Chapter Text
Pure Vanilla stood outside, stretching his wings out, finally able to completely spread them out- each was clearly twice, maybe even three times as wide as he was tall and shimmering in the sunlight. He actually looked nearly blinding- to the point that Black Raisin made a mental note to buy herself- and just about everyone else in the kingdom- some sunglasses if they wanted to look at him ever again without going completely blind.
"These feel much too heavy to fly, are you sure about this?" Pure Vanilla glanced at Strawberry Crepe, barely a foot from the edge of the kingdom- thankfully, he seemed wary of the edge, and probably wasn't planning on purposely falling off again. He glanced over the edge, feeling squeamish at the distance to the ground below. He was alright with heights, but this edge held memories he'd rather not be reminded of.
He still held his staff, insisting there was no way he was doing anything without it on him- now that he had it back permanently, he seemed more attached than ever. Black Raisin still thought that was ridiculous. Though she was a little hypocritical for thinking that- she'd never go anywhere without a crow or two following her around. Even if you couldn't see them- that didn't mean they weren't there. It probably just meant you weren't looking hard enough for them- they loved hiding in the trees or tucking themselves away in dark corners. Not that there were many of those left- Pure Vanilla seemed to want to make sure the entire kingdom was brightly lit, not a single place left in the dark. She couldn't quite bring herself to tell him it was getting a little annoying.
Even now, she had one crow nested on her shoulder, another giving Pure Vanilla an indecisive stare, like it was trying to figure out whether it was still him- they'd always liked him, so were all probably confused on why he looked so different- or if he was actually just a really large bird pretending to be him.
“Are you doubting my calculations?” Strawberry Crepe had insisted on their calculations being correct, but Pure Vanilla couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t quite trust them enough to jump off the floating kingdom. They seemed almost insulted that Pure Vanilla wouldn't blindly trust them.
He kicked a small rock over the edge, watching it fall, doubt creeping across his face. “Well, a little- AHH!”
Strawberry Crepe had run towards him, seeming like they might push him off, but had stopped a millimetre before they’d touched him, purposely not actually touching him but still trying to scare him into pushing himself.
It was just unfortunate that that plan had worked.
For a moment, he didn’t fall.
And then he didn’t fall for about ten seconds straight because he’d instead started flying a few feet away from the edge, wings beating the air hard enough to nearly blow Strawberry Crepe away by just being nearby.
“Aha! Yes! See, I knew you’d be able to fly! Never doubt my calculations ever again!” They looked triumphant- though Pure Vanilla hadn’t forgotten that they’d essentially scared him into nearly jumping. He'd had enough of falling off edges for the rest of his eternal life- though he decided he could tolerate it if that was the cost of being able to fly- that was definitely worth it.
“You can’t just force me off the edge, no matter how confident you were! I could’ve died or something! What if you were wrong?” He crossed his arms, trying and failing to look particularly mad at them- it was hard to be while actively discovering that he’d been blessed with the ability to fly.
“Ah- I didn’t force you to do anything! I only encouraged you, and you jumped off all by yourself. I didn’t touch you!” They stuck their tongue out in his direction, then quickly backed up, realising he was moving closer- though still staying in the air, presumably to make looking down disapprovingly at them easier. He quite liked being higher than everyone else for once- he was a little shorter than he would've liked to be considering he was supposed to be kind of old, and did not appreciate Black Raisin being just slightly above him, even on his toes.
He groaned. “Technically- but you knew what you were doing!” He said, not waiting for them to reply before deciding to test how high he could fly.
A few quick but powerful wing beats brought him almost in line with the clear winter sun- casting a huge shadow (not that his wings being fully extended didn’t already do that) across the castle walls- he almost looked like an eclipse, bathed in shadow, reduced to a silhouette.
He actually looked quite scary doing that, Black Raisin thought. She’d always wondered why he’d never put in any effort to try to be ‘scary’ before- knowing how strong he was, he certainly could be scary, but he didn’t seem to like people thinking that he was scary. Though- she admitted it was a little late for him to try to be scary- everyone around him already knew he wasn't. Regardless, he looked like some sort of sun deity descending down upon them.
