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Chapter Text

Black Sapphire stood in front of the mirror, his crimson blood dripped stark against the bone white tiles.
 He was pressing cotton to a bloodied gash, laying just above his left eye. Candy apple was sitting on the bathtub, grasping disinfectant, chattering about the party, energetic as ever.
   Looking around the bathroom, Black Sapphire saw walls of red and silver, perfect, and pristine, a gallery of wealth, not a home.
He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing a teenager, with light ghostly hair, and two deep, dark eyes, one perfect and pristine, the other scarred and discolored, his horns chipped and scratched.
    Next to him, Candy Apple had began playing with the ribbons of cloth bandages. Flecks of makeup clinging to where wounds were covered, at least the ones that couldn't be waved away.

Putting away the medical supplies, Black Sapphire snuck her out into the halls, hiding her in their room.
Then stalking around the large, long, suffocating halls, he walked to the kitchens. Large knives and cutlery hung around, collecting dust, instead he grabbed a smaller knife and cut some vegetables, throwing them in pot. 
Once finished, he tiptoed around, grabbing two bowls and silently pouring the soup in, jumping when he heard a loud groggy grunt.
He carefully walked to the origin of the sound, his "father" lay drunk and asleep on an expensive lounge couch, bottles scattered around, a few were even shattered, his badge forgotten on the table next to him.
  Letting out a sigh of relief, he rushed back to the kitchen, retrieving the bowls, and returning to Candy Apple.
They ate silence before a creak could be heard, loud, heavy, suffocating, an intoxicating smell was faint, but growing closer.

"Where you boy?" A large slurred voice echoed through the walls. "Come on out!"

"Hide." He commanded to Candy Apple, who slipped into a closet.
He opened the door, finding a horrifying hulking figure, minding racing, wondering what unspoken, made up, rule he broke. "Yes sir?"

Blanketed by darkness, Candy Apple covered her ears, imagining stories of princesses and towers. She didn't want to hear the outside, she wanted to block everything out, she knew she couldn't help, flight means survival, fight only leads to pain.
  She didn't know how long it had been, when her brother cracked open the doors, his left eye shut, his voice was quiet.

"Come on, we're leaving." He whispered. Walking away he went to the bathroom with some spare clothes, when he reappeared, his hair was draped over the left side of his face, wearing lighter looser clothes.
Then he stuffed a bag full of hidden food, a spare pair of clothes, a blanket, and some money.

"Where are we going?" She asked, flanking Black Sapphire.

"We're going on a trip."

"Yayy-" A hand was clamped over her mouth as he threw the bag over his shoulder, and cracked open a window.

Grabbing a stool, Candy Apple fell out the window, landing in a prickly bush, her brother following.
They ran through the woods together, and for the first time, Black Sapphire told her she could be as loud as she wanted. 
No fear, no eggshells, just freedom, but pure freedom doesn't last long, and soon, their food started to deplete.
   So, they found a town, hiding in alleys, stealing food and wallets. A plan was created out of desperation, Candy Apple would distract them and Black Sapphire would steal their belongings.
But, today it was different.

For days the streets were empty, everyone was afraid after the beasts broke out of the tree, they held up in their homes, eating reserves.
 But, Candy Apple and Black Sapphire still stole what they could, but also hid in their spot, not because of fear of beasts, they couldn't afford that, the fear of the guards.
More guards had taken post, ready for any attacks, but that also meant more witnesses, more people to complain to. And, Black Sapphire knew they couldn't be caught, not only would they get in trouble, no it could be far worse, they could be sent back.
     So, he carefully hid, within view of the street, watching the guards fall asleep, when a woman walked by, dressed in expensive blue fabrics, pale hair cascading down her shoulders.
He motioned to Candy Apple, who was across the street, signaling their to begin their scheme.
  Black Sapphire watched as she appeared out of the shadows, waving her arms, saying something, then running through the maze of alleys. He slunk into the alleys behind him, walking to their spot, hoping the woman will take the bait.

Candy Apple felt the rush of the wind against her hair, the twisted streets of abandoned houses, crumbling into the road, lay in front of her. Swiveling her head, she saw the woman following her, but not like how others followed. Most ran quick, losing breath, and become disoriented, but she was jogging, watching the environments around her with scary precision.
   Candy Apple turned a corner, ending at a crossroad, stopping and looking for Black Sapphire, who was in one of the abandoned house, ready to grab a purse. 

The woman stopped a few feet away from her, tilting her head at Candy Apple, and began talking to her.
  Using this opportunity, Black Sapphire dashed towards her, but a soon as he grabbed her basket, she disappeared. Just vanishing into thin air.

Shadow Milk stood on a roof, chuckling as he watched the two children scramble around in confusion  and panic.
 Even after all the years he'd been trapped in that prison, cookies were still the same, stunned by the strange and unordinary. He remembered his students captivated by his magic, always curious.
 Eternal Sugar had suggested he find a follower, because he was used to being around people, and, she pointed out that, if Mystic Flour could keep a follower, he could too. Deciding to humor her, he'd stay here a little while, see if he can find one, then wreak havoc.

"This is our last little bit of food, so eat it slowly." Black Sapphire handed her the small slice of bread. 

"Don't you need to eat too?" She asked, ripping the bread in two.

"Nah, you need it more." He sat next to her, huddling under the ripped curtain. "Plus, I learned about this new exercise, it'll make me run faster."

"Are we going to be alright?"

"Yeah." and, he hugged her close, watching the rain fall.

Chapter Text

So, this will be a semi angsty fic, but there will also be a lot of fluff, and a lot of Shadow Milk denying he has become a single father to two runaways.

