silentpst (he/him)

White Lily Cookie's Veil of Fragmented Memories!

"Forced to abandon Freedom to work under Unity's regime, this Cookie has seen the raw, painful, truth of Cookiekind. Cookies... were made to be eaten. No longer could she endure the (amplified) pain the truth brought her, and so, she started to crack. Not physically, but mentally. She wasn't the same White Lily from the start of her adventure, but something different. Crueler, someone who wasn't afraid to commit small tragedies for the good of Cookiekind. But as the scent of lilies start to fade away, is this truly White Lily?"

Okay! So, in this AU, after the whole fiasco at the Custard Kingdom, the Ultimate Cookie plans to convert White Lily and her friends to its side for good. Now that there wasn't anything able to free them, it had them weak under its finger.

So, for White Lily, Unity showed her the truth of their making. So yes, White Lily realizes they were baked to be eaten two months too early. After she realizes this, the Ultimate Cookie takes part of its dough and corrupts White Lily SOMEWHAT similar to canon.

Don't let how cute she looks in the sprite I chose for her fool you. She is as CRUEL and MANIPULATIVE as Dark Enchantress Cookie, just under a different name. When she is in private with her friends, she acts like "White Lily", but for some reason... she has a feeling not everybody believes her little act.

Don't tell anyone, but she HATES being called White Lily. She believes "White Lily" is a weak fragment of her past, but only tolerates it as she doesn't want the act she placed upon herself to crack so quickly.

But... something lies inside the deepest parts of "White Lily's" mind. Maybe the past hasn't been left behind after all...

Anyways! White Lily's costume is one of my favorites, although there are a few things I think COULD have been done better, I'm content with it! I took the Veil of Morning's palette and did some weird stuff to make her staff. So...

"White Lily" couldn't bear the pain knowing the truth gave her, so the Ultimate Cookie took some of it (and a few other memories — KEY MOMENTS THAT MAKE WHITE LILY... WHITELILY) and placed it in the shards of her staff. If you look into it, you can see the memories "White Lily" tries so hard to forget.

It's also a reference to Pink Diamond from Steven Universe! It represents how Pink Diamond killed her past self to become Rose Quartz, just like how "White Lily" crumbled her weak past self to become this new version of herself. So basically Dark Enchantress but in HBAN.

Now what's next is a BIT text-heavy, but it's in picture form with a few lore sprinkled in, so you should read it for surezies!! It's kind of hard to read... so I REALLY, REALLY APOLOGIZE. If you really can't read it, just mention it and I'll make another post with all of the text written.

Now, Pure Vanilla!

Pure Vanilla Cookie's Illusioned Recluse!

"What happens when you corrupt a kind soul through his care for others? Pure Vanilla Cookie has always cared for his friends. He loved them. And to see them so vulnerable under Unity's grasp... he wanted to protect them, so, so badly. So when Unity comes before him and offers him a chance to do just that? He accepts. Perhaps it's selfish. It's cruel, he knows. But to save his friends from crumbling... he'll do anything. No matter how manipulative he may be now."

Okay, so, to get PV on his side, it manipulates him through his care for his friends. Since Unity has Pure Vanilla's soul, it's able to... tamper with it, in a way. The Ultimate Cookie amplified his care for his friends, and it uses that to his advantage. However, he lost ability to truly, actually understand Cookies. Pure Vanilla, as he is in this point of time, does not understand his friends and has reduced them to ignorant... stereotypes, if given a word.

Pure Vanilla Cookie, in this form, acts more like Truthless Recluse, except a bit more evil. He acts a little bit like Shadow Milk, more theatric and dramatic.

Something I want to note is that during the Council Arc, Pure Vanilla is the one who gets Blueberry Milk to turn against Unity. From how I imagine the scene, the Ultimate Cookie is STRESSED with how hard the Ancients are fighting it, and with Blueberry Milk annoying (and I mean REALLY annoying it) instead of doing his job, Unity CRASHES OUT.

It goes hard on Blueberry Milk, and by that, I mean it is PSYCHOANALYZING him to a scary degree. Listing his weaknesses, his strengths, his fears, and why he acts the way he does just to get him to obey it. This... while it does get Blueberry back in line, Pure Vanilla is there to hear everything.

Pure Vanilla realizes why Blueberry Milk acts the way he does, and realizes that Blueberry Milk CAN be redeemed and there is a good soul underneath that very, very, VERY, hard shell. Pure Vanilla undergoes a Hollyberry DALDOM/Beast-Yeast Ep. 8 realization and his ambition to save Blueberry Milk is kickstarted. So this is where our PV branches off from HBAN PV. In HBAN, Pure Vanilla hasn't had that realization (YET, if Blueberry Milk IS MEANT to be redeemed canonically. Or if he even CAN in that case.), but here, Pure Vanilla becomes more like his canon counterpart.