Or at least, he did until he lowered enough to come into view again, and she saw the widest childlike grin smeared across his face- and she knew she could never again truly fear him. Not after seeing that.
And then he tried to land- and faceplanted the ground.
He stood up slowly, brushing the dust off his skirt like he'd just tripped over instead of crashing into the ground before touching a hand to his forehead and realising he had a large cut across it that was leaking jam a little too fast to be nothing.
“See, this is why I keep my staff on me.” He slowly healed the cut, wiping the jam off onto his hand, then smirked as he wiped it onto Black Raisin’s shirt instead- his healing magic would get to it in a moment anyway, so it wouldn't last long enough for her to get mad at him for it.
“Just in case you faceplant the ground and slice your forehead open?” Black Raisin was halfway through laughing at him before taking about five steps back and nearly screaming. “Ah- hey! That’s disgusting- don’t wipe your jam onto me!”
He let himself giggle light-heartedly, wiping the rest of his hand clean on his own skirt. "It'll be gone in a minute- you don't have to panic." He suddenly paused, seeing someone walk over from over Black Raisin's shoulder, then waving to them, looking excited, which made her wonder who had just arrived.
Hollyberry walked over. "I just saw the largest bird I've ever seen fly overhead- oh. Hello Pure Vanilla." Her eyes narrowed at the wings on his back- he'd returned to letting them hang off of his body naturally, the wingtips brushing along the ground and probably getting dirty, but those things were heavy and there was no way he was holding them up for an entire day straight. "Huh. It's like finding out Golden Cheese was the only one who got wings from her souljam all over again."
Pure Vanilla's wings twitched with anticipation, looking like a little kid wanting to show his parents that he'd learned how to jump really high or something- which was fair considering he really, really wanted to show Hollyberry that his wings worked too. "I know! Watch, I can fly with them!"
Hollyberry glanced at Black Raisin, looking a little unnerved- she'd seen first-hand how long it had taken Golden Cheese to stop crashing into things while she flew, and though she wasn't trying to be rude, she knew Pure Vanilla was probably less co-ordinated than she had been. "I don't mean to doubt him, but are you sure he's competent enough to fly?"
Black Raisin made a noise of indifference. "I don't know- he can fly, sure, but then he nearly sliced his head open trying to land." She shrugged. He was a good enough healer that even if he did get injured- as long as he didn't managed to knock himself out or something- he could probably just heal whatever injury he'd gotten and be fine. Though... she had a feeling he would be healing himself a lot more than a healthy amount if he was going to keep insisting on flying. He definitely needed to work on landing.
"Oh, alright then- wait, what?" Hollyberry hadn't seen any injuries on him, though if that had ended up worrying her enough to stop him from flying, it would've been much too late to do anything about it- he was already back in the air.
His wings beat rhythmically in the air, slow but regularly like a heartbeat. "Hollyberry-! Oh!" He'd been suddenly cut off by a strong gust of wind blowing past him, taking his cone hat with it- he watched it fall all the way down to the ground below the kingdom, staring almost disappointedly at it. He put his hands on his head, feeling a little naked without it- and very worried that it would be dented when he found it.
"Oh, crumbs... I'll have to grab that." He started descending, planning on quickly fluttering down to grab his hat before returning.
"Wait, Pure Vanilla- don't, we can just get it later!" Black Raisin called out- she knew full well he couldn't land, and she was very worried he'd knock himself out from falling a hundred or so meters, exactly what she'd said before that he really needed to avoid doing if he didn't have a death wish.
But Pure Vanilla was already out of earshot.
Pure Vanilla brushed pine needles out of his hair- he'd not been able to land on the ground, so he'd opted for a tree instead. Though he was pretty sure he'd managed to crash directly into the trunk of this particular tree, and had probably knocked himself out for a good minute or so, judging by how he no longer held his staff, and still didn't have his hat. He'd assumed a tree might've been a little softer than the ground. It hadn't been.
Well- this had gone great.
