#i swear hes gonna be the death of me
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Random question time.
Which version of Soap lives rent free in your head?
Oh sweet anon, that's easy. It's 4Runner...
GYM RAT SOAP
#soap squad™️#this motherfucker#i swear hes gonna be the death of me#gym rat soap#johnny soap mactavish#yeah i got more coming#hes such a menace#i love him#aksed and answered#anon asks
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I am having a brain aneurysm trying to draw these
#Phantoms wips#steve madden boots#i think#this fucking diva#i swear hes gonna be the death of me#😭#i am so normal abt them#korekiyo shinguji#btw
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My copium where they all survive and they are an iconic one eyed trio
Also some random sketches because 266-267 have been killing me emotionally thank you
#genuinely how the fuck do they go back to society after this???#for how Megumi would lose his eye#I saw some really cool fanart a while ago where he got some scarring post-possession due to Sukuna's weird face thingy#Forgot where it was but I thought it was so cool#and wouldn't it be fucking hilarious if they all have one eye at the end of this#Hell if you wanna cope you could throw Gojo in there too with the eye theories#This should not be funny but it is to me sorry#Gege just mutiliating peoples eyes for some reason#As it stands Yuji and Nobara are matching in canon since he supposedly can't use RCT anymore#Unless he fucking dies before they reunite#I swear to god gege#bro has been throwing too many death flags#Yuji feels like a ticking time bomb every chapter I keep thinking hes gonna die every week#Any way happy sunday yall#jjk#jjk spoilers#jjk 267#jjk267#my art#yuji itadori#megumi fushiguro#nobara kugisaki#jjk art
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Con O'Neill being a slut on main but being rightfully called out in the comments
#this man i swear to good he is gonna give me a heart attack one day#ofmd#our flag means death#izzy hands#con o'neill
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I will freely admit it when I am wrong.
Reading the manhwa, I didn't think Lout of the Count's Family would actually ever get to the war part Cale has been talking about since the beginning.
And I sure as hell didn't predict the battles would be this brutal and badass. Holy shit.
#this is actually a really cool war action series??? the fuck???#it's all on me for believing in Cale when he said he was gonna find somewhere safe and luxurious to hide in#my bad!! should have predicted this honestly#but like#the battles are sick?????#and they're actually hard?????????#i keep gasping and shaking#(im starting the Gorge of Death battle now)#screaming#also really didnt expect all the torture wont lie xkfjjf this novel is brutal#love it#i swear it's not all on me a friend actually told me the story was silly and trashy (in a good way)#am happy about this development#lout of the count’s family#trash of the count's family#reading lout of the count's family#locf#tocf#lcf#tcf#cale henituse#kim roksu
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sleep deprived dust can't recognize what's dream and what's real when he goes in and out of consciousness so i think dust is allowed to be incredibly reckless when he's awake but thinks he's in a dream. he will kill whoever passes by him (or attempt to. for him it's an instict to shoot bones anyways.) he will drink 4 bottles of alcohol just because he thinks its just a lucid dream. have incredibly loud conversations with phantom paps because he's asleep so nobody will hear him talk. or just have loud ass breakdowns because again he thinks he's asleep!!! nobody's gonna know what he gets up to in his dreams. and until someone (probably phantom paps) tells him that he's not asleep and this is reality he won't realize until he's done something really reckless
horror is seconds away from exploding dust's skull open with his magic while dust is trying to strangle him and FINALLY phantom paps tells him he's awake and dust snaps out of it. killer is walking around the house with bones sticking out of him like pins on a sewing pattern (casually too. another day in the life for him) and he just asks dust what that was about. dust just gets off of horror and shrugs his shoulders with an idk. and then walks away. this is the 6th time its happened this month
#horror needs to find a way for him to get back at dust for almost killing him#horror IMMEDIATELY booby traps dust's room's door with several fatal traps. and then dust just teleports away to dodge them#horrors incredibly cool bone manipulation power is incredibly underrated. neither dust nor killer can do what he does#when i say people underestimate just how powerful horror is i mean this#he has MANY shows of power where he summons a shitton of bones. or when he's clever and tricky#using tiny bones so his karma can hit the guards more and kill them faster??? GENIUS#granted kist could definitely think of something like that but that doesn't mean horror's a coughing baby#ok back to my original post. i came up with this after doing my little dusttale translation thing#dust is such a fucking asshole during it all istg and i whooped and cheered every time he was a fucking dick#when he doesn't know what to do when in doubt destroy everything you see. what a guy#he'd definitely be a lot smarter than that in real situations but again#he came up with that strategy while he was under the impression that he was in a dream#so i do think this little prick can be quite an unrestrained destructive force when he doesn't know whats real or not#can i just talk more about translated