Dark chapter ahead.

“You sure about this?” I asked as I connected both of the cables in my wrists into Domitor and Floria.

“Yes,” Domitor said firmly as I stepped over to Vanilla.

“And you?” I questioned as I pulled the cable out of the port behind my ear, holding it in my hand as I looked at her.

She just nodded as she held onto Creampuff like he’d disappear at any moment.

“Once you connect to her, I’ll do the rest,” Rosemary said as she stood beside me.

Carefully I pushed the connector to the side of her neck, watching as it slid into her skin seamlessly.

Before I could announce that we were ready, I felt a jolt shoot throughout my body, causing me to fall onto the floor before Vanilla.

Everyone else must have felt the jolt too because they all looked to be a bit shocked. Then everything went dark as I felt myself get pulled forward violently.

Slowly my sight returned as I found myself standing in a void filled with the kind of static you’d see on an old TV.

Behind me I heard Domitor groan, so I turned to see the others looking just as confused as I felt as they looked around the static filled area.

Then they took notice of Rosemary as she appeared between us.

“Rosemary?” Domitor asked, staring up at the woman as she stood there, an uncomfortable look on her face.

“This isn’t good,” she said slowly, looking around at the flickering static void.

“How so?” Domitor asked as Floria took a step away from Vanilla as she sat on the ground, hugging herself since Creampuff wasn’t here.

“This static is either a sign of mental illness, or severe mental trauma,” she explained, looking at Vanilla with a pained expression. “I think it’s a little bit of both…”

“Let’s just see this stupid memory,” Floria growled, just wanting to get to the point.

Rosemary sighed at her as she concentrated, “her mind is too… broken. I’ll have to create my own access point.”

After a minute a plain looking computer began to rise up out of the ground, blinking to life and displaying a long list of presumably memories.

“Oh my…” she muttered as she scrolled through them, looking for the one we needed. “Dear God…”

“What?” I asked, stepping up to her.

But she didn’t answer me, just shook her head at me. “I believe I’ve found the one we need. Just… be respectful.”

I didn’t understand what she meant by that, but then she pressed the play button and it felt like I was pulled into my own head.

It felt like I was sitting in an old-timey movie theater, as there was a large screen before me. I however couldn’t look around, as my eyes seemed to be permanently locked onto the screen before me. A projector roared to life behind me as crudely drawn images appeared on the screen.

They looked like crayon drawings a kid would make, but they were animated somewhat.

A voice began to talk, seeming to narrate what was happening on the screen.

… she has a narrator for her memories?

The scene faded in, with scratchy crayon markings indicating the background. A crudely drawn child version of Vanilla appeared.

“This is Little Vanilla, age five, proper and refined, as a Cakehurst is supposed to be,” a very fancy male voice narrated. “Today is a very special day for her, as this is the day she’s finally decided to run away from her evi-loving sister.”

The Narrator’s voice seemed to glitch near the end there, changing its tone when it attempted to say a certain word.

“Cocoa had forgotten to lock the door to her room, which allowed her to sneak out of the family mansion for the first time in her young life.” The scene progressed along as he spoke, acting out everything he was saying. “This would be the first time she’s been out in the world without an escort, allowing her to go anywhere she pleased.”

“Of course,” the Narrator said with a sigh as the scene showed a lot of dirty and crudely drawn people passing by Vanilla, “the people of the city were not what she’d expected. She was used to the hustle and bustle of the inner city, but she’d never been in the outer city.”

Many images of angry people flashed by, with a scared looking Vanilla running through the crowds, “it was around this time she began to think; ‘have I made a mistake?’. But it was far too late to go home now, as her sister would surely be very upset with her. Her crue-wonderful sister only wants what’s best for her, and running away was the bes-worse thing she could’ve done.”

Then the scene left the crowded streets and changed to a dark alleyway. “As nighttime approached, little Vanilla needed a place to sleep, to hide away from the world till morning. It was here, in a dark alleyway, she met an unlikely friend.”

A small crudely drawn Kejtdra child stepped out from behind a dumpster, with the two standing before each other. “Another child, covered in bruises and scars, with loose fitting clothing she’d clearly found in the trash. The two were weary of one another, with Vanilla giving a fake name to hide her true identity. Orchid was the name she gave. The child before her gave the name Dahlia, which was a name Vanilla herself became very fond of in the coming days.”

Scenes featuring the two running around together, getting into mischief and just having fun in general, began to play. It seemed to be a few days worth of fun, with a few of the animations showing them sleeping together in a storm drain.