He held tightly onto the branches of the tree he was on- one wing felt a little bent, and though he hadn't tested it yet, he was a little worried he wouldn't be able to fly with it anymore. He didn't want to risk falling and finding his wings wouldn't save him from a ten meter fall.
His eyes scanned the nearby trees. He didn't notice his hat at first, but eventually spotted it hung precariously on a far off branch. He slowly crawled over, but the branch his hat rested on was thin and frail, and the moment he tried to rest his weight onto it, it collapsed, and both he and his hat felt down to the ground below the tree canopies.
Great. Now his other wing felt bent too- he'd probably never fly again. He collected his hat from a few feet in front of him, replacing it on his head- thankfully, it wasn't dented, though it did have a few pine needles in it that he carefully brushed off. There were probably still a few in his hair, but he could think about those later. First, he had to find his staff.
He found it quickly- the light on the end was very helpful in that. Unfortunately, it was weaved between a few branches that were just slightly too high up for him to reach. Even if he went onto his toes and jumped- he could just barely reach it and nudge it slightly to the side, unable to fully dislodge it. Curse his height.
Or, at least, he thought he wouldn't be able to dislodge it until he did and knocked it straight onto his head- hitting the top of his head with the wider end that held the light.
"Ow... how could you betray me like this, my own staff?" Wow, now he was going insane in this random forest and speaking to an inanimate object. He probably looked like a fool.
He should probably return to the kingdom now- the others would be getting worried soon. Though they'd probably get worried anyway if he returned with a head of hair full of pine needles and two bent wings. Actually, no, they'd probably be worried regardless of the condition he'd return in- he could return in perfect health and someone would find some reason to be worried.
He tried flying again- and got almost nowhere. It was like he'd had his wings clipped, which was probably close enough to the bend in his wings. He pulled one wing into his arms, inspecting it. It seemed mostly fine, but the flight feathers he needed for flying- and a few feathers around them- were disjointed, and some were even missing, instead scattered across the ground at his feet and several had somehow created a trail behind him. He must have pulled them out while he'd walked without even realising.
They must've been moulted feathers, though, judging by how he hadn't felt them- his wings were much too sensitive for him to have possibly not noticed if his feathers were just being pulled out. He let out a gentle sigh. It was going to take longer than he might've hoped to return after all.
He finally left the forest itself, finding he wasn't too far from the teleporter- it was maybe two hundred feet or so away, the beam of light signifying it's location shining brightly. He'd never been more glad to have decided to implement that.
He moved slowly over to the teleporter, feeling a little sluggish- all of this running and flying had tired him out, and he quite honestly felt like a nap right about now. But that would have to wait.
While he approached the teleporter, he realised he was walking through where the old raisin village had been. The place was almost exactly the same, except for the tents, obviously. The land was still dry and the grass was still dark and wilted, like it had been shaded from the sun for years, never watered, just left to die. It was quite unfortunate, really, that he'd never been able to restore the area. He remembered it had used to house some of the prettiest flowers, but- the land certainly couldn't sustain life now.
Wait.
Beside the pathway, there was one single flower. It was young, pink petals closed, leaves slightly tipped with the brownish shade of decay, but it was alive.
He crouched down, sitting on his knees to inspect the flower. It had no possible way of surviving here- the land was dry of nutrients and hadn't harboured plant life in years. Yet- this flower was alive. Maybe it was some sort of omen, a sign that things might be finally getting better.
He touched a gentle hand to the soil the flower had been growing on, letting a gentle stream of warm protection magic flow into the ground, embedding itself into the roots. He wouldn't let this flower die. Not if he could do anything about it.
The flower head lifted slightly, then the petals began to shift, the bud opening and blooming into a small pink poppy. The brownish decay receded from its delicate leaves, leaving the flower looking awfully out of place where it grew, now glowing with health from his magic in a field of decayed grassland and leafless trees that had been bare for years. It was beautiful.
He suddenly became aware of the grass around the flower- that suddenly looked healthier too. The magic he'd used to revitalise the flower must've been spreading, the brownish grass around it and underneath him slowly turning a little greener, then more and more green, spreading out further and further, making a ring around him of soil that, for the first time in forever, wasn't dead. Not just that- it was thriving.