dust because GODDDD he was SO FUCKING COOL IN MAD TIME SERIES I SWEAR#when he plucked floweys petals off him one by one???? and then berated him??? and the nursing home comment??????? fuck i lov him#can you please unspill the spilled blod??? sick ass line. i think he knew from the start he was gonna betray flowey in that one#god i love canon dust so much he's such a sadistic shit. and he likes it. what a freak. HE LIKES IT#the only person he outwardly expressed regret about killing was papyrus. you'd think he'd care more about everyone else but NOPE#or maybe he did in the earlier runs. still doesn't hide from the fact that he was cruel to everyone else. because thats dusttale 4 you#youre on death row and theyve sentenced you to endless torture and then the mtt pulls up#listen man if i were on death row and they were my torturers id let them do whatever. my babies can get back at me for making them suffer#canon horrordust my beloved i love canon horror and dust#idk if killer in this is like totally canon but idc. it's such a funny idea to make him unbothered when he's injured its hilarious#horror and dust's personal little punching bag ✨✨#killer sans#dust sans#horror sans#murder time trio#utmv#tricule hc
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Anyone wanna guess which project I’m finally getting to? (Don’t think I forgot about him)
#he’s coming guys#get ready#he’s gonna drive me crazy but I will get him done I swear it#and when I’m done I’m gonna throw him against a wall#and send him to fight to the death#hatchetverse#hatchetfield#starkid#black friday musical#uncle wiley#wilbur cross
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#k project#k#yata misaki#fushimi saruhiko#theres something deeply wrong with fushimi but he wears glasses so its understandable#i love yatas design#maybe bc its so casual yet so him#plus its not overly complicated like fushimis#i love his coat but damn its gonna be the death of me i swear#LOVE THEM THO#sarumi#more sarumi will be drawn#trust#art
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fucking christ~🎃
#gggooooooddddddddd#fuck#this is so fucking dangerous#what the fuck#his is gonna be the death of me#i swear to god#he’s so fucking pretty#frnkiebby#frank iero#mcr#frnkiero#mcr5#mcrmy#frnkie#my chemical romance#my chem#ilhsm
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Our Life Swap AU continues to haunt me. This one begins sometime between Step 2 and 3. Baxter and MC befriend a stray cat and they pay attention to that instead of to their feelings.
The first time the cat came around, Baxter was having a bad day.
You weren't sure exactly why, but you could tell by his demeanor that it wasn't the time to pry. He'd tell you eventually whatever it was that had happened, he always did, but sometimes it was better for him to push the bad things away at first and to let a little light back in before he could face them. You were, he'd often told you, that light for him.
He'd come over that afternoon, and the two of you were sitting outside your house, just talking about nothing in particular, when the cat showed up. It was a stray, you could tell that much, and had a black coat with some white markings that made it look like it was wearing a tuxedo.
Baxter had brightened up when he saw you, but at the sight of the cat, he began beaming.
Your best friend always loved being fancy, he had since he was small, but he was no snob, so it wasn't a surprise when he knelt down right on the street and held his hand out, trying to coax the cat over.
"Here, kitty kitty," he began saying in such a soft, earnest voice that you couldn't help but smile.
"Careful," you told him, but the warning was unnecessary. Almost as if it sensed that Baxter could use the extra support, the cat cautiously made its way over to his outstretched hand and lightly touched it with its nose.
"I think it likes you," you said.
Judging by the massive grin he shot back at you, dimples shown prominently in his smooth cheeks, the feeling was mutual.
The rest of the afternoon was spent focused solely on the cat. You theorized where it came from, how old was, if it was a boy cat or a girl cat. Baxter in particular wondered about its family, and he came up with an elaborate backstory spanning generations before you thought to ask a more basic question.
"What do you think we should name it?"
He took a moment, looking the cat over, then said "Busby."
Smiles came awfully easy that day, and you gave another then. Before you met your friend, you'd never heard the name, but it was one that belonged to his favorite film director. Memories of watching Busby Berkeley movies, black and white classics with big dance numbers that he thought were absolutely magical, came to mind. Considering the cat's built-in formalwear, it was a fitting name.
"Busby it is," you told him.
You both knew you couldn't keep the cat. Your parents wouldn't allow pets, and neither would Baxter's. You decided to spend the day with it until you had to go back inside for the night and then bid it farewell, but Busby had other plans.
Day after day, week after week, the cat came back to your neighborhood. Eventually months went by, then a year, then a couple more, and your furry friend still made a point to stop by for food and pets nearly every day.
The week before Baxter left for college, the two of you sat outside your house like you'd done countless times, taking turns petting Busby and imagining all the adventures he'd been going on when he wasn't with you. At one point, the cat climbed on Baxter's lap and started kneading his stomach with its little paws. You both heard a loud purr, then it nuzzled its head firmly against his chin.
