#some of the graves probably belongs to previous golden guards.

[sheerakk]

Cementary visit gets disrupted by a wild witch

[evelynsfics]

The jealous phantoms that walk among us.

Ayame once stood as a cruel queen of a kingdom long reclaimed by the earth, now, she walks the streets as nothing more than a simple human, her true nature hidden behind her facade of fake innocence.

Tw: blood, dark themes

A/N: this is yet another fic based off of a dream I had last night. The lovely Ashe or @mind-in-the-cosmos here on Tumblr, from the Obey Me! Server I'm in, inspired me to write this as a full on fic.

Aki belongs to the Amazing @demon-simper.

Aki walked through the library, quickly scanning each one of the endless, shelves. Her golden eyes fell on an elegant, crimson tome with golden letters, "For the Queen's final breath", it read.

Aki narrowed her eyes, she gently traced her finger over a patch of deeper red, she had a sneaking suspision it was blood, but she was being drawn in by something ancient, and powerful.

She decided this would be the book that she'd write about, Satan was surprised when he saw her holding the heavy tome.

They sat down at one of the tables, and both began reading.

A blinding city sat upon a giant warship, gentle moonlight danced between the stars, leading the way deep beneath the ocean.

A queen in brilliant red, like a wildfire, her crown of ash and roses, bloodstained from countless battles.

Three traitors hid amongst the sheep for slaughter, waiting for their king to arrive. Holding onto strings for survival, deception and betrayal waiting at every corner.

The horns of war sound in the distance, breaking the ocean's calm, the sunken ships grasping for the bloodshed yet to come, ghostly hands reached up from the abyssal depths.

The tall, metal gate looked almost golden, ancient letters and symbols long forgotten in their original form.

The Queen knew it wouldn't hold forever, the traitors where clear as the shallow, flowing waters that gave life to the glass tree, its mosaic light reaching beyond the horizon.

"Guards," she spoke, her tone as cold as the anger held within her deep, brown eyes.

"Those three," she looked within the forming crowd, her piercing gaze met their shaky ones, wandering eyes moved like the water droplets on the beautiful stained glass.

They hoped to hear their Queen assure them with broken promises, yet what they truly yearned for was far more violent in it's true, destructive nature.

"Execute them" the words fell like a blessing upon the bloodthirsty demons below, they madly cheered as the succubi, no, the traitors, where apprehended and forced onto the sideways plank, standing next to each other, they realised they wouldn't see their kingdom leave in victory, for this Queen and her people, thrived in violence and death.

The previous Queen, Hana, despised violence. She hoped to solve her kingdom's problems by peaceful means. She managed to mend their relationships, but once she fell gravely ill, Ayame took over.

Her violent approach won her war after war, as the army's general, she fought on the front line. Her sword was one of beauty and elegance, the blade thin yet deadly, was crafted by the continent's most skilled warrior, the pure metal used gave it a golden shine underneath the silver starlight.

The succubi stood, awaiting their death, until it finally came.

The sharp sound of a blade slicing through the heavy air, followed by the splash of salt water, was only matched by the cruel smile dancing on Ayame's lips as she watched from above the crazed demons.

The gate finally gave way to the pressure of the enemy kingdom, countless succubi and incubi in darkened armor poured in, their shields looked like cloth infront of her own army and their weapons.

She watched, observing the masses slicing each other to bits, the cruel smile never leaving her rosy lips.

The archers marched through the now broken door, the pieces lay bloody on the floor, some fell to the sea, sunken to their final resting place.

An arrow was shot, the guard caught it before it could even come close to the Queen, she stood unwavering, even as the blood smeared her cheek, and coated the wooden floor, filling the air with its sickly sweet smell.

Excitement soon replaced the freezing anger in her eyes.

Two guards in all golden armor ushered her below the ship, in her private room. Ayame's royal crimson dress danced in the angry wind as she walked down the stone steps. The sound of her heels clicking accompanied her soft laughter.

When both of the guards finally left, her piercing eyes fell atop a corner, where the lanterns golden light failed to illuminate.

Her voice was muffled, the sound of the heavy, wooden door closing caught her words and echoed them back into the room.

"There's no need to hide," she began, walking over to where her sword was resting in its scarlet case.

"Your presence has already been revealed dear friend," she spoke as she removed her sword from it's sheath.