He heard a bleat from behind him, and turned to see an injured baby sheep behind him, who was giving the grass beneath its hooves a strange look, probably wondering why the area was suddenly turning green in front of its own eyes.
“Oh, lamb, you’re hurt!” He quickly stood up, sitting down closer to the poor thing. Its hoof was cracked and the leg it was on was bent at a strange angle. He worried it must’ve had to limp all the way over here, bleating quietly with each step and looking up at him with eyes full of curiosity.
He let himself hum a calming melody to the lamb, pressing his staff into the sheep’s cream wool, weaving the fingers of his other hand through the wool and scratching one nail on its head between both ears, resisting the temptation to bury his face in the wool too. The sheep bleated quietly again. It nuzzled the side of its head against his waist, seeming to like the warmth of his magic and being snuggled in his cloak much more than being out in the cold forest.
He realised he'd let a smile creep across his face- it felt good, really good, to have helped. Even if it was just a flower or a random sheep, it felt like the proof he'd been waiting for all along- proof that he could be useful, proof that he could do good, proof that he could keep something, or someone alive. And it felt amazing.
He heard someone approach from the general direction of the teleporter. He glanced up at the sound of footsteps, relaxing upon realising it was just Hollyberry, who was glancing around him with a strange look on her face.
“Pure Vanilla! There you are! You can’t just disappear for, like, an hour and- oh. This isn’t quite what I remembered this place looking like- I remember it was a little more… barren.” Her eyes finally landed back onto him, crouched down in the middle of the circle of greener grass with a sheep wrapped in his cloak that he was struggling with, trying to stop it from eating the poppy in front of him.
“Oh- sorry. I got distracted- no! You can’t eat that!” He finally decided to just pick up the sheep- it wasn’t overly large or fat so it wasn’t very difficult to just grab the little lamb and turn it away from the flower- hoping it might forget it was there and stop trying to eat poison. “Sorry. The sheep was injured, I couldn’t just leave it!”
Hollyberry tugged at his arm, though she did it so gently he barely moved- seemingly not actually wanted to pull him up, but instead wanting to silently tell him she wanted him to get up without actually having to say it.
“You can’t keep the sheep.” She finally said, looking only a little worried that that might’ve been his plan.
He tried not to look disappointed, then finally did stand up, apologising again for going missing.
“Sorry- when I fell I- uh, fell onto a tree. And then my hat got stuck in the tree and my staff got stuck in the tree and I fell out of the tree and I bent my wing again and then I was going to go back but there was a flower here and there’s never flowers here so I wanted to protect it and then this sheep came up to me and it was injured so I had to help it out-! Hollyberry, wait!” He realised mid-ramble that she’d started walking off, presumably wanting him to follow her but she hadn’t said anything and he’d turned away from her to glance back over at the sheep and hadn’t even noticed.
He ran for a few steps to catch up. “Did you just ignore me?”
She went a little red at that. “No! I- uh, thought you were following me, and you had just stopped talking for some reason." She looked a little too nervous to not just be too embarrassed to admit that she didn’t actually particularly care about that sheep’s life story- or whatever Pure Vanilla had been trying to tell her, she hadn’t listened- and had just made a blatant excuse to his face.
He look doubtful, but dropped it. “Uh… on a scale from one to ten, how worried was everyone? Specifically Black Raisin.” He finally asked her, though noticed she took much longer than he would’ve liked to consider her answer. That wasn’t a good sign.
“One to ten… I’d have to say about eleven and a half. She’s not going to be happy if you come back looking so dishevelled- she’ll think you fell onto a tree and knocked yourself out or something.” She finally said, shaking her head slowly. Pure Vanilla decided against telling her- or Black Raisin, for that matter- that that was exactly what had happened. Then he remembered he was a terrible liar.
If Black Raisin herself asked him what had happened- there was no way he was getting away with lying to her about it, or even just saying ‘I got too tired to fly back up’ or something. Crumbs. Now he’d have to tell her.
“Uh- scale from one to ten on how worried she’d be if I told her that was exactly what happened.?” He asked nervously.