"I'm going to miss this more than words could possibly express," he said softly. You caught him glance at you, but before you could properly meet his eyes they turned back to the cat.
"Me too."
He was moving to Virginia for school, across the entire country. You'd been thinking about it constantly since he'd dropped the news, but it wasn't something you'd be able to fully grasp until he was gone. The idea that Baxter wouldn't be nearly within arm's reach every day was unfathomable. You knew it was something he felt like he had to do -- he was desperate to put as much distance as possible between him and his parents, and he wanted so badly to prove that he was capable of making it on his own. But still, life wouldn't be the same without him so close.
"Moms are going to keep taking care of our little friend?" he asked, giving Busby a gentle scratch behind the ears.
You nodded, reaching over to stroke the cat's back. In doing so, you scooted closer to Baxter, enough that your legs were touching and you could feel the heat coming off of him.
"And you're going to keep taking care of yourself?"
You looked up at him at that, and he looked back this time, his expression full of meaning. You saw ten years worth of caring in his eyes, what felt like almost a lifetime worth of love.
"Of course," you told him. "And you'll do the same?"
Instead of answering, he brought one hand away from your best furry friend and used it to slide around your shoulders. You felt him give you a squeeze before he pulled you against him, and he placed a firm kiss on your temple. You let out a shaky sign and leaned into it -- it lasted long enough for that -- and hoped that your own expression showed the same kind of friendly love and affection, that it didn't give away the years of longing that you'd felt for him.
"I'll take care of you too," he said, landing a series of smaller kisses along your cheek and forehead. It felt impossibly intimate between just-friends, but you didn't dare stop him from doing it.
"Always," he continued. "We may not be living on the same street or in the same state, but I hope you do know that you have a home in my heart. Anything you need, anything at all, for as long as you live, that will be my priority."
It was a heavy promise, but you didn't doubt he was sincere. He shifted slightly, pulling you a little harder against him. Another one of his kisses went further in your cheek, almost to the corner of your mouth. He stopped, taking a moment to look at you. There was a question in his eyes, and a sort of darkness you didn't recognize.
You'd wanted Baxter for a very, very long time. You'd thought about him looking at you like this, feeling his lips on your skin, more and more as time went on. Every time, you convinced yourself that your feelings were one-sided -- how could someone as beautiful and sweet and funny and perfect as him possibly want you?
But now, it felt a little different. His eyes trailed down to your lips, and he leaned a fraction closer.
"What if I need ear scratches?" you whispered, looking back down to the cat, deflecting because that was safer than whatever this was.
A moment passed, then Baxter's hand, which had made its way down to your hip at some point during his declaration, came up to your head. You felt gentle scratches against your scalp, and one more kiss on your cheek.
"I'll give you whatever you want," he told you.
#our life beginnings and always#our life#olba#our life baxter#baxter ward#baxter x mc#baxter x reader#baxter x you#baxter ward x you#baxter ward x reader#baxter ward x mc#our life swap au#this mc is gonna be the death of me i swear#open your eyes baby doll he is right there for the taking
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guys please tell me those batman #148 leaks of jason dying again are fake. tell me they're fake right fucking now i can't fucking do this shit right now i'm off my meds
#this better be bait or i swear to fucking god#i saw those 10 mins ago and i feel like i'm gonna die my heart is racing my hands are shaking my head hurts and i feel like committing crim#i'm too mentally ill for this#i wish this was a joke but i feel very dizzy as i type this and i can feel my heart beating on my throat#i will commit murder.#i hope from the bottom of my heart this is some fear toxin shenanigan bc even if i'm tired of writers making his death his only trait#i cannot handle if it's him actually dying again.#part of me knows dc would have to be very fucking stupid to kill jason again but it's fucking dc and they hate him so everything is possibl#there's things that could mean it's fake like he seems younger and he's in robin uniform for some fucking reason but god does it hurt#i'm trying not to freak out but there's that thing that your brain can't tell the difference between fiction and reality so i'm going insan#chat pray for me#i'm a fucking atheist but please pray for me#i think i'm going into cardiac arrest#jason todd#batman 148
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& who asked you two to stand so close???