So during the Lilygang's lowkey heroic sacrifices, Pure Vanilla says enough to Blueberry Milk so he wants to deflect from Unity. Quick note, Blueberry Milk is more of an... anti-hero? The only thing that changes in his character UNTIL this universe's Ode to Rest (Friendship) and Obsidian (He goes to Dragon Valley with Rock Salt... Obsidian became 10x more gay) is the fact that Blueberry DESPISES the Ultimate Cookie.

This is why Unity takes away Pure Vanilla's ability to understand Cookies, because Pure Vanilla is lowk goated and has the power to pull a Steven Universe.

Anyway, design! Yay! If you can't tell, I took MAJOR inspiration from Truthless Recluse. Pure Vanilla's design is def my favorite from all of the Followers. The other half of his inspiration was Menthol Cookie, because I wanted him to look kind of like a priest for his connection to religion. Also because he believes to be his friend's "savior" this time around. As you said, Pure Vanilla feels like he hasn't done enough, so now he's going to start doing MORE, however misguided he may be now...

Hollyberry Cookie's Protector's Cowardice!

"When crumbs are remade into dough, the shield of the protector is no longer brandished in front of her friends, but instead, her heart. Fear, hidden by cautious trust, had overridden the passion she once held towards her friends. She longs for adventure, and with her companions by her side, she cares not of the consequences of her actions. But will her shield ever protect her friends again?"

Hollyberry Cookie.

I cannot tell you how much I HOPE Hollyberry goes through more trauma in Obsidian. It took me TEN HOURS to draw this. TEN. HOURS. Ten hours and I'm not even satisfied with the result... omd.

Anyways. To put it simply, Unity amplified Hollyberry's lust for adventure and decreased her care towards her friends. She's more slothful now, and she bothers not to protect them in battles.

Uhh, basically, Hollyberry is more scared of getting hurt. She CRUMBLED in that battle with the Ultimate Cookie, but her dough was made anew. She's convinced herself she "trusts" her friends enough for them to protect themselves, and is scared of letting herself grow close to them again. Because the last time she did... well, let's just say Sugarcube barely escaped with her life, because Hollyberry sacrificed hers.

Hollyberry doesn't regret crumbling though, despite what came from it. She wanted to save Sugarcube, and she did.

So! The Ultimate Cookie, with its power, manipulates her using that. With her gratefulness from making her a new dough, Hollyberry is definitely the most willing aside from Pure Vanilla.

Hollyberry was originally MEANT TO BE A GHOST. She was supposed to have been crumbled forever. But lowkey, drawing her hurt me so much, so I'm forcing her through the ringer now. Most of the lore I make is because of how hard it was to draw them. It's kind of bias, but it makes things spicier because even if it wasn't hard to draw them, I just love traumatizing these Cookies.

Dark Cacao's Abysmal Dusk!

"His cracks run deep, and his apathy runs deeper. Fused with a monstrosity under the sea, Dark Cacao believes everything to be meaningless. After losing the battle during the Council, his resolution has thinned, and he has accepted his fate under Unity's hand."

Before tampering with his soul, the Ultimate Cookie tried to break Dark Cacao's resolution and hope, Dark Cacao held a stronger will than the others. So, the Ultimate Cookie made sure Dark Cacao was nearly emotionless.

Dark Cacao believes that he failed his friends, and believes everything to be absolutely meaningless. He's a passive suicidal. He doesn't care if he dies, but he won't go actively looking for death.

So... tbh, I have nothing I really have to say for Dark Cacao. Part of him has merged with the Living Abyss, which I don't even know exists canonically, so this actually might be impossible to do.

The Living Abyss increases his power, and it moves and shifts like how Bismuth's hands can do in Steven Universe.

Honestly... this is kinda filler, because most of the important stuff will be stated in the big monstrosity I have planned for the Goldigang.

But if there are any questions I can clarify, or if anything is like, confusing... just say it, because I lowkey got confused writing this, and the only notes I have are my mind. :/ My mind is NOT reliable at ALL, so lowkey some characterization might be confuzzling. So just... ask questions... I want to answer questions...

Lowkey I wish I had the power to make this a real gift fic, but I'm unmotivated. The only way this might have a chance to get on Ao3 is if you do an arc related to multiveres and whatnot and choose to put this in. I would make hban and thisban meet if I had the time and patience, but for now... we get this.

