Forever and Always (Pure Vanilla x Reader)

A Lantern in the Snow

[alright everyone, who's ready for some emotional damage?]

Having set out from the Hollyberry Kingdom, Pure Vanilla Cookie follows (C/F) Cotton Sheep along a path leading to the north.

"Say... we aren't headed to the Dark Cacao Kingdom are we?" He asks.

The (F/C) sheep is silent, but shakes its head, continuing along at a steady, slow pace.

"Then where are we going?" He asks.

Once again, the animal is strangely silent. It climbs up over a rock beside the somewhat frosty path and leaps into what must be a cave behind it.

Pure Vanilla Cookie slides between the rock and the entrance, stepping inside to see the sheep staring at a clouded ice crystal. A dark shape can be seen inside it, but it's features are impossible to make out. The only guarantee is that it's not a Cookie, but some kind of animal. It's amazing the ice itself hasn't melted. It probably was made by a powerful sorceress.

"Was this your friend?" He asks, staring at the ice.

"Baa..."

"We could take them with us..." He suggests.

The sheep grabs his sleeve, opting to pull him away instead.

"Alright." He nods sadly, careful not to hit his staff on the way out. Though he glanced back at the crystallized creature.

Something about it is strangely familiar...

They continue down the path to a forest full of cotton trees and snow.

"It's beautiful." He marvels at the scenery.

"Baa!" The sheep runs off into the trees.

"Where are you going?" He tries to run after them, but he forgot how that is particularly difficult in deep snow. He sighs, practically lost without them.

"Baa." That's a different sheep... and the noise is from a different direction.

"Baa." Another one...?

"Yes, I heard the first time." An elderly voice hushes the bleating animals as a light shines from a bit further away. "Oh, hello there."
The Cookie is clearly from here, dressed for the weather and shepherd's crook clearly made from the same wood as the trees.
"Are you lost?"

"A bit..." He admits with a sigh, pulling his foot out of the hole he had made in his effort to chase his friend. "My companion took off and I'm afraid I am in no way able to follow them."

"Ha ha! Clearly you weren't prepared to run into the snow today!" She laughs, "Though that's no issue; I can help you back to my home. I am Cotton Cookie."

"I'm Pure Vanilla Cookie." He nods, "I trust you are the guardian of these little dears."

"Indeed I am!" She nods, "Born and raised to care for the flocks."

"Well, they certainly are different from the sheep I'm used to." He smiles at the cotton sheep's visible black tails and faces.

"...Cotton candy woolled ones?" She asks.

"Yes actually, though I'm also quite fond of cream sheep." He nods, allowing her to lead the way as they continue their conversation. "How did you know?"

"I met a Cookie, many years ago, who brought one with them. They were searching for something and... when they ventured to the Frost Witch's castle, only they returned. They said they were from the Vanilla Kingdom to the far south."

"Would that have been (C/F) Cookie?" He asks Cotton Cookie.

She nods, "Indeed it was. They always seemed in a rush to do something, even though they didn't need to do it. No one was asking them to."