#pressure test is always gonna be one of my fav thiam episodes cuz like#theo is being so protective but trying to hide it behind pissing liam off at the same time hes trying to be a realist to his idealist#and convince him to take care of himself first before other people 😭#me when i swear not to save my enemy but decide id rather face death for him multiple times than see him hurt by anyone including himself#IDIOT#theo positioning himself between monroe and liam when they leave the station . that marking the beginning of the 6b streak +#where they keep getting paired off together and learn how to work as a team#they were def attached at the hip the entire time the pack was in hiding the same way scalia and morey were#like… leaving the station. at the zoo. driving back to town together. theo following him to the school. waiting under that night to tell +#scott about what they found. and then they were both grumpy about getting split up during genotype like they havent been living in each +#others pockets for who knows how long atp …. they are so .#jeff davis you will pay for not showing me all of the bonding that happened during this time. I HATE YOU!#thiam#theo raeken#liam dunbar#theo raeken x liam dunbar#theo raeken/liam dunbar#theo x liam#theo/liam#6.15 pressure test#6.17 werewolves of london#teen wolf
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I knew Stain was gonna die because he wasn’t a LoV villain but I'm still bummed.
Like he wanted to die, so he got what he wanted, but I sorta hoped it would be a bit more heroic, I guess. I mean, he honestly didn't do anything helpful except cheer on All Might and get killed. Just like with his past contribution, he could have been removed, and nothing changes.
I will forever be disappointed we never got tenya meeting him again or even thinking about him given this was supposed to be the villain redemption arc.
I also find it funny that so far, he's the only villain that has died trying to actually stop AfO/trying to do good. Like yes, Toga might have died saving Ochako, but it was from a wound she gave her. Meanwhile, Touya might have had his last breath, wishing his family was dead.
I'm just bummed it was so pointless and quickly moved on from. It wasn't even the end of the chapter. AfO turns him into juice, and that's the end of it--on to All Might, thinking of his other dead friends.
Which, yes All Might is far more important then Stain, but it does make it feel as if Hori just tossed him in so AfO got a kill and he tied up a lose end as fast as possible.
Given the past villain death scare chapters, I know hori can do touching ends. Like it would not have killed him to have a one panel flash back of Stain as a kid holding an All Might doll when he thinks about how he didn’t even have a high school education. It would have humanized him before becoming a blood splatter and renforced that villains used to be kids once.
Instead, we get panels of him sniffing blood on rocks. 😒
#bnha 401#hero killer stain#akaguro chizome#bnha spoilers#bnha#like again knew he was most likely gonna kick the bucket#and it was always gonna kill me a little because hes my fav#but still i expected a bit more effort#like at least Hori had him think about how he learned to be a hero from AM#but its really shallow and a waste of a death the way its done#like stain was more integral to the plot then the dude saving bakugou#but he got a way more touching end#i swear if someone makes one of those is stain dead or alive blogs im going to lose it#bitch is super dead#even if we didn’t see the body#the fact its so quick and moved on from is all the proof u need#will he be alive in the au i have in my head?#yes very much#but canon wish hes mush now#and the sad thing is#no one will care#and its clear hori always just saw him as some crazy guy#only a little more sane then flesh eating body suit Moonfish#stain as a concept had great potential and now hes meat paste#waste of a character 😒
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sorry for basically being MIA on here, kind of busy doing surprisingly well at work and kind of falling in love again
#belle in a happy era?? crazy#i’m like this close to telling him i love him#he/him lesbians are gonna be the death of me i swear#(and no the person i’m talking about is NOT my ex before someone else asks again!!!!)#he’s got me kicking my feet and smiling all day and i can’t wait to kiss his face soon#i’m so head over heels#belle speaks#v#🖤
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Kingdom of Ash Chapter 55-56
Chapter; Highlights, Notes, Tags, etc.
The Thirteen were on edge. They hadn't yet decided where to go. And hadn't been invited to travel with the Crochans to any of their home-hearths. Even Glennis's.
None of them, however, had looked his way when they'd prowled past. None had recognized him.
Dorian had just completed another walking circuit in his little training area when Manon stalked by, silver hair flowing. He paused, no more than a wary Crochan sentinel, and watched her storm through snow and mud as if she were a blade through the world.
Manon had nearly passed his training area when she went rigid.
Slowly, she turned, nostrils flaring.
Those golden eyes swept over him, swift and cutting. Her brows twitched toward each other. Dorian only gave her a lazy grin in return.
Then she prowled toward him.
Another assessing stare. "I would have thought you'd pick a prettier form."
He frowned down at himself. "I think she's pretty enough."
Manon's mouth tightened. "I suppose this means you're about to go to Morath."
"Did I say anything of the sort?" He didn't bother sounding pleasant.
Manon took a step toward him, her teeth flashing. In this body, he stood shorter than her. He hated the thrill that shot through his blood as she leaned down to growl at him. "We have enough to deal with today, princeling."
"Do l look as if I'm standing in your way?" She opened her mouth, then shut it.
Dorian let out a low laugh and made to turn away. An iron-tipped hand gripped his arm.
Strange, for that hand to feel large on his body. Large, and not the slender, deadly thing he'd become accustomed to.
