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eijakushingomel · 9 months ago

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CRK || Dad! Shadow Milk AU

[Part 5 – Claps everybody we're this far already!]

♧♧♧♧

Her beaming smile was contagious.

There she was, Eternal Sugar, sitting down on one of her cotton candy cloud couches with a smile too bright graced her face. She beamed when Mystic Flour leaned down to let her pale hand brush gently on the young dough's cheek that was Eternal Sugar's own baby.

"You did a great job with this little one," Mystic Flour murmured. Her voice was soft so as not to startle the young dough. A thick, pale eyelashes peeled open, revealing a lone onyx orb to peer on to the other cookie in the room. "Don't you think so, Shadow Milk?"

The blue Beast hummed, strode over to the two cookies. With a flick of his wrist, a giant baby blue box decorated with a royal blue ribbon appeared in thin air. He let it fall gently on the floor next to where Eternal Sugar was sitting.

"She's certainly a cute dough," he said, eyes roving over to the infant in his friend's hold. "She got her mother's eyes, and I hope she'll get her father's looks as she grows."

Usually, Eternal Sugar would scowl when he preferred someone else's beauty over hers. Eternal Sugar wasn't one to believe she was the loveliest, but whenever Shadow Milk done that, it felt like he implicated that she was ugly.

But now?

Eternal Sugar's beam double up. She stared at her child, pinkish eyes filled with excitement and adoration. "I hope so too as well! Oh, how pretty my little berry is as she grows."

Shadow Milk's grin flattered but did not lose his composure. Oh, to be in love and to be loved. Two things that Shadow Milk believed he would never be involved with.

He could never understand it, shamefully. But he knew enough love was something required to maintain peace and harmony, so he associated it and acknowledged it existed. If it wasn't for the other Beasts finding love, then Shadow Milk would think this love was irrelevant and unnecessary for cookiekind.

"I heard freshly baked doughs are whiney and troublesome," the blue Beast stated. "I hope you're ready for it."

Eternal Sugar nodded while Mystic Flour rolled her eyes behind her eyelids. "It is hard. You won't believe how this tiny body could contain such a scream."

Actually, it wasn't that hard. If you know Eternal Sugar long enough, you know how hard her lungs could be.

Still, baby was troublesome, Shadow Milk mused as ge leaned back and arms folded over his chest. May the Witches grant Eternal Sugar and her husband enough strength to handle such mess.

♧♧♧♧

"Huh. Sweetie wasn't kidding. You're adopting a kid?" Shadow Milk asked in disbelief. His eyes planted at the young dough – probably ten or so – who shyly stood behind Mystic Flour.

"I don't see why not. Dark Cocoa Bean is a splendid child," Mystic Flour replied. The child's cheeks tainted pink at the compliment.

Well, Mystic Flour did have a point. Dark Cocoa Bean had talents, far better than her peers. Her swordmanship was great, so her understanding in magic. If she hasn't been claimed by Mystic Flour, Shadow Milk would have taken her as his student. If anything, Mystic Flour's decision to take in Dark Cocoa Bean under her wings was a wise one.

However, there was something else. Shadow Milk knew so, as he saw the familiar look in his comrade's eyes as she gazed upon her adopted child. It was the same gaze that Eternal Sugar had whenever she saw her baby.

"Well, you do you," was what Shadow Milk decided to say.

Mystic Flour hummed. She lowered one hand, patting her child's black hair before telling her to leave them alone. The child complied, bowing gracefully, and left the room. Mystic Flour watched as she left, and once the child disappeared behind the door, she side glanced the other Beast.

"Say, what about you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you plan on having an heir?"

Shadow Milk scoffed. "No way. If I ever need to pass my power to somedough, there's always Elder Faerie."

"Elder Faerie Cookie is a busy man with a busy kingdom," the latter Beast pointed out with knitted brows. "He can't handle anymore duty. He is strong, but he's not meant to wield our powers, Shadow Milk."

Oh, Witches. Was this a lecture? Dang, he hated lectures. Especially when it came from Mystic Flour. She was the quiet type (along with Silent Salt), but once she wanted to say something, she wouldn't stop until she reached her point.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I know," Shadow Milk waved her off. "I'm just kidding. That guy would kill me if I did that," but it was still a thought that Shadow Milk reconsidered.

Mystic Flour sighed. Her eyes lifted open, twins dark orbs stared down at the Beast of Knowledge with thoughtful gaze.

"You say that, yet you are so confident over yourself that you won't have a little one of your own."

Shadow Milk shrugged, shooting a grin at the white Beast. "Like I said, you do you. And I do me."

♧♧♧♧

This... this was surprising.

Shadow Milk stared down at the young toddler cookie, who had been tugging on Burning Spice's long black jet hair until Burning Spice lifted him up. The young dough wasn't the only youngster presented. There were a couple more, each played yet not stray far away from the red Beast.