“The two found in each other comforts they’d never known before, with Little Vanilla finally being able to be herself without fear of punis-disappointing her wic-amazing sister.”

Both children on the screen seemed to be very close now as they were always presented being right next to one another in every scene that played.

“On the sixth day of their friendship reached a new milestone, as they finally seemed to fully trust one another. Little Vanilla, currently known as Orchid, decided she wanted to take a major step in their friendship.”

The little drawing of Vanilla held out a golden ring in her small hands as the image of Dahlia stood before her. “The concept of giving another a ring was one she didn’t understand, but she knew it was a significant step in a friendship. ‘When you give someone a ring,’ she had said quietly, ‘that means you become super duper friends.’. Of course, neither knew the meaning behind the rings, but that didn’t matter to them.”

Upon taking the ring the little Kejtdra child pulled out one of her own. “Her little friend was very excited at this prospect, so she produced her own ring, telling little Vanilla that it belonged to her mother and that it was her most prized possession.” The two little crudely drawn children hugged, their facial expressions changing from blank looks to happy ones.

Everything changed as they now appeared to be back in their storm drain home. “After the exchanging of rings, the two became even closer, now fully trusting one another. Things were startling to look up for Little Vanilla, as she no longer had to worry about being punis-loved by her sister everyday.”

The scene became darker as it showed Vanilla walking down the street alone, carrying bags of food. “But all things draw to an end eventually,” a new character appeared on the screen, one colored red and appearing to resemble a nun. The scene also began to glitch and become scratchy as her face flickered from a bright smile to an angry scowl. “Cocoa found Little Vanilla one day as she was going home. Cocoa was very ang-worried about her sister, and was very pleased to finally have found her. She dema-asked Little Vanilla to return home, which she did without hesitation.”

Everything got darker and more scratchy as the scene changed to Little Vanilla sitting in a room by herself, looking very scared and worried. “Cocoa had been so worried about her, so for her own good she was locked away in her room again. At first Little Vanilla was upset with this, but then Cocoa returned to her, having gone to confront Dahlia. She explained that Little Vanilla had made a grave mistake, as the other child had already sold their father’s ring. For drugs no less. This tore Little Vanilla apart, as she’d thought she could trust the other child. But her sister knew best, and so she accepted what came next, as she deserved it for losing their father’s ring.”

An image of the two sisters standing there faded onto the screen, with Cocoa looking very pleased, and Little Vanilla smiling widely. “Cocoa wanted what was best for her sister, and Little Vanilla knew she had done wrong. So when Cocoa pulled out a lightbulblbulbbulbbulbbbbbulllllllll-”

As the memory ended the entire group let out a collective gasp, as the experience had been a bit intense, as the ending of that memory seemed to imply something dark was about to happen.

No one seemed to know how to respond to what they’d just witnessed, as Vanilla herself just curled up on the ground.

Finally, Floria let out a grunt, “that makes zero sense. I never met this Cocoa bitch. The way I remember it, Vanilla left to get food, came back empty handed and told me she found something I needed to see. Then she led me right to my father who… this shit makes no sense.”

Shayla seemed to be even more confused, as she just sat on the ground, scratching her head.

“It makes sense if you accept that her sister may actually have been dressed as Vanilla,” Domitor pointed out, causing Floria to growl. “It’s clear from that memory that Vanilla didn’t do it.”

“Play another memory,” Floria demanded, walking over and pointing to the screen.

“I do not think that will be necessary,” Rosemary replied, shaking her head.

“Do it,” Vanilla suddenly said from behind them. “I… please.”

Reluctantly Rosemary reached out and clicked on a different one.

A dining room faded onto the screen, just as crudely drawn as the last memory. A family dinner was in progress, with a large number of people sitting around a large table. Little Vanilla sat near the middle, her sister beside her.

“Today was a special day, as it was the meeting between the Cakehurst family and another very prominent family. A bachelor had arrived at the Cakehurst’s mansion to meet with them and to be paired with one of their many available bachelorettes. So far, everything had gone off without a hitch, but Little Vanilla was very bored, as she was far too young to have any interest in this part of the family’s business.”

The people at the table all seemed to be having a good time as they spoke with the bachelor. It was at this point that the focus shifted to just Vanilla and her sister. “Cocoa poked at Little Vanilla, telling her to run to their room and wait. She did as she was told, even if she didn’t know the reasons behind it, as her sister was never wrong and knew what was best.”