Her golden eyes blazed. "If you want a softhearted woman who will weep over hard choices and ultimately balk from them, then you're in the wrong bed."
"I'm not in anyone's bed right now." He hadn't gone to her tent any of these nights. Not since that conversation in Eyllwe.
She took the retort without so much as a flinch. "Your opinion doesn't matter to me."
"Then why are you standing here?"
Again, she opened and closed her mouth. Then snarled, "Change out of that form." Dorian smiled again. "Don't you have better things to do right now, Your Majesty?" He honestly thought she might unsheathe those iron teeth and rip out his throat.
Half of him wanted her to try. He even went so far as to run one of those phantom hands along her jaw.
"You think I don't know why you don't want me to go to Morath?"
"Tell me to stay," he said, and the words had no warmth, no kindness. "Tell me to stay with you, if that's what you want." His invisible fingers grew talons and scraped over her skin. Manon's throat bobbed. "But you won't say that, will you, Manon?" Her breathing turned jagged. He continued to stroke her neck, her jaw, her throat, caressing skin he'd tasted over and over. "Do you know why?"
"Because while you might be older, might be deadly in a thousand different ways, deep down, you're afraid. You don't know how to ask me to stay, because you're afraid of admitting to yourself that you want it. You're afraid. Of yourself more than anyone else in the world. You're afraid." For several heartbeats, she just stared at him.
Then she snarled, "You don't know what you're talking about," and stalked away.
His low laugh ripped after her. Her spine stiffened. But Manon did not turn back.
Afraid. Of admitting that she felt any sort of attachment.
It was preposterous.
And it was, perhaps, true.
But it was not her problem. Not right now.
Manon stormed through the readying camp where tents were being taken down and folded, hearths being packed. The Thirteen were with the wyverns, supplies stowed in saddlebags.
Some of the Crochans had frowned her way. Not with anger, but something like disappointment.
Discontent. As if they thought parting ways was a poor idea.
Manon refrained from saying she agreed.
Even if the Thirteen followed, the Crochans would find a way to lose them. Use their power to bind the wyverns long enough to disappear.
And she would not lower herself, lower the Thirteen, to become dogs chasing after their masters. They might be desperate for aid, might have promised it to their allies, but she would not debase herself any further.
Manon halted at Glennis's camp, the only hearth with a fire still burning. A fire that would always remain kindled.
A reminder of the promise she'd made to honor the Queen of Terrasen. A single, solitary flame against the cold.
Manon rubbed at her face as she slumped onto one of the rocks lining the hearth. A hand rested on her shoulder, warm and slight. She didn't bother to slap it away.
Glennis said, "We're departing in a few minutes. I thought l'd say good-bye."
Manon peered up at the ancient witch. "Fly well." It was really all there was left to say.
Manon's failure was not due to Glennis, not due to anyone but herself, she supposed.
You're afraid.
It was true. She had tried, but not really tried to win the Crochans. To let them see any part of her that meant something. To let them see what it had done to her, to learn she had a sister and that she had killed her. She didn't know how, and had never bothered to learn.
You're afraid.
Yes, she was. Of everything.
Glennis lowered her hand from Manon's shoulder.
"May your path carry you safely through war and back home at last."
She didn't feel like telling the crone there was no home for her, or the Thirteen.
Glennis turned her face toward the sky, sighing once. Then her white brows narrowed. Her nostrils flared. Manon leapt to her feet.
"Run," Glennis breathed. "Run now."
Manon drew Wind-Cleaver and did no such thing. "What is it?"
"They're here." How Glennis had scented them on the wind, Manon didn't care.
Not as three wyverns broke from the clouds, spearing for their camp.
She knew those wyverns, almost as well as she knew the three riders who sent the Crochans into a frenzy of motion.
The Matrons of the Ironteeth Witch-Clans had found them. And come to finish what Manon had started that day in Morath.
The three High Witches had come alone.
Rushing steps crunched through the icy snow, halting at Manon's side just as Dorian's scent wrapped around her. "Is that—"
"Yes," she said quietly, heart thundering as the Matrons dismounted and did not raise their hands in request for parley. No, they only stalked closer to the hearth, to the precious flame still burning. "Don't engage," Manon warned him and the others, and strode to meet them.
It was not the king's battle, no matter what power dwelled in his veins.
Glennis was already armed, an ancient sword in her withered hands. The woman was as old as the Yellowlegs Matron, yet she stood tall, facing the three High Witches.
Cresseida Blueblood spoke first, her eyes as cold as the iron-spiked crown digging into her freckled brow. "It has been an age, Glennis." But Glennis's stare, Manon realized, was not on the Blueblood Matron. Or even on Manon's own grandmother, her black robes billowing as she sneered at Manon.
It was on the Yellowlegs Matron, hunched and hateful between them. On the crown of stars atop the crone's thinned white hair.