"Or perhaps, you are an enemy. Wouldn't that be quite the twist?" the amusement in her voice was hardly hidden, a cold gust of air snuffed out the light, her pale pink hair gently moving with the wind as she walked forward in complete darkness, the hushed smell of caramel only growing stronger as she moved.

Both Aki and Satan looked up at each other, the final page had been messily torn out, jagged edges of old, yellowed paper stuck out of the cover, a few words could be barely made out, death happened to be one of them.

A sigh left Aki's lips, she was clearly annoyed as she was looking forward to what would happen in the end. Satan reached up and patted her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"Devildom books are ancient, some have pages that have been ripped out, most aren't in perfect condition, and it makes it hard to read them." he explained, sighing at how precious stories and memories where handled so poorly.

Aki hummed, pushing back her chair, she got up, and so did Satan.

"I'll take it back home, if I'm going to write a paper on it, I want it to be as accurate as possible, I'll probably have to read it again" she spoke as she looked up at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Good luck on the assignment, I'll be here if you need help" He spoke, pushing his chair back in as she stood next to her.

As they walked home together, Aki couldn't help but think of the similarities between the evil queen in the book, and her friend, Ayame.

Somewhere, in some shitty back alley, a single, tattered page of a book finally unearthed, is soaked by blood red water, lost for all eternity. As a short girl wearing a muted olive jacket walks away, her pale pink hair swaying softly in the gentle wind.

She can't have her secrets revealed to all those she once ruled over eons ago.

That would mean surrendering the throne, the same throne she built with fire and the scarlet blood of those that dared oppose her. And she wasn't ready to let go of all she once had.

[choupetit]

GOT Recap: The Spoils of War

Airdate: 8/6/2017 ; Season 7, episode 4 

 So, I don’t mean to be dramatic or anything, but…OMG, THIS WEEK’S GAME OF THRONES WAS FREAKIN’ AMAZING!!! This episode was a beautiful gift from the TV gods with more reunions, more Jon and Dany, more Littlefinger side eye, and dragons galore! I’ve managed to gather up my jaw from the floor to bring you the recap of “The Spoils of War”, so let’s not waste another moment! 

But Jaime, I Want A Castle NOW! 

Ah, the spoils of war, indeed! The Lannister army has packed up all the goodies and gold they’ve won after their surprise attack on House Tyrell and they’re on their way home from Highgarden. Jaime Lannister grabs a hefty bag of gold from the money wagon and hands it to Bronn, then sends the driver on his merry way to King’s Landing. Mopey Bronn has a bad case of First World problems as he bitches and moans about how he wants a proper reward, like…oh, I don’t know, a castle…maybe even the one they just stormed. Jaime is all, “Seriously, dude? Quit yer whining, you just got a load of cash. Daenerys Targaryen would probably evict you in a week. And besides, castle upkeep is pricey.  Once you’ve paid the whole Downton Abbey staff and fed the moat monster, there’s barely enough money left to fill your Olympic-sized pool with champagne every day. You’ll get your pick of castles once we’ve won the war.” Bronn musters up the strength to silence his inner Veruca Salt as Randyll Tarly and Dickon (whom Jaime keeps calling Rickon) appear, and Jaime sends the three men off to shake down the local farmers for their harvest.

 Meanwhile at the Red Keep in King’s Landing, Queen Cersei tells the Iron Bank representative that she’s able to repay the full debt she owes. The money is on its way as they speak. The rep is duly impressed and informs Cersei that the bank will be happy to make a new loan for her next venture: Restoring her rule in Westeros. Cersei shares that she’s growing her army and has reached out to the Golden Company in Essos - your basic mercenary placement agency. As soon as the gold arrives, the rep assures Cersei that she’ll have the Iron Bank’s full lending support to pay for her hired guns. 

I Know What You Did Last (Long) Summer 

At Winterfell, Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger has a one-on-one meeting in Bran’s chambers to give him a gift: The dagger that was used in the assasination attempt against young Bran shortly after his tower-falling accident. The blade is made of Valyrian steel, btw. Littlefinger muses that it could be argued that this dagger launched the War of the Five Kings. He claims that it is his mission to protect the Stark children - anything Bran needs, Littlefinger is his guy. Gee, coming from a slimeball who arranged the worst marriage ever between Sansa and Vile Ramsay, I’d have to say that’s a hard pass. When Bran asks Littlefinger if he knows to whom the dagger belonged, Baelish says no. Littlefinger goes on to ponder that it’s so weird, doncha think, how the dagger led to all the craziness that happened to the Starks, and made Bran who he is today. He remarks that Bran must have seen unfathomable things beyond the Wall (cue laughter) and sympathizes that it must be odd to return to Winterfell among so much chaos. To which Bran flatly replies “Chaos is a ladder.” A hint of alarm flashes across Littlefinger’s face, and luckily for him, Meera Reed appears at the door and he has the perfect excuse to leave. 