Shadow Milk moved away when a tiny grabby hand tried to touch his hat. Excuse you, this was a very expensive hat.

"Okay, what's up with you and a bunch of this—," the Virtue of Knowledge gestured to his surroundings. "—THESE??"

"What? Something wrong?" Burning Spice looked up to his friend from where he was crouching down, with several children circling around him. "Yeah, these brats bit and everything, but it's not like they'd actually hurt you."

Dear Witches. Was that really his fellow Beast? That one who had several children stuck to him? The one carrying a toddler in one hand while another held a rattle to amuse the child? That one?

The same fearsome Beast, who now had three children hiding behind his long hair?

"No, that's not it," Shadow Milk grumbled. He squinted his eyes shut, and a finger massaged the middle of his temple. "Since when did you adopt them? How did you even found them?"

"Remember my report about an entire village got crushed by some wild dragon? Yeah, I met them there."

"And then what? You just decided to adopt them?"

Burning Spice shrugged. A young cookie copied his action from his side. "Not really. I tried to find them a shelter, but then one of them kinda amused me, then there's this another one. Then there's that one, and his sister actually pretty cool so I took her in as well. Then there's her best friend, and the best friend's best friend—"

"To simplify, you got attached to all of them?"

Burning Spice chose not to meet his friend's eyes. He faked cleared his throat. "...they amused me."

Shadow Milk looked so done. "So you got attached."

"..."

"...you really got attached."

"In my defence, they brought some changes, alright? It wasn't a bad change or anything!"

"If you mean extra workloads to your already swamp job, then yes."

"Hey! I mean— yeah, taking care of babies are hard—"

Somewhere in the background, a young dough pipped up. "Me not a baby!"

Both Beasts ignored the little one, Burning Spice trailed on, "—and really added more weight, but you can't change what they changed me! And it's pretty—"

"Wait, wait," the blue mage raised a hand, and the red Beast wisely shut his mouth. "They changed you?"

"..."

"Are you serious?"

The larger Beast sighed. "I know it sounds unbelievable, but what I said was the truth," he gestured to some children in the back, who were busy chasing after each other. One cookie in particular, with her lower part of body, was of a tiger, playfully pounced onto another youngster. "They brought change... and sometimes I wish they didn't."

"...then why didn't you move them away?"

"I can't," the red warrior spoke with a genuine tone Shadow Milk never heard. "It... it felt just right. For this change, I mean."

"..."

"Sides," he grinned, rows of sharp, yellowish teeth presented boldly as the larger cookie puffed his chest and put his hands on his hips. "Just wait until I reveal what menaces they are."

♧♧♧♧

"..."

Usually, when Shadow Milk was proven right, the blue mage would scoff at his friends and give words like 'I told you so' in a mocking tone.

But this time...

Silent Salt trembled, his forehead met the ground as he clutched on to the gravestone.

...it was a wise choice to stay silent.

Silent Salt wasn't one to interact with others unless it was with other Beasts or for work. He preferred to stay silent and chose not to involve other irrelevant things that did not involve his duty. He even wears helmet often to scare off any cookies from approaching him.

But there was time when somedough managed to climb the gate that Silent Salt built.

Harebell Cookie was one of those.

And perhaps the last one.

"One day, I'm gonna beat my master and win!" Shadow Milk remembered the young dough's claim when they first met. He scoffed at the irony.

Harebell and Silent Salt were different. So unlike each other, like the sun was to the moon. Harebell was bold, whiney, foolish, and talkative. Shadow Milk recalled vividly numerous times that the child got himself trouble into, along with some of the kids belonging to Burning Spice, Eternal Sugar's second daughter and how Cocoa Bean had to get them out of troubles.

To be honest, Shadow Milk never saw what Silent Salt saw in that kid.

Harebell's swordmanship was good, but it was nowhere near Dark Cocoa Bean's level, and there were loads of other candidates more suitable to be the Beast of Solidarity's apprentice. But for whatever reason, Silent Salt still chose him.

Eternal Sugar whispered it because of attachment, and Shadow Milk can't deny it.

Despite Silent Salt's constant grumbling or annoyance over the child, Shadow Milk witnessed how he handled the said brat.

When Harebell was scared over thunderstorms, Silent Salt never moved away when the kid hid under his cape. Or when the kid kept rambling on, the helmeted warrior had to shush him often but never shooed him away. Or when Harebell came running with tears because there was something upset him, and Silent Salt reprimanded him for crying over a silly thing, the black Beast still crouched down and patted the little one's head.

Silent Salt and Harebell ; two cookies Shadow Milk never thought would be together in the same room.

Yet there they were ; nearly as much like Eternal Sugar to her children or Mystic Flour with Cocoa Bean or even Burning Spice with the children that latched onto him.