Anyway, that's all! Yay! I think I forgot to say some stuff, but like... whatevs. I'm so sleepy. That's a problem for future me.

I hope you enjoy this little gift, and...

NOTE: I am RETCONNING the Ultimate Cookie consuming the shards of Freedom. The Freedom Shards are currently with GOLDEN CHEESE. The Ultimate Cookie is red now because of... like... it's a vampire or some shit I have no lore impactful reason YET, but the Ultimate Cookie does not eat the shards.

Golden Cheese Cookie pressed one hand to her chest.

Her fingers brushed against multiple crystalline shards, and she felt the jagged warmth that knocked against her dough every step she took. It felt... weird. Was this what White Lily felt when she still held these shards?

Rather subconsciously, the hand resting by Golden Cheese's side clenched up, flaring at the thought (and the emotions) that came with thinking of White Lily.

It didn't go unnoticed, no. Blueberry Milk, who had been walking quietly by her side, had noticed. His heterochromatic eyecings perked up, not in happiness, but in concern.

He kicked away some of the pale flora wrapped around his feet and nudged Golden Cheese's elbow, snapping her back to reality as her eyecings tried to focus on who had disturbed her. When she had noticed who exactly brought her senses back, she let out a tired sigh, eyebrow arching as she took in the scholar's smirk. She could tell it was a fake, meant only to deceive her, and it was... heartwarming, in a sense.

"Blueberry Milk," she hummed, nudging the founder as he did with her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your concern?"

"Concern? Ohoho! Don't get it twisted, Goldie," Blueberry Milk scoffed, averting his eyecings from her teasing gaze. "I was just testing to see if you were focused. The only concern I have is the one stemming from my self-preservation. Whatever is happening at this little tree... well, I don't exactly want to crumble like those before us."

Well. A joke at the cost of the dead. How funny.

When Blueberry Milk registered the expression of offense that had come with his little jab to the Ancient Heroes, he doubled back, flinching as he looked down at the path they were crossing.

"Sorry, sorry," Blueberry Milk apologized, rubbing the edge of his elbow with one of his hands. "I didn't mean to... urgh! Sorry. It's a little hard, y'know. Trying to be kind and compassionate after, what, years of being like how I was?"

Golden Cheese sighed. She could tell when he was being genuine, despite how inconsistent he seemed to act.

"It's... It's fine. At least you're putting in the effort to try and be better. I know a few who seem insistent on stagnancy."

"You mean our dear Paprika?"

Golden Cheese smiled. "But of course! I mean, have you seen how the brute acts? If this adventure we're on wasn't as dangerous as it is, I doubt Paprika would even be here. I suppose we're lucky the little monster has some enjoyment for witnessing pain and destruction."

"Hah! Tell me about it, sister," Blueberry Milk snickered, pushing her slightly to the sides like how friends usually did.

"Focus," Elder Faerie reminded, eyecings widening as the stone path they were on slowly started to make way to the earth of Beast-Yeast, weeds and flowers sprouting from the cracks in the ground.

The Silver Tree rose from the heart of the grove with branches devoid of leaves, each limb curling into shapes the Goldigang (as Sugarcube named them) knew far too well. A perfect diamond, a warm heart, a sharp triangle, a pointed clover, and a simple fleur-de-lis. The ridges and the symbols carved onto the Silver Tree pulsed with weak, ancient magic. At the center of the tree, Golden Cheese eyecings took in the large gaping crack, only sealed shut by the candy candy crystal bars forced into its trunk. But it wasn't standing solid, not by a long shot. It trembled under the sky's gaze, ringing with a sharp pitch so thin it set the group on edge.

Golden Cheese's eyecings travelled from the ground to the land around the Silver Seal Tree, where the vibration was being caused.

When she saw the Cookies standing near the seal, however, her heart nearly dropped.

Before the bars stood a few familiar faces, ones she knew far too well. Ones that brought more pain than relief, as she knew well the reason why they were there.

"No...!" Sugarcube choked out, wings flaring up behind her as she clutched the edges of blue, cotton candy cloud Blueberry Milk conjured up to help her move without pain. The pink triangle gem set in the circlet around her head hummed with recognition, a soft warning sound blaring through her mind.

"Hmph..." Paprika crossed his arms with a deep frown, though his eyecings flared up with a tinge of excitement. On the tip of his sharp axe, the hot red heart crystal started to gleam with a stronger radiance, and Paprika felt determination surge through his jam.