Quick side note: If you, like me, were totally confused by Bran’s line, then rejoice for the interwebs! Apparently it’s a callback to a conversation Littlefinger had with Varys back in season 3, when the former said “Chaos is not a pit. Chaos is a ladder.“ 

Bran just out-creeped the resident creeper! Looks like Lord Baelish is going to have to recalibrate all those battles he is always fighting in his head to predict every scenario that could happen in real life! 

 As for Meera, she’s come to bid farewell. She tells Bran that she’d like to stay, but she needs to return to her family what with the snow zombie apocalypse coming, and Bran is about as safe as it gets now that he’s home. Bran goes, “K, cool. Gracias. Bye, Felicia.” Dumbfounded, Meera is all, “Really?! That’s all you’ve gotta say? Wtf, dude. Lots of people died or almost died helping you.” And Bran’s all, “Yeah, so…I’ve got a lot of data uploaded to my brain and it’s kinda hard to keep track of emotions and personality and stuff. But hey, girl, I vaguely remember what it’s like to have feelings and the old me is stoked that you were there for me, but the new me just can’t do this whole attachment thing right now.” Meera’s face crumbles and she says what we all have been thinking, "You died in that cave.” She fails to add “You may want to tone it down on the voyeuristic creepazoid thing, which is freaking everybody out." 

Just outside of Winterfell, Arya has arrived and is trying to convince some a-hole bouncers at the gate that this is her home. They don’t believe her and tell her to eff off, but she talks them into letting her into the courtyard while she waits for them to get Sansa. The guards squabble amongst themselves and when they turn, she’s gone. 

When the guards give Sansa the news of her little sister’s return, she knows exactly where to look for Arya. In the underground mausoleum, Arya stands at her father’s grave when Sansa arrives. It’s a sweet reunion as Arya’s first words are "Do I have to call you Lady Stark now?” And Sansa replies, stone-faced, “Yes.” She breaks into a smile, and the sisters hug warmly. Each hints to the other that they’ve been though hell since they last saw each other. Arya is eager to know if Sansa really killed King Joffrey, and when Sansa says no, Arya tells her he was at the top of her kill list. Sansa thinks she’s joking and Arya lets her. Sansa informs her baby sister that Bran is home, too, and the look on her face screams “Gurl, things are pretty cray around here." 

 The sisters meet up with their brother at the Godswood Tree, which is Bran’s version of “Central Perk”…without the friends, java, or general joie-de-vivre. Arya throws her arms around Bran, who looks like he’s absentmindedly trying to recall typical human interactions, and gives her an awkward emotionless hug. He tells her he saw her at the crossroads to King’s Landing and Winterfell, and seems a bit surprised that she is here. Wait a second, did he only briefly flip to the Arya channel and not bother to see what came next? I thought this guy was all-seeing/knowing! Harrumph! He shows both sisters the dagger he received from Littlefinger. Arya immediately notes it’s made of Valyrian steel while Sansa warns that Littlefinger never does anything for anybody without wanting something in return. Bran don’t care. He gives the dagger to Arya, saying she’ll get more use from it than a cripple. I can’t help feeling he knows that Arya is going to have a run-in with some Whitewalkers and will find that dagger mighty handy. 

Then I Saw His Cave, Now I’m A Believer 

At Dragonstone, Queen Daenerys and Missandei are walking down to the beach to meet up with Jon Snow, who has found a cave full of Dragonglass, which he’s ready to mine. Jon calls Dany over. "Yo gurl…I wanna show you something inside this dark cavern…” and everybody immediately goes “Oooooh, Ygritte be spinning in her grave!” But this is Jon we’re talking about, and he legit wants to show her a bunch of cave drawings that he believes were made by the Children of the Forest. I'mma start to call them Toddlers of the Forest because they draw on walls, make rash decisions, and leave ginormous messes for others to clean up. 