Glennis's sword shook slightly. And just as Manon realized what the Matron had worn here,
Bronwen appeared at Glennis's side and breathed, "Rhiannon's crown."
Worn by the Yellowlegs Matron to mock these witches. To spit on them.
A dull roaring began in Manon's ears.
"What company you keep these days, granddaughter," said Manon's grandmother, her silver-streaked dark hair braided back from her face. A sign enough of their intentions, if her grandmother's hair was in that plait. Battle. Annihilation.
The weight of the three High Witches' attention pressed upon her. The Crochans gathered behind her shifted as they waited for her response.
Yet it was Glennis who snarled, in a voice Manon had not yet heard, "What is it that you want?"
Manon's grandmother smiled, revealing rust-flecked iron teeth. The true sign of her age. "You made a grave error, Manon Kin-Slayer, when you sought to turn our forces against us. When you sowed such lies amongst our sentinels regarding our plans— my plans."
Manon kept her chin high. "I spoke only truth. And it must have frightened you enough that you gathered these two to hunt me down and prove your innocence in scheming against them."
The other two Matrons didn't so much as blink. Her grandmother's claws had to have sunk deep, then. Or they simply did not care.
"We came," Cresseida seethed, the opposite in so many ways of the daughter who had given Manon the chance to speak, "to at last rid us of a thorn in our sides."
Had Petrah been punished for letting Manon walk out of the Omega alive? Did the Blueblood Heir still breathe? Cresseida had once screamed in a mother's terror and pain when Petrah had nearly plunged to her death.
Did that love, so foreign and strange, still hold true? Or had duty and ancient hatred won out?
The thought was enough to steel Manon's spine. "You came because we pose a threat."
Because of the threat you pose to that monster you call grandmother.
"You came," Manon went on, Wind-Cleaver rising a fraction, "because you are afraid."
Manon took a step beyond Glennis, her sword lifting farther.
"You came," Manon said, "because you have no true power beyond what we give you.
And you are scared to death that we're about to take it away." Manon flipped Wind-Cleaver in her hand, angling the sword downward, and drew a line in the snow between them. "You came alone for that fear. That others might see what we are capable of. The truth that you have always sought to hide."
Her grandmother tutted. "Listen to you. Sounding just like a Crochan with that preachy nonsense."
Manon ignored her. Ignored her and pointed Wind-Cleaver directly at the Yellowlegs Matron as she snarled, "That is not your crown."
Something like hesitation rippled over Cresseida Blueblood's face. But the Yellowlegs Matron beckoned to Manon with iron nails so long they curved downward. "Then come and fetch it from me, traitor."
Manon stepped beyond the line she'd drawn in the snow.
No one spoke behind her. She wondered if any of them were breathing.
She had not won against her grandmother. Had barely survived, and only thanks to luck. That fight, she had been ready to meet her end. To say farewell.
Manon angled Wind-Cleaver upward, her heart a steady, raging beat.
She would not greet the Darkness's embrace today. But they would.
"This seems familiar," her grandmother drawled, legs shifting into attacking position.
The other two Matrons did the same. "The last Crochan Queen. Holding the line against us." Manon cracked her jaw, and iron teeth descended. A flex of her fingers had her iron nails unsheathing. "Not just a Crochan Queen this time."
There was doubt in Cresseida's blue eyes.
As if she'd realized what the other two Matrons had not.
There—it was there that Manon would strike first. The one who now wondered if they had somehow made a grave mistake in coming here.
A mistake that would cost them what they had come to protect.
A mistake that would cost them this war.
And their lives.
For Cresseida saw the steadiness of Manon's breathing. Saw the clear conviction in her eyes. Saw the lack of fear in her heart as Manon advanced another step.
Manon smiled at the Blueblood Matron as if to say yes.
"You did not kill me then," Manon said to her grandmother. "I do not think you will be able to now."
"We'll see about that," her grandmother hissed, and charged.
Manon was ready.
An upward swing of Wind-Cleaver met her grandmother's first two blows, and Manon ducked the third. Turning right into the onslaught of the Yellowlegs Matron, who swept up with unnatural speed, feet almost flying over the snow, and slashed for Manon's exposed back.
Manon deflected the crone's assault, sending the witch darting back. Just as Cresseida launched herself at Manon. Cresseida was not a trained fighter. Not as the Blackbeak and Yellowlegs Matrons were. Too many years spent reading entrails and scanning the stars for the answers to the Three-Faced Goddess's riddles.
A duck to the left had Manon easily evading the sweep of Cresseida's nails, and a countermove had Manon driving her elbow into the Blueblood Matron's nose.
