#thinkposting

(TL;DR: white lily is dead and pure vanilla is finally coming to his senses about it)

its just. god. i wish more people talked about this. this scene is the pivoting point for pure vanilla and i need more people to understand the devastating importance of this tiny scene that isnt even VOICED (which is a literal crime against god but also probably for the better because i dont think id survive if i had to hear pv speak this out loud)

to preface

pure vanilla knows dark enchantress’s identity. hes always known, and hes chosen to keep it a secret from the others -- perhaps for her protection, as he doesnt want to sully the name of his, quote, “dearest friend.” pure vanilla wanted the memory of their friend to remain untouched, he wanted them to believe that she was still around, but just missing in action. he didnt want them to know that she has been their enemy all along, as he knew the fond times they shared would be forever stained with the crimes of dark enchantress and the blood she now has on her hands

i have absolutely no idea how to segue this into my next point but whatever

youd think it wouldnt matter, though -- white lily fundamentally changed on the night of the witches and became dark enchantress. why would the crimes of basically an entirely different entity whos very ingredients were altered (even though they dont know what happened that night surely theyd assume it was out of white lilys control what happened to her) suddenly be transferred onto the albeit not entirely innocent but still saintly (its her title after all) white lily cookie? should they not consider the two entirely different beings?

well, pure vanilla didnt, and maybe thats why he kept everyone in the dark.

dark enchantress is white lily, and vice versa, but pure vanilla saw that in the most literal sense. he believed that, when confronted in the ruins of his kingdom, the person under the dark robes and maleficent magic was still his best friend.

hell, upon finally meeting her, he literally addresses her as white lily

but dark enchantress refutes that

she denies any trace of her past life (even though she clearly still retains bits and pieces of her past)

pure vanilla corrects himself, and yet he still ponders memories about him and white lily by saying how it was “our (speaking to DE) secret garden” and how “we (still referring to DE) used to walk.”

despite the fact that the cookie before him is clearly not the friend he once knew, he still sees her beneath the crimson surface. despite her straight up renouncing that she has anything to do with white lily anymore, pure vanilla refuses to fall to that facade and chooses to believe that his friend is still there, if not a little different than before. to him, dark enchantress is still the timid yet kind and ambitious scientist that he once studied with. she never went away. she only underwent a metamorphosis, even if for the worse.

its after this encounter, though, that this mindset of pure vanillas -- where his friend is alive, just “trapped” in a way -- begins to crumble.

in the aftermath of the final battle in chapter 10, pure vanilla swoops in and saves the day.

ok i had a point here but i couldnt actually find the piece of evidence i was looking for -- im PRETTY SURE it says somewhere that every denizen of the vanilla kingdom made it out before the final battle of the dark flour war but i dont remember where that information comes from

so assuming this is true, its pretty odd that pure vanilla says this, considering everyone made it out alive -- including his friends, since despite the vision pom gave him, he knows his friends are also still living, if not just MIA. so why does he imply that he wasnt able to protect everyone? there were no casualties (except for maybe those caused by the scattering of soul jam but thats a different topic entirely)

there was one person he couldnt save. pure vanilla is a healer through and through, and the most powerful one in the entirety of the game’s universe at that, and he still couldnt save his best friend. pure vanilla heals wounds, not tragic fates. he tried to bring white lily back to the surface by speaking of the past with dark enchantress in the dialogue leading up to the conclusion of chapter 10. he tried reasoning with her, telling her that there were times before when she was happy. she did not have to make a violent conquest out of a now-defunct destiny. she could still make a difference to all the lives around her -- her self-proclaimed purpose -- without bloodshed or destruction, and yet, she refuses, dead-set in her ways based solely on the traumatic images burned forever into her rebaked soul.

hell, pure vanilla even showed mercy on her during the dark flour war. he used crescent moon magic, supposedly the most dangerous magic of them all -- surely he couldve killed her with that (but then again we dont know the exact parameters of what each magic can and cannot do), but he instead simply trapped her. did he not have it in him to put an end to her destruction? surely a truly benevolent and altruistic being would destroy the greatest enemy of the peace and prosperity of the entire world, right? well, that would be a little hard to do if said enemy is your best friend.

he could not save her, nor could he end it all -- one of which, he had the power to do, but he chose not to.

finally, i am brought to my point.

the morning before the final meeting that will change the world forever, pure vanilla wanders into his precious garden where he would spend hours with white lily, whispering among the flowers. days from another life entirely (and literally, in white lilys case). the truth has been spilled about dark enchantress’s identity. plans are finally moving forward to bring forth an attack in her domain. her, being someone he had once believed to be his best friend.

it is there where the realization finally hits him. white lily, the quiet but passionate girl he once knew and adventured with, is gone. she has been since that fateful night. the vengeful woman he fought against and confronted in his own ruined kingdom was not white lily. he may have hoped against hope that he would be able to find his dear friend clinging to life beneath whatever horrible thing had happened to her that night, that he’d be able to once again share laughs and talk amidst the fronds and petals of their garden, but ultimately, pure vanilla finally has to face the truth that he has been hiding himself away from: