, were they not? They were calling each other affectionate names, held onto each other—the things he thought best friends did.

Did the friendship crumble at the fate of his own hands? 

…did he make him uncomfortable?

Affogato felt cold dread pooling into his stomach as he hugged his arms, watching everyone head onto the ship. He turned to Smoked Cheese as he put his hand on his shoulder.

“...stay on your guard.” He muttered. Affogato gave an exasperated look, to which Smoked Cheese mirrored. Yet neither of them argued against it. They only made their way onto the boat, and Chili Pepper got behind the wheel. She gripped it with a burning fervor.

“Now let’s get this show on the road!” She exclaimed, watching as Pure Vanilla, White Lily, Gingerbrave, Strawberry and Wizard pull up the anchor. Black Sapphire was leaning, his arms folded against the railing as he stared out to the clouded, stormy horizon.

Affogato pulled himself away from Smoked Cheese’s company, hesitantly stepping over to Black Sapphire. His movements towards the radio host lacked the usual calculation and gracefulness. A heavy reluctance plagued the former advisor with every step taken, and he finally found himself next to him. He folded his own arms on the railing, letting his staff lay beside him. As the Soul Jam began glowing brightly and whispering words of prominent danger lurking, Black Sapphire tuned it out.

Any moment he didn’t have to think about that wretched Beast, he would take.

“You’re acting odd.” He noted, but his usual confidence faltered into gentle concern. “What’s on your mind?” 

Black Sapphire remained quiet for the most part. Then, he let out a sigh. “...I apologize for the switch up. This mission has…” He slicked his hair back, a slight glimpse of his mismatched eye being shown. “...the mission has taken a toll on us.” On me, he corrected himself in his head.

“I understand.” Affogato replied. “It’s been a long road. But we’re going to finally help Sea Fairy. We’re almost there.” His hand slid over to lay near Black Sapphire’s. “Hold out for a little longer, yeah?”

“...yeah.” Black Sapphire echoed. The awkwardness was thick between the two, and Affogato bit his lip.

“You would tell me if I said something that made you uncomfortable. Correct?” He finally spoke up. As much as he tried to sharpen his words, the snark fell short and twisted into worry. Black Sapphire furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Of course I would,” he answered, “where did that come from?”

Shit. “Oh, I-I—” Affogato stuttered, stuttered. He shut his mouth, turning his head away momentarily as his palm cupped his cheek. “Just worried, is all.”

“You assumed that I was uncomfortable with you doing…what exactly?” Black Sapphire urged, his words having a slight edge to them. 

Affogato wanted to crumble himself as he turned back to face him. “I didn’t–I was worried I–back there before Shadow Milk—” Good Witches above, why was he clammed up? He was so used to speaking with ease, what happened now?

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable.” Black Sapphire’s hand slipped next to Affogato’s. He even went as far as to squeeze his hand gently. “I was overwhelmed at that moment.”

“...that doesn’t explain your demeanor.” Affogato added. “It was as if you switched up on us.”

“Switched up on you? Please.”

“It’s noticeable, darling.”

“Why would I switch up on you?”

“Why are you being an asshole?”

They were whispering sharp words and pointed questions, keeping their voices lowered to linger just between the two. They didn’t want any other prying eyes their way.

“How am I being an asshole?? You're the one that suddenly started probing me–”

“You're the one who started acting strange!”

“I'm not acting strange! Honestly, I think your nerves are getting to you.”

“Are you trying to gaslight me right now, Black Sapphire?”

The full name drop caused Black Sapphire to internally wince as if he were a child being scolded.

“No– I’m just telling you how it is–”

Affogato huffed and pulled his hand away roughly, stomping off to the rest of the group ahead. Black Sapphire stuttered and attempted to reach out, but stopped himself and scoffed under his breath.

“Trouble in paradise?” Smoked Cheese asked as he crept up from behind Black Sapphire, having been listening to the whole ordeal.

“As if.” Black Sapphire scoffed, turning his head to stare at Affogato. Affogato had been talking with Chili Pepper, helping her properly navigate the seas. He seemed less tense and more open.  

He couldn’t help but admire the former advisor’s beauty. 

Beautiful like the Duskgloom Sea.

“Let’s just go to the Tower before something happens.” Smoked Cheese decided. Black Sapphire only nodded. It was no good dwelling on arguments.

His anxiety was getting to him. Crashing like the waves leading them to the utter doom known as Twisted Ganache Cookie.