As the scene followed Vanilla as she ran down the hallways, she came to a stop, seeming to need to go to the bathroom as a little toilet symbol appeared above her head. “While she knew she needed to listen to her sister and do as she was told, she was sure she’d understand if she stopped at the bathroom first. So off she went, taking a little detour on the way to her room.”

After a few moments of a dark screen it came back to her standing outside of a door, looking happy. “With that business finished, she quickly made her way to her room. But along the way she saw something strange. It was Cocoa, standing by a mirror in the hallway.” The scene showed Little Vanilla hiding behind a corner as Cocoa stood before a mirror, smiling brightly. “Before Little Vanilla could ask any questions, she watched as her sister’s clothes changed. She now looked just like Little Vanilla, right down to the smallest detail. This confused her, as she had no idea why her sister would dress like her.

“But she knew better than to question her sister, so she ran off, doing as she was told.” Little Vanilla was now in her room, sitting on a chair, waiting patiently for her sister to come get her. “Some time passed, and no one came for her. But she knew better than to leave her room, as Cocoa would be very ang-upse-disappointed in her.”

Without warning the door to the room burst open and four very angry looking adults rushed in, grabbing her before she could even react.

“‘How could you do this?!’ her mother roared as the others yanked her out of her chair. ‘You’ve ruined everything!’ she continued to yell, causing great confusion in Little Vanilla,” the adults holding her did not look to be very gentle as they yanked her around. “‘What did I do?!’ Little Vanilla asked in desperation, wondering if leaving the dinner had been against the rules. ‘You know what you did! That marriage was supposed to bring in a lot of money, and you ruined the entire deal with your shenanigans!’ her mother yelled, striking her across the face. Little Vanilla wanted to protest, but her sister entered the room, dressed in her normal clothing again.

“‘Sister, I thought better of you,’ Cocoa said in a disappointed voice, causing Little Vanilla to stop fighting. Maybe she had done something after all… the bathroom break, she hadn’t listened to her sister and had not gone straight to her bedroom. Little Vanilla told them she was sorry and that it was her fault, which ended with her being stripped and thrown in ‘the closet’.”

The scene now showed Little Vanilla sitting curled up in a small dark room, rocking back and forth. “Four days. Four days of ‘the closet’ was to be her punishment for what she’d done. Costing the family money was something a Cakehurst must never do, and she’d done just that.”

Light entered the room as Cocoa appeared in the doorway. “‘Have you learned your lesson, sister?’ her sister asked, causing Little Vanilla to nod her head yes. But clearly, she had not learned her lesson, as four days were never enough. ‘Liar,’ her sister laughed, holding up a small item. ‘For lying, you must leave this in your mouth for another four days. You break it, tsk tsk, then you know the punishment.’”

The entire memory began to shake and tear as Cocoa moved forward, the little item in her hand becoming clear. A lightbulb.

“Little Vanilla knew this was deserved, as she’d done something unspeakable. Cocoa grabbed her sister’s head and began to push the lightbu-”

The memory ended abruptly, causing everyone to jerk roughly.

This time, everyone looked right at Vanilla as she held her head, hair tangled in her fingers as she rocked back and forth.

“Shit…” Floria mumbled as she stood up and walked over to Vanilla. Seeing that last memory was a major eye opener, as it showed that her sister did indeed dress like her. She sat down next to Vanilla and began to fidget with her fingers. “I’m sorry, Vanilla.”

Vanilla didn’t respond as she just kept rocking back and forth, eyes wide and mouth clenched shut.

As for the other two, they just sat together, not really knowing how to react to what they’d seen.

Carefully, Floria reached out and put an arm around Vanilla. “I… I shouldn’t’ve said all that shit to you. It wasn’t your fault for what happened to me.”

“Yes it was,” Vanilla muttered, “my memories can’t be trusted. They lie.”

“Your memories are broken, but they are not fake,” Rosemary explained as she stood before them. “I can see about fixing them, so we can see them without the glitching.”

Floria gave her nod, “do it.”

Rosemary turned to the console as she began to work her hands over it.

In the meantime, Floria pulled Vanilla into her side, patting her shoulder. “Your sister… fuck, she’s horrible.”

“I’m killing the bitch if I ever see her,” Shayla growled, clenching her fist in anger.

“My sister…” Vanilla mumbled as she clenched her eyes shut. “She’s… great.”

“Are we all watching the same fucking memories?” Shayla asked roughly, causing Floria to glare at her. The mare frowned but backed off.