 Dany is amazed by the artwork in the cave and marvels that it could have been made before men even existed. But Jon’s all “Nuh uh, look over here.” And we see crude drawings of men and then…Whitewalkers. Jon’s all, “See, queenie? Living proof! They worked together to defeat their common enemy. Case closed! You believe me now?” I cannot properly express just how badly I wanted the camera to pan down to his hand holding a piece of chalk, or show a close-up of the tiny initials J.S. etched underneath the Whitewalker stick figures. 

Dany tells Jon she will fight for him on one condition: Bend the damn knee! But Jon is all “Yeah, but no, ‘cuz my people won’t accept a Southern ruler, so that’s not gonna fly.” To which Dany goes, “They will if their king tells them to. It would be a shame for them all to die, just because you couldn’t get over yourself.”

 They emerge from the cave to bad news from Tyrion Lannister and Varys: Casterly Rock is won, but…oopsies, Dany’s fleet was destroyed and Highgarden is toast, too. Oh, and Cersei has made sure that all food has been removed from The Reach, so Dany's army of Unsullied will starve on their way back on foot. Daenerys is furious.  She’s lost all her allies and it seems the conversation she had with Lady Olenna about ignoring advice from clever men is really speaking to her. She wants to hop a dragon and go nuclear on King’s Landing. Tyrion strongly advises against it, but Dany points out that he’s been pretty sucky in the advice department.  She even suggests that perhaps Tyrion is purposely giving bad counsel to protect his family. Burn.  She turns to her Northern visitor and asks “What Would Jon Do?” and the reply is “Well, if I was trying to win the love and loyalty of all of Westeros and set myself apart from all previous and current rulers, I sure as hell wouldn’t lay fiery waste to an entire city, killing thousands of civilians.” You can practically hear Tyrion’s inner monologue screaming “Yes!!!! Thank you, Voice of Reason!" 

 Back at Winterfell, Brienne and Podrick are sparring in the courtyard, when Arya comes along and tells Brienne she wants to train with the woman who beat The Hound in battle. We get a sweet sequence of Arya showing off her badass fighting skills while Sansa and Littlefinger look on from the mezzanine and Sansa seems to be wondering "Wtf is going ON with all my siblings?!” Arya has an exhilarated smile on her face as she fights and eventually bests Brienne. When Brienne asks who taught her to fight like that, Arya grins and says “No one”. She looks up and sees Littlefinger and her smile fades fast. Is he on her kill list, I wonder.

 Hundreds of miles away, Jon and Ser Davos are walking the walls of Dragonstone and Davos asks what Jon thinks of Dany, hinting that she is a hottie. Jon’s all “Dammit, man, I don’t have time to date right now, I’m trying to save my people and all of humanity.” They encounter Missandei on their walk and she tells them what an inspiration Dany is to all the people who follow her. They notice a Good Greyjoy ship and head to the shore where Theon arrives by boat. Jon tells Theon he would kill him if it weren’t for the fact that Theon helped Sansa escape from Ramsay Bolton. Theon tells them he needs Dany’s help to rescue his sister from Uncle Euron, but Jon replies “Dany ain’t here, yo." Hmmm, where could she be? 

Don’t Mess With The Dragon Mama

On an open field, still a distance from Kings Landing, a large group of the Lannister army is taking a rest while Jaime and Bronn look on. Commander Randyll Tarly rides up and informs Jaime Lannister that the gold has been safely transported to Cersei. He says the soldiers need to catch up with the front end of the regiment at the Blackwater rush and asks for permission to flog any stragglers as motivation to get moving. You get the sense that he considers flogging others a perk of the job.  Ugh, Randyll is such a miserable guy. 

Jaime and Bronn ask Rickon - I mean Dickon! - what he thought of his very first battle at Highgarden and he confesses it was hard to fight men he grew up with…and surprisingly stinky. Bronn smugly points out it’s the smell of men pooping their pants when they die. Lovely imagery there, dude. Suddenly Bronn realizes things have gotten too quiet. Jaime is on high alert and shouts to the soldiers to get into formation, because something’s a comin’. 