Hollyberry paused for a moment, trying to process what he’d just said.
“You what? You knocked yourself out against a tree?!”
“Uh- yes? Is that bad?”
“Obviously-! Please tell me you’re lying…”
“I didn’t think it was that serious. I feel fine.”
“When we get back I’m making Espresso look at you- I think you might have a concussion.”
“What-? I just told you I’m fine! If I was feeling lightheaded or dizzy I would just tell you- Hollyberry, put me down!”
He squirmed in her grip- she’d grabbed the back of his cloak like a mother cat might grab her kittens by the scruff, which left him hanging by the part of his cloak that clipped around his chest with his arms by his sides. Or at least they would’ve been by his sides if he wasn’t actively trying to grab onto Hollyberry as an attempt to escape her grip.
“Lying about being fine… I thought you got over this.” She laughed at how ridiculous he suddenly looked in this position of complete helplessness- she might’ve compared him to a wet cat if he didn’t look more annoyed than sad about being captured.
He tried and failed to fly his way out of her hands- his wings were still bent and her grip was still tight. If he wanted to fly he probably would’ve had to take her with him. “I wish you’d stop doing this.”
“Maybe if you’d put on more weight I wouldn’t be able to.”
He groaned. He’d rather not- if Hollyberry couldn’t lift him, he’d probably not be able to fly, and he would rather endure being picked up than lose that. That and he also really didn't like the image that thought had put into his head.
"No thank you. I think I'd rather wither away."
"Seriously? You'll have to put something on eventually- you may as well start now. And that reminds me..." Her eyes narrowed. "You haven't eaten yet today- don't think I wouldn't notice- so you're having something when we get back regardless. No if's or but's about it, alright?"
He tried to pry his cloak from her tight grip, but found he'd need both hands to dislodge her grip and he wasn't about to drop his staff to free himself- that and he was still in desperate need of a nap, so he didn't really mind being carried back. "I only haven't eaten because Espresso said I would need at least another week of milkshakes before I can eat solid food again."
She smirked. "He doesn't have to know."
"Hollyberry, he's going to know if I start throwing up."
She let out a noise of obvious irritation. "Okay, okay- fine, maybe nothing solid yet, but I'm still making you have a milkshake when we get back, so don't try to get out of that."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
She gave him a doubtful look, and he looked incredibly offended that she clearly didn't believe him. "I'm being serious! Those are really good, you'd be surprised- Espresso actually knows what he's doing." He crossed his arms in mild frustration at still not being believed- that or he was frustrated because he was still being suspended just a little too far off the ground to reach it even if he tried to make her hold him a little lower, Hollyberry wasn't sure. He was starting to think she might be doing it on purpose because he was short.
"Do you... want me to put you down now? I only picked you up to prove a point, you can walk on your own, right?" She sounded a little nervous, like part of her was worried that the reason he hadn't told her to put him down yet as much as she thought he might was because he actually had lost the ability to walk- somehow.
He debated that for a moment. "Hmm... no. I think I quite like being carried around." He let a light-hearted smile creep across his face- or at least he had had a smile on his face until Hollyberry decided to put him over her shoulder instead of holding him by the cloak. It was nice, sure, but now it was obvious he was enjoying this and not being kidnapped.
She now had her hands around his ankles, leaning him over her shoulder, which meant his wings- along with the rest of his back- was now upside-down, which let his wings hang nearly on the ground, though thankfully not all the way onto the ground, or they would've been dragged through the dirt.
"Is this better?" She asked- he wasn't completely sure if she was being serious or messing with him.
"Um- no, not really. My wings are heavy, and this is starting to hurt."
He immediately regretted mentioning that because as soon as he did, Hollyberry shifted her grip on him again, instead holding him like a knight might hold a princess after saving her from a dragon- one hand holding his legs and the other wrapped under his wings and around his back.
He debated whether to object to this. "Uh... that's slightly better." He shifted a little in her arms, getting a little too comfortable to the point that she was getting a little worried he was trying to take a nap in her arms.
Actually, no- he already was taking a nap.
Hollyberry groaned. She had sort of brought this upon herself.