“I get it,” Floria sighed, “it was hard for me to accept the things my father was doing to me. My mother died trying to protect me as an egg, so my father always held that against me. So my mind rationalized what he was doing to me as something I deserved…”

This seemed to get through to Vanilla as she turned to look at Floria, “you did not deserve that, you know that right?”

“Oh I know, but I can say the same to you,” Floria countered gently. “Nothing that your sister did to you was normal or your fault.”

“It was…” Vanilla replied, seeming to be trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

“Don’t be a dummy,” Floria muttered as she wrapped both arms around Vanilla, hugging her tightly. This fully caught the woman off guard, as she was not used to this level of affection.

“Look,” Floria began, holding Vanilla against herself, “I don’t know the full extent of the shit you went through… but I’m here for you.”

“Okay, I think I’ve removed a lot of the mental blocks on these memories,” Rosemary announced as she turned back to the group. “But, are you sure we need to watch anymore?”

Vanilla was the one to speak out first, “yes…”

“I’ll…” she began, shaking her head, “set up a queue of them to play.”

Everything was different now, as everything was clearer, sharper, and a bit more detailed. The very first scene to play was of Little Vanilla getting punished, but now there was no narrator, nor was anything being left out. Gone was the filtering of the previous memories.

“You made me look bad!” Cocoa hissed as she fought to hold Vanilla down as she raised a lightbulb over her sister’s face. “You think scoring a single point higher than me on a test makes you better than me?!”

“I’m sorry!” Little Vanilla wailed as she fought against her sister. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Shhh!” Cocoa hissed as she forced the lightbulb into her terrified sister's mouth. “Not another word out of you!”

Once inserted, it was nearly impossible to remove the lightbulb without breaking it. Or using Alchemy, but that was forbidden by her sister.

“Now, if you can keep that intact till morning, then I’ll remove it,” she growled as she stood up. “Now, go to your room.”

As Little Vanilla slowly stood up, being careful not to apply to much pressure to her jaw, Cocoa knocked her hand out from under her, causing her to fall face first onto the ground. Bursting the bulb.

“You clumsy girl,” Cocoa laughed as she watched her sister lay there, blood pouring out of her mouth. She pulled out yet another one and leaned forward, smirking as she went to put it in her mouth yet again. “Let’s start over.”

Ten more scenes played out, each worse than the last. All of them portraying Vanilla being tortured by her sister, usually for the smallest offenses. And almost every one of those offenses being something that Cocoa herself did not like.

During one scene it is revealed that Cocoa used her Thorn to make it so none of the injuries she inflicted on her sister healed. Of course, these seemed to be restricted to those inside the mouth and upper body, as those could not be seen while wearing normal Cakehursts attire.

A few more scenes played that showed clear manipulation of Vanilla and her memories, as Cocoa drilled her own narrative into her sister's brain, severely affecting how she viewed herself and the world around her.

The final memory that played was the worst, as it opened up on the eight day mark of a punishment, where Vanilla had been starved, sleep deprived, and on the verge of death after being deprived of even water. Only being allowed sips to make sure she stayed alive.

“Have you learned your lesson, Vannilly?” Cocoa asked cheerfully as she entered the room, revealing a prone Vanilla as she laid on the ground, a decent amount of blood around her face due to failing to keep the lightbulb intact multiple times.

Of course, Vanilla couldn’t respond, so she just shakily forced herself up to her knees, giving a nod to her sister.

“Good,” she said with a caring smile as she stepped in front of her sister. “Think before you speak next time,” she warned, reaching out and placing a hand gently under his sister's chin.

Vanilla didn’t have it in her to respond much more than nodding again, just wanting this to be over.

“I am the OLDER sibling,” Cocoa said coldly, a proud smile on her face. “So I never want to hear you say ‘we’re the same age’ again, you hear me?”

Again, all she could do was nod in response.

“Speak when spoken too!” Cocoa snapped as she popped her hand against Vanilla’s chin, breaking the lightbulb.

Vanilla groaned in pain as she fell forward, spitting out the glass. Some of her blood dripped onto Cocoa’s dress.

“Oh you clumsy girl,” Cocoa laughed as she grabbed her hair and lifted her back up, “you were almost done, then you had to go and get blood on my favorite dress. Four more days should atone for this.” She laughed as she raised another lightbulb, restarting the punishment.

“Fuck this shit,” Shayla yelled as they all came out of the memory, standing and stomping around the room. “Oooo I’m killing this skank!”

Domitor seemed to hold a similar opinion to Shayla as he sat there, grumbling to himself.