Cresseida stumbled. The Yellowlegs Matron and her grandmother attacked again. So fast. Their three assaults had happened in the span of a few blinks. Manon kept her feet under her. Saw where one Matron moved and the other left a dangerous gap exposed.
She was not a broken-spirited Wing Leader unsure of her place in the world.
She was not ashamed of the truth before her.
She was not afraid.
Manon's grandmother led the attack, her maneuvers the deadliest. It was from her that the first slice of pain appeared. A rip of iron nails through Manon's shoulder. But Manon swung her sword, again and again, iron on steel ringing out across the icy peaks.
No, she was not afraid at all.
Around him, the Crochans thrummed with fear and dread. Either for the fight unfolding or the three Matrons who had found them.
But Glennis did not tremble. At her side Bronwen hummed with the energy of one eager to leap into the fight.
Manon and the High Witches sprang apart, breathing heavily. Blue blood leaked down Manon's shoulder, and small slices peppered the three Matrons.
Manon still remained on the far side of the line she'd drawn. Still held it.
The dark-haired witch in voluminous black robes spat blue blood onto the snow. Manon's grandmother. "Pathetic. As pathetic as your mother." A sneer toward Glennis. "And your father."
The snarl that ripped from Manon's throat rang across the mountains themselves.
Her grandmother let out a crow's caw of a laugh. "Is that all you can do, then? Snarl like a dog and swing your sword like some human filth? We will wear you down eventually. Better to kneel now and die with some honor intact." Manon only flung out an iron-tipped hand behind her, fingers splaying in demand as her eyes remained fixed on the Matrons.
Dorian reached for Damaris, but Bronwen moved first.
The Crochan tossed her sword, steel flashing over snow and sun.
Manon's fingers closed on the hilt, the blade singing as she whipped it around to face the High Witches again. "Rhiannon Crochan held the gates for three days and three nights, and she did not kneel before you, even at the end." A slash of a smile. "I think I shall do the same." Dorian could have sworn the sacred flame burning to their left flared brighter. Could have sworn Glennis sucked in a breath. That every Crochan watching did the same.
Manon's knees bent, swords rising. "Let us finish what was started then, too." She attacked, blades flashing.
Her grandmother conceded step after step, the other two Matrons failing to break past her defenses.
Gone was the witch who had slept and wished for death. Gone was the witch who had raged at the truth that had torn her to shreds.
And in her place, fighting as if she were the very wind, unfaltering against the Matrons, stood someone Dorian had not yet met.
Stood a queen of two peoples.
Yielding only those few steps, and nothing more.
Because Manon with conviction in her heart, with utter fearlessness in her eyes, was wholly unstoppable.
The other two witches had fallen back, as if waiting to see what might happen.
But she yielded no further ground. A wall against which the Yellowlegs Matron could not advance. The crone let out a snarl, attacking again and again, senseless and raging.
Dorian saw the trap the moment it happened.
No one seemed to breathe at all as Manon plunged Bronwen's sword into the icy earth beneath and bent to take the crown of stars from the Yellowlegs witch's fallen head.
He had never seen a crown like it.
A living, glowing thing that glittered in her hand. As if nine stars had been plucked from the heavens and set to shine along the simple silver band.
The crown's light danced over Manon's face as she lifted it above her head and set it upon her unbound white hair.
Even the mountain wind stopped.
Yet a phantom breeze shifted the strands of Manon's hair as the crown glowed bright, the white stars shining with cores of cobalt and ruby and amethyst.
As if it had been asleep for a long, long time. And now awoke.
That phantom wind pulled Manon's hair to the side, silver strands brushing across her face.
And beside him, around him, the Thirteen touched two fingers to their brow in deference.
In allegiance to the queen who stared down the two remaining High Witches.
The Crochan Queen, crowned anew.
The sacred fire leaped and danced, as if in joyous welcome.
"Go."
The Blueblood witch blinked, eyes wide with what could only be fear and dread.
Manon jerked her chin toward the wyvern waiting behind the witch. "Tell your daughter all debts between us are paid. And she may decide what to do with you. Take that other wyvern out of here."
Spared by the Crochan Queen on behalf of the daughter who had given Manon the gift of speaking to the Ironteeth.
Within seconds, the Blueblood Matron was in the skies, the Yellowlegs witch's wyvern soaring beside her.
Leaving Manon's grandmother alone.
Leaving Manon with swords raised and a crown of stars glowing upon her brow.
Manon was glowing, as if the stars atop her head pulsed through her body. A wondrous and mighty beauty, like no other in the world. Like no one had ever been, or would be again.
And slowly, as if savoring each step, Manon stalked toward her grandmother.
Warm, dancing light flowed through her, as unfaltering as what had poured into her heart these past few bloody minutes.
She did not balk. Did not fear.