Rock Salt did not speak, yet under his helmet his eyecings sank with guilt. Despite the despair and pain underneath his armor, something else came with it. Hope, infectious and bright, fighting against what remained of the Ultimate Cookie's despair inside the silent knight.

Blueberry Milk visibly flinched, reeling backwards as his gaze crossed the one he hoped would give him more time to prepare for their inevitable confrontation. Even with the Professor's Soul Jam pulsing near his chest, he didn't know if he could persevere through this. But for him... he would try. He really would.

And Golden Cheese... she tensed up. If she had wings, she would be using them to hide in a cocoon or... anything that would allow her to see her friends, standing there so normally despite having their freedom taken away from them. It made her sick. From the Ultimate Cookie's wretched control over them and her own failure.

"Golden Cheese Cookie," Elder Faerie spoke, turning to the one who currently held the broken shards of Freedom. "Do you... know these four?"

"Yes, we do," Golden Cheese muttered, turning away from his gaze.

Dark Cacao planted his feet in front of the seal, hands wrapped around the base of his sword with the tip angled to face directly at the bars with unfortunate precision. Even with how calculated it was, his eyecings held no resolution, only the simmering void of apathy swirling within.

"This is all... meaningless..." Dark Cacao stated, closing his weary eyecings.

"Haha! Now don't say that, old chum! We've got a job to do, remember?" Resting comfortably on the green ground next to the warrior, Hollyberry piped up with a carefree smile. "Don't forget! Put all your weight into the strike, you hear? We don't want to upset Unity, do we now?"

Dark Cacao's head moved only slightly, caring not if he could see Hollyberry.

"It is a pointless pursuit."

"Oh, Cacao! Always so funny!"

Sitting on the unbothered warrior's shoulder was Pure Vanilla Cookie, who looked as calm and serene as he did even during the event in the Custard Kingdom. His attire held much more contrast to what he wore before. It was more intricate.

Curled around his fingers was a cup of tea, pooled in a porcelain glass. Pure Vanilla moved to drink it, only for it to vanish into thin air the moment it came in contact with his mouth.

"Pure Vanilla Cookie, Hollyberry Cookie, Dark Cacao Cookie—" Golden Cheese said, her voice nothing more than a whisper, but enough to grab their attention.

Pure Vanilla blinked, his eyecings drawing upward as his glare settled onto the group of Cookies and Faeries moving towards them.

"Golden Cheese," Pure Vanilla noticed, his eyecings sparkling with recognition. Then, his gaze changed to someone else. "Blueberry Milk," What was once recognition changed to something akin to guilt, before it was covered up with a cold apathy. "And the rest of the Ultimate Cookie's old followers."

When Hollyberry met Sugarcube's eyecings, instead of feeling sadness like one usually does, she perked up, as if she was seeing an old friend again for the first time in a very long time.

"Sugarcube! You're here! I'm so glad to see you again, my dear!" Hollyberry Cookie laughed, an emotion the other clearly didn't share.

Golden Cheese couldn't bring herself to look at her friends, but she noticed. Something was wrong. She swore she originally saw four of them, but when she caught a glimpse of their figures, what was once four became three.

Three.

Where was White Lily Cookie?

"Wait, where is—" Golden Cheese moved to inform the others, only to be hit with a hard smack across the face as her dough was sent flying to the ground in front of the Silver Tree.

Behind the group, standing like a spirit amongst dough, was White Lily Cookie, staff held upwards like a blade.

Her burns now spread across her entire body, coloring her dough an unnatural pale purple. Her staff no longer looked like a flower bud, but instead it seemed like an amalgamation of things that didn't belong.

"Well, well, well," Paprika brought his axe out, bearing his teeth as he prepared for a fight. "If it isn't White Lily Cookie in the dough!"

She didn't speak, nor did she lower her weapon. She was waiting, but for what exactly? Her eyecings were fixed on Golden Cheese Cookie, to be more exact, the shards at her chest.

“Knights of the Silver Tree,” Mercurial Knight called, voice cutting through the tense atmosphere they were in. “Attack!”

The knights surged to life. Silver armor flashed between the tree trunks, spear tips were pointed at both the tree and the mage who had appeared like a ghost, and their wings started to flutter awake with the beginning tide of battle.

"Now, now," Pure Vanilla lept off of Dark Cacao's shoulder with a dramatic flourish, one that seemed more fit for Blueberry Milk than the healer. "Is that any way to treat a few friends?"

With a flick of his wrist, his corrupted beholder staff's light grew brighter, and the next second, he appeared on tipped toes standing on the base of White Lily's staff.

The moment Pure Vanilla appeared between the group, Dark Cacao shifted with mechanical precision, lifting the blade of his sword just in front of the bars. He didn't speak a word, but the threat hung clear in the air.