Yet there the black Beast was ; mourning over a child that would never grow up.

Then there was Shadow Milk ; a cookie who believed he would never mourn a child like that.

♧♧♧♧

"..."

"... baah?"

"...how do you get here?"

Seriously? How? That infant was tiny, and his legs weren't developed yet. So how could a baby that unfortunately his came all the way from the nursery to outside of his private office?

That baby was a tiny creature that inherited most of his mother's looks (thanks Witches). His blonde hair and brown sugar skin really indicated that he was Vanilla Orchid's offspring than Shadow Milk's, if it wasn't for the lone star birthmark on his forehead and the blue eye.

The baby waved his tiny arm around. Shadow Milk grimaced and took a step back.

"Yeah, I'm not nearing you," he said to the infant, as if the little one could understand him.

Or maybe he did, because the next moment, the child's mismatched eyes were brimming in tears. Shadow Milk, who had developed a phobia over a baby's cries, panickedly looked around for someone to handle the baby but found none.

Now left with two choices ; handling the baby or facing his phobia, Shadow Milk had to make a wise choice.

Unfortunately, for him, phobia over baby's cries was more dreadful than he thought. So he ultimately chose the former.

He crouched down, putting a finger on the child's forehead. What? Just because he chose the first one, that didn't mean he had to carry the child and make funny faces.

The baby's eyes stopped from tearing. He sniffed, either from the snots or to smell Shadow Milk. The blue mage didn't care. Short and tiny chubby hand reached forward, Shadow Milk had to hold back himself from recoiling. The hand wrapped itself on his finger, which was notably larger than the baby's.

"...goo..."

Shadow Milk did not feel anything, but he admitted that the noise the baby made wasn't so terrible if he wasn't crying.

"You're a bold one, aren't you?" Shadow Milk spoke. "Not everyone just comes up to me and makes demand to a great magician like me."

The baby cooed, now moving his other hand to grasp onto Shadow Milk's finger. A snort came from the Beast. The baby easily intrigued over a finger? Hmm, children can be unique in some ways.

Giggles burst from the young dough when Shadow Milk wiggled the finger. Ticklish much? Shadow Milk mused. One of the tiny chubby hands moved and slapped on the great mage's hand.

Oh, the audacity. Yet he couldn't find himself to be offended by it.

The baby smiled, and his mismatched pale eyes met onto the blue mage's own pair of mismatched eyes.

...

... maybe it wasn't so bad that the kid got his eye.

A set of footsteps approaching them. It was one of the butlers in the house. "My Lord!" The cookie gasped in surprise at the sight.

Shadow Milk stood up, bringing the baby with him by clutching the back collar of his onesie. The mage made sure not to accidentally choked the baby. He handed the little cookie over to the approaching attendant, ignoring the baby's whines when the butler took him.

"Make sure he doesn't stray away again," the mage commanded.

The butler nodded. He was about to excuse himself when the Beast called after him.

"What's the baby's name?"

"... Nilla Cookie, my Lord."

"Nilla?"

"Yes, Lady Vanilla Orchid Cookie herself chose the name," the butler explained.

The mage slightly lifted his chin and tapped his staff in a repeated pattern. It seemed he was in a deep thought. Then, he turned away to face the baby. The butler flinched due to him believing that the mage was looking at him.

"...pure."

The butler flinched again. "Pardon me, my Lord?"

"Pure Vanilla Cookie," the mage stated. "That's his name. Tell Vanilla Orchid to change it to that."

"Y-Yes, my Lord!"

The mage huffed and turned away. The butler decided it was the moment for him to dismiss himself. And the baby, apparently. The baby – Pure Vanilla Cookie – cooed. His arms flailed over to where the mage walked off. Shadow Milk ignored the calls.

Yet, he couldn't help but notice a finger of his felt a bit colder.

♧♧♧♧

Dark Cocoa Bean and Harebell are ocs.

Silent Salt met Harebell when he was at war with rebels who refused to accept them as leaders. Harebell was an orphan who lived in the wild due to his parents, and the villagers got crumbled because of the war.

Harebell found Silent Salt severely injured in the middle of the forest and help tending his wounds. Since then, they got attached to one another and continued so after the war.

Shadow Milk described Harebell and Silent Salt's relationship with word nearly compared to the other Beasts (and their children) because Harebell and SS got some distance between them.

That was because SS didn't know how to see himself as a father. He wanted to, but he didn't know how.

While Harebell could never bring himself to see SS as a father due to trauma from his late abusive parents.

#shadow milk cookie #eternal sugar cookie #mystic flour cookie #silent salt cookie #burning spice cookie #elder faerie cookie #pure vanilla cookie #cookie run kingdom #original character #harebell cookie #cocoa bean cookie

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