Floria’s reaction was more tame, as she just held onto Vanilla as she shook violently. “I got you, Vanilla,” she said softly as she held her tightly. Vanilla responded by wrapping her own arms around Floria, now freely crying into her.

“Vanilla, what can we-” Domitor began, but Floria shook her head at him.

“Get us out of here,” Floria said, looking at Rosemary.

She gave a nod, fading away. Moments later all of them felt themselves being pulled backwards.

The group now found themselves back in Floria’s bedroom, all of them experiencing a mix of emotions.

Vanilla was still clutching onto Creampuff, who was doing his best to comfort her as she cried into his side. The moment she collected herself, Floria rushed over to the crying woman, dropping down and wrapping her arms around her.

“I’m such an idiot…” Vanilla choked out, still crying into Creampuff as Floria held her.

“No, you’re not,” Floria said in a comforting voice. “Your psychopathic sister is the cause of all this shit you’re dealing with. It’s not your fault ANY of that happened to you.”

Not knowing how to process that, Vanilla just kept crying, pushing herself and Creampuff into Floria’s embrace.

“But it’s over. That bitch is never coming near you again,” Floria stated firmly.

“Yeah, because she’ll be dead,” Shayla added, clenching her fist as she raised her real sword above her head.

“Vanilla, I promise that your sister will never bother you again,” Domitor said, an angry but serious look on his face. “After what I just saw… I’ll personally be the one to kill her.”

“Get in line, Domitard,” Shayla remarked, flexing her right arm.

“Guys,” Floria snapped, “not now, please.”

Shayla and Domitor frowned as they shut up, clearly wanting to say more on this subject. But they decided to let it go as Vanilla cried softly into Floria.

“Come on, Shay, let’s go clean up dinner,” Domitor said, biting her belt as he began to drag her backwards.

“What? Fuck that, let’s-” but she was cut off as he pulled her through the door and slammed it shut.

Floria let out a sigh as she continued to hold onto the now sobbing Vanilla. She’d gone from liking this woman, to hating her, and then right to feeling bad for her. It was an emotional rollercoaster that even she wasn’t prepared for.

But after everything she’d seen and now knew, she had new feelings for Vanilla, ones she wasn’t ready to feel. Watching those memories, and the things that Vanilla had to endure, just hit her too hard. They took the feelings she already had for her and just beat them into submission, making everything sensitive now.

“I just…” Vanilla choked out between sobs, “I just want to be happy.”

“Yeah,” Floria said as she rocked back and forth with Vanilla. “Me too.”

Creampuff meowed loudly as he rubbed his face against Vanilla’s.

“Thank you, Creampuff,” Vanilla said as she tried to stop crying, but not succeeding. Seeing those memories, unfiltered, had been a lot for her. They made her question everything she knew about her childhood. Everything she knew about… Cocoa.

This would take some time to process.

Vanilla tilted her head up to meet Floria’s gaze, “don’t think badly of me, but…” she wiped her face with her sleeve, having trouble keeping her thoughts straight as her mind swarmed. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“I got you,” Floria assured her as she rubbed her back.

Creampuff purred loudly as he continued rubbing against her.

“And Creampuff’s got ya too, so you’re good tonight,” Floria chuckled, getting a smile out of Vanilla as her sobs turned to just soft whimpers.

Floria waited for her to stop crying before she readjusted her grip and stood up, grunting as she lifted the taller woman and the Reng.

Not knowing what to say to this, Vanilla just remained quiet, holding onto Creampuff tightly as the short Kejtdra struggled to walk them over to the bed.

“You could try not being dead weight,” she mumbled as she reached the bed and laid the other woman down.

“I’m sorry…” Vanilla said quietly, taking the joke a bit more seriously than Floria thought she would.

“Stop saying you're sorry, Vans,” Floria laughed as she flipped over her and landed on the bed beside her.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vanilla murmured as she stared at Floria.

Floria just rolled her eyes as she held her arms out to the other woman as she held onto Creampuff, “just come up here and get comfortable, dum dum.”

This was entirely new to Vanilla, as she was not used to having someone care for her, let alone actually being in the same bed as her. But that didn’t stop her as she crawled up and laid directly on top of Floria as she wrapped her arms around her.

She jerked a few times, as this was not something she’d experienced before, but Floria held onto her, providing a comfort she’d never known before. She didn’t know what she could say at this moment, so she said nothing, just letting herself be held as Creampuff curled up next to them.

She could get used to this warm feeling of being held.