Stop, or the Seal would be broken.

The whole clearing stopped in a single violent breath.

No one moved, too afraid to risk the chance of powers of old escaping from their prison.

"If any of you move, even just a small step," Pure Vanilla slid down to the ground, and his eyecings met Elder Faerie's, knowing he was the Guardian, the leader of the Faeries. "Then those bars break under my friend's blade. And I doubt that any of you want that, hm? I'd say you should choose your next moves very carefully."

Elder Faerie stands with one hand over his chest, face carved in silver light. “Stand down.”

Pure Vanilla smiled, one too sweet for anyone's liking. "Good. I didn't want to heal anyone too early. I'd rather save my mana for later."

"Pure Vanilla Cookie," Golden Cheese brought his attention to her, eyes widening with confusion. "What... happened to you? To all of you!? Why are you being so... complicit in the Ultimate Cookie's plans?!"

"Questions for later, my old friend," Pure Vanilla turned back to White Lily, whose expression was still unreadable.

"Now, my sweet Lily, would you care to do the honors of seating our guests?"

White Lily slammed the base of her staff onto the ground, and thornless vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping themselves around the wrists, shoulders, and the weapons of the Faerie Knights and the guests from Crispia.

They were forced onto the ground, knees planted against the dirt.

"Now, let's see who we have here..." Pure Vanilla muttered, eyecings scanning across the crowd.

"One Sugarcube Cookie, one Rock Salt, one Paprika, one Blueberry Milk, and one Golden Cheese," He recited the names like ingredients on a recipe, lifting his fingers to count. "A few hundred Faeries... but that is to be expected in the Silver Kingdom. And there is no... no Wizard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie? Hm. Funny."

Then he lifted his attention elsewhere. "Hollyberry Cookie! The time for leisure is over, my friend! Would you care to do the honors?"

Hollyberry Cookie leapt to action, brandishing her shield happily as she bashed the wooden surface. The pink crystal in the center vibrated as the bars did, and from her feet, ink started to pool over the dirt.

It felt like a portal, a void that began to swallow them whole.

Golden Cheese tried to reach for her friends. Not Blueberry Milk, not Sugarcube, not Rock Salt— not even Paprika. No, she reached towards White Lily. To Pure Vanilla. But they paid her no mind as she was dropped into one seat amongst a row of many other seats, stretched impossibly far.

Then, a voice boomed across the... auditorium(?) they were in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow scholars, knights, warriors, and... and friends from all across Crispia."

The voice that spoke was not Pure Vanilla Cookie's; it was White Lily's.

Rows of spotlights blared open, revealing an intricate stage in front of them and illuminating the area they were in.

Golden Cheese glanced to her side, taking in how Eternal Sugar sat uncomfortably with the vines wrapping itself too intimately around her wings and dough. How Rock Salt's breathing grew harsh with his posture forced to be like a bisque doll. How smoke left Paprika's mouth as she felt the sharp tip of his axe dig painfully in his thigh. And how Blueberry Milk's head was forced to glare directly at the stage, not allowing him to move even a tiny bit.

"Please, I ask you to turn towards the stage, as the presentation is soon to begin."

White Lily moved her hair to her sides, revealing more of her face, and how a flower was sticking out from her right eye, put harshly into its place.

"To tell you an accurate reenactment of history, please, I hope you'll welcome Earthbread's brightest student, scholar, philosopher, researcher, and seeker of knowledge..."

"Me, White Lily Cookie."

She bowed to the audience, her limbs moving as if she were a ballet dancer.

In the empty seats spanning behind them, wooden figures appeared to fill in the empty space. Wooden hands struck together in perfect rhythm, and those who were forced to be there were, of course, forced to clap alongside them.

"I've always known White Lily was adept at magic, but to this degree... it should be impossible for her to have this kind of magic, no?" Sugarcube asked, joints straining with how she was forced to clap.

"The Ultimate Cookie," Rock Salt's voice was hoarse, like he was speaking for the first time in a century. "It must have amplified her power somehow."

"Thank you, thank you. You are all too kind."

White Lily thanked the audience, but it... didn't seem sincere. It seemed more of like a mask to appease those who had consciousness.

"Now, do not worry. If any of you have any fears of inaccuracy, I must ask you to push those worries aside. As a scholar, it is my oath to spread only what is true. If you are wondering the title of the play I have so carefully crafted, it is titled..."

"Heroes By Another Name."

White Lily rose back upright, lifting both her hands and smiled fake enough it felt cruel.