The tension is palpable. In the distance we see a horde of Dothraki closing in. Hurrah for Team Dany! Although, it’s kind of a conflicting feeling of triumph, because I hate Queen Cersei, but I’m also rather fond of Jaime and Bronn.  Maybe they’ll be aight…hopefully. I know the term "epic battle” is brought out often, especially where Game of Thrones is involved (deservedly so), but believe me when I say what follows truly is an epic, heart-racing battle scene. Words can’t do it justice, but here are some of the need-to-know highlights: 

 The Dothraki ride in like the unhinged, badass warriors they are, and as they get closer and closer to the Lannister army you just know a dragon is gonna appear soon. And appear it does! Drogon swoops over the horde, taking the lead, and we get a close-up of Dany on his back as she says “Dracarys!” and her Dragon spews out a stream of fire onto the shocked Lannister army. Total chaos ensues as burning men flail and run and we get lots of breathtakingly awesome shots of Drogon just shooting out flames like a laser beam, making a barbecue of any poor soul who happens to be in the line of fire. Meanwhile the Dothraki are handling things on the ground. 

 Amidst the madness, Jaime instructs Bronn to get to the wagon with Cersei’s secret weapon: Qyburn’s jumbo dragon-slaying crossbow. In true Bronn fashion we get the retort “Why me?” -“Cause it takes two working hands, ya jerk, DO IT!!!" 

 A Dothraki warrior singles out Bronn as he makes his way through the burning hellscape, and there’s a sad moment for all animal lovers when Bronn’s horse loses a leg.  Bronn eventually gets the upper hand when he reaches the giant crossbow and fires it at his Dothraki assailant - skewering him. I mean…they ARE at a barbecue, after all. 

 As Dany continues to soar over the disoriented mass of soldiers and Drogon sets things ablaze, Bronn takes aim at the creature. He misses the first time, but the second shot hits Drogon in the chest. It’s not an immediately fatal shot, but the dragon falls from the sky.  Somehow the beast manages to regain enough control to land with Dany still safely perched on his back. Jaime is about a football field’s distance from where Dany and Drogon have landed, and Dany is trying to remove the massive spear from Drogon’s chest. 

Tyrion and Varys look on from a great distance and Tyrion mutters "You effing idiot!” when he sees Jaime charging toward Dany on horseback. Just as Jamie is mere feet away, Daenerys turns around and Drogon turns his head to blow a giant stream of fire at Jaime. But before the inferno can engulf him, somebody rides up and knocks Jaime from his horse and both men fall into a conveniently-placed body of water. Jaime sinks deeper and deeper into the water and…the credits roll. 

 Holy Mother of Dragons! What an intense final 20 minutes that was! The music and camerawork were simply perfect and I loved the sequence of Bronn making his way to the dragon-killing weapon - it was shot beautifully and conveyed the disorienting horror of the battle. I was covering my face for the whole battle scene, cringing and shouting expletives at the screen, praying that no Dragons would die. 

 Man oh man! Still kind of recovering from the excitement. I’m hoping desperately that Drogon’s wounds aren’t fatal. Dany can’t lose her favorite dragon-child! Perhaps it’s time to invest in some dragon-sized chainmail. 

Pretty sure Jaime will survive - at least till the next episode - and my guess is that Dickon saved him, and will be getting more screen time. Even though this was a set-back for Cersei, I’m sure she’ll return with a vengeance once her hired hands from Essos come to town. 

 It’s great to have all the legit Stark kids back home and I’m loving the buddy pair-up of Arya and Brienne. Although poor Sansa is all “Damnit, I’m stuck with Littlefinger while everybody else gets to have all the fun.” What will Baelish do next? I feel like he probably wants to peace out of Winterfell, considering there is a highly trained assassin in the hizzy and a know-it-all who likely has seen every scheme and backstabbing thing Littlefinger has ever done. I think it’s high time for Bran to start giving people some useful info instead of just being all “I’ve been working on this cool time traveling Peeping Tom hobby lately” with everybody he meets; giving Arya the dagger is a good start. 

 Next week it looks like we’re getting some Whitewalker action, or, at the very least, an update on the Wildlings at East Watch. Will Jon finally “bend the knee” in order to get a dragon on loan from Dany to help out his pals in the north? He’s just gotta suck it up and do it, right? But will Dany even be able to spare any of her Unsullied what with Cersei’s sneaky outmaneuvering at Casterly Rock? So much can happen! With only three episodes left, every minute is precious and I’m pretty optimistic the final episodes are going to deliver mucho good times! Hang tight until next week, my dears!