The crown's weight was slight, like it had been crafted of moonlight. Yet its joyous strength was a song, undimming before the sole High Witch left standing.
So Manon kept walking.
She left Bronwen's sword a few feet away.
Left Wind-Cleaver several feet past that.
Iron nails out, teeth ready, Manon paused barely five steps from her grandmother.
A hateful, wasted scrap of existence. That's what her grandmother was.
She had never realized how much shorter the Matron stood. How narrow her shoulders were, or how the years of rage and hate had withered her.
Manon's smile grew. And she could have sworn she felt two people standing at her shoulder.
She knew no one would be there if she looked. Knew no one else could see them, sense them, standing with her. Standing with their daughter against the witch who had destroyed them.
Her grandmother spat on the ground, baring her rusted teeth.
This death, though ...
It was not her death to claim.
It did not belong to the parents whose spirits lingered at her side, who might have been there all along, leading her toward this. Who had not left her, even with death separating them.
No, it did not belong to them, either.
She looked behind her. Toward the Second waiting beside Dorian.
Tears slid down Asterin's face. Of pride- pride and relief.
Manon beckoned to Asterin with an iron- tipped hand.
Manon raised a hand. "Let her go."
When there was no trace of the Matrons left but blue blood and a headless corpse staining the snow, Manon turned toward the Crochans.
Their eyes were wide, but they made no move.
The Thirteen remained where they were, Dorian with them.
Manon scooped up both swords, sheathing Wind-Cleaver across her back, and stalked toward where Glennis and Bronwen stood, monitoring her every breath.
Wordlessly, Manon handed Bronwen her sword, nodding in thanks.
Then she removed the crown of stars and extended it toward Glennis. "This belongs to you," she said, her voice low.
The Crochans murmured, shifting.
Glennis took the crown, and the stars dimmed. A small smile graced the crone's face.
"No," she said, "it does not."
Manon didn't move as Glennis lifted the crown and set it again on Manon's head.
Then the ancient witch knelt in the snow.
"What was stolen has been restored; what was lost has come home again. I hail thee, Manon Crochan, Queen of Witches."
Manon stood fast against the tremor that threatened to buckle her legs.
Stood fast as the other Crochans, Bronwen with them, dropped to a knee. Dorian, standing amongst them, smiled, brighter and freer than she'd ever seen.
And then the Thirteen knelt, two fingers going to their brows as they bowed their heads, fierce pride lighting their faces.
"Queen of Witches," Crochan and Blackbeak declared as one voice.
As one people.
#Chapter 55#Chapter 56#Kingdom of Ash#Sarah J. Maas#Manon Blackbeak#Dorian Havilliard#Manorian#Asterin Blackbeak#The Thirteen#first read#read along#read with me#no spoilers please#First Read along with me NO SPOILERS PLEASE though warning for post & tags up to KoA 56 & more reacts/notes/quotes in tags below#The witches-alone-Morath-Glennis-Petrah why-don’t be poisoned-THE CROWN-her braid-their hatred & fear yet her forward#beyond what we give-is that a wyrdmark?-she would not-she would stand-not then but now becuase a cause-SHE WAS NOT AFRAID#he listened to her/believed in her-they did not tremble-they did not yield-she would not kneel-they came for her too-for them she did this#THE SWORD-uh yeah same-GONE WAS THAT WITCH-from the flame-AND HERE WAS THE LAST CROCHAN QUEEN-I love her#the wind answered-a queen of two people-convinction in her hearts fearless in her eyes and utterly unstoppable-you went for me#well Ansel said-SHE CROWNED HERSELF-matching crowns?-a phantom breeze the chill-the witch queen brow bow-that’s what she learned#they ran from her-mercy?-a debt-and one paid-true queens rising-a literal Star-not her death to claim-Asterin-manon I fucking love you#it’s yours-QUEEN OF WITCHES-Dorian smiled🥹-him watching his wife like same-he is us-short king-Iltsm#A sign enough of their intentions if her grandmother's hair was in that plait. Battle. Annihilation.—HAIR HOLDS POWER PEOPLE#Manon Kin-Slayer… a real rich name coming from her#because YOU are afraid-I kept reading peachy nonsense lol-chills-I’m gonna go cry-I love her#A blade through the world-shorter-bi bbs-the way she knows-it's a mate thing I swear-I'm not anyone's-#if you want someone who will allow that then ur wrong-shell keep him alive-double lines in the sand-your afraid-the word majesty#not back not now-a queen-a true queen against the world-afraid of everything-home?-HOLY SHIT RUN-mother matron crone#You're afraid-I will not be afraid-coward-the fear of fear-run now-hold the line-retreat and live-You’re afraid. Yes she was. Of everything#Fly Well they've run for a long time they know-but she would not-the truth time
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