Chapter Text

They were in trouble, a lot of trouble.
A guard was smiling, and staring at Black Sapphire, picking up the thin boy by the scruff of his shirt. Candy Apple was squirming and crying in the arms of their partner, scared and trying to get away, her small fabric doll lay forgotten on the street.

The guard's breath smelled like fish, poison, and sick amusement, his grip curling, dirty and chipped nails poked through his already thin clothing. "Well, well, well, the little thieves finally got caught. We've been taking bets on when you'd be caught, we're gonna make sure you never steal again."

"Please...just let us return to our parents. They're sick, we were only stealing to pay for medicine, but I finally see the error of our ways, give us a second chance, please." Black Sapphire lied, putting every ounce of his soul into his acting, hoping it'll land. 
It obviously didn't, seeing as he got slammed into the closest wall.

"Great show kid. Shame, you could've been an actor, too bad you'll be rotting behind bars, no one checks on the orphans."

Then an overly feminine voice rang out. "Oh my witches!" The woman from a few days ago ran up to the guards, their face a portrait of fear and anguish. "Please help, the...THE BEAST!"
     The men dropped the siblings, running to where the woman was pointing. As soon as they          were gone, her face shifted, calm, her eyes glinting with mischief.

Candy Apple ran to her brother, hiding behind him, clutching onto his torn clothes staring up at the woman.  Black Sapphire had his gaze fixed on the her, bag of coins gripped in his hand, his stained hair flopping lifeless in his eyes, and, even after the attack he kept his voice steady. "Thank you."

She smiled at them, and reached into her basket, pulling out a loaf of bread, the siblings stared at it, hunger dazzled in their eyes. Her voice shifted, no longer high pitched and exaggerated, but theatrical. "Take it."
She leaned closer, practically shoving it into his hands, then shifted something into her pocket, disappearing down a street.

Black Sapphire ripped a chunk out of the bread, handing it to Candy Apple. She smiled up at him, and Black Sapphire pointed towards their, "tent," if you could even call it that. She understood, and ran, hiding in the papers and thrown away blankets. 
He looked down at the purse, finding nothing in his hands, his mind raced, replaying every minute. Then he whispered, to no one but himself, in an angry, hushed tone. "She stole our money." 
And, to add to his already sour mood, the rumble of a summer storm rang out.

Shadow Milk watched the rain from his Spire. It was new, one of the first things he made with his now free, unchained magic, but with all of this, he couldn't find his Souljam. And, he couldn't even sleep. The witches had cursed them, just in case they escaped, he knew it could be broken, they had said so, but he couldn't remember how, and it was driving him mad.
Even worse, his mind kept flashing to those two random children, and, infuriately, he felt a little bad about stealing their money.
     "This is stupid. I'm not meant to feel like this, cookies like them left me for dead. They left me and the others to rot." He thought, gripping the purse in his hand. "Because of cookies like them, I didn't get to live like everyone else, I didn't get a childhood. I'll go spread lies in that town, then I'll burn it to the ground."

Candy Apple sat on an old discarded box, kicking her feet, waiting for her brother.
He was going around pick-pocketing the cookies that went around the market, still paranoid, but their reserves were running low.
So she looked at the different shoppers, counting how many people shared the same hair, or made up different stories for them. She fiddled with her small, fabric doll, it was a cloth with a small drawn on smile.
   As she looked around, she saw a familiar face, a woman with cascading white hair, a fair blue dress. She was stopping, smiling deviously and whispering in people's ears, handing them what looked like matches. 
Getting up, Candy Apple ran towards the woman, smiling, grasping her cloth doll. "Ma'am! Ma'am!"
   The woman saw the girl and tried walking in the opposite direction, but Candy Apple was persistent. She pitched her voice louder, making it a normal volume, not a hushed tone. "Ma'am please, wait! I have something to give you!"

She finally stopped turning to Candy Apple, looking annoyed. "What?"

"Thanks for the bread, I wanted to give you this." She handed the woman the doll, not looking her in the eyes.

The woman took it from her, holding, and staring at it like she hadn't received a gift in years, maybe she hadn't. She slid it in her basket, and smiled a wolfish smile at Candy Apple, and walked away, slithering into the crowd,

Black Sapphire leaned against a wall, checking his pockets, admiring everything he stole, looking around the town, then his blood ran cold.
On a pole, fluttering in the wind, was two neat posters, two pictures of Candy Apple and Black Sapphire, "MISSING" was wrote in big, bold, letters.
He looked down, trying not to draw attention to himself, and ran, trying to find his sister, and once he did, they hid in their tent.

"Sapphy?"

"Hm?"

"Are we going to go back there?" Candy Apple asked, watching the mice scavenge around.

"No. I'll make sure of it, he was a bad man, and that was a bad place." He explained.

"If he's a bad man, does that make me bad?" She asked, looking up at him, eyes glossy.

"No, because...he's not actually our dad." He lied, looking down at his sister, who was listening, confused. "Our actual Dad went on a grand adventure, and while he was gone, his evil twin brother slithered into our house, and began raising us."

"Does he have tower?" She asked, imagining the grand towers from her fairytales.

"Yeah." He brushed hair out of her face, letting her lean on him, using him as a pillow, falling into a dreamless sleep. And, soon even he started drifting off, listening to the murmurs of pipes, drunken laughter of partygoers. 

"Hello there."

Black Sapphire looked up with a start, finding a cookie standing above him, his skin was blue, heterochromatic eyes glowed in the dark. The cookie whose face littered walls and poles, starting paranoia and fear. Shadow Milk.
Fear rushed through Black Sapphire's veins, and he clutched his sister tighter, attempting to make a shield. "What do you want?" 

"I'm here to make you an offer."