#the side with Soma dies

[deathfavor]

“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

Now when I tell you this is Soma and Seiroku coded-

[kotaerukoto]

Thinking more abt DR1. The tragedy of the DR1 characters has a unique strength to me, precisely because we know that absent of Junko's Mutual Killing, they all eventually end up getting along pretty decently! Probably one of the most relevant examples for my muse is Makoto's relationship with Maizono-- in settings without the Mutual Killing such as Development Mode and Talent Development Plan, their interactions are nothing but friendly, supportive, and even sometimes a little intimate. It's not difficult to infer that during the single regular year at Hope's Peak, they got along just as well or were moving towards that. And all of that just makes what happens during the main game to the whole cast, not just Makoto and Maizono, even more of a bitter pill to swallow since along with their memories Junko stole even intangible things like relationships. Another example of this is Oowada and Fujisaki: that picture Monokuma (Junko) "dropped" really says it all...

[yeonban]

What if I kiII everyone in this room and then myself

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Prince Soma: possibly being the key that causes Ciel to have a conflict with Sebastian?

I don't know if im the first one to notice how Anime!Abberline and manga! Prince Soma have some very striking parallels when it comes to their relationship to O!Ciel, which made me realize a few things.

First of all, I do think that some concepts of season 1 in general do parallel to the manga. Here's an excellent analysis on the topic if you want to dive deeper on that area.

Alright, let's start with me drawing some parallels to make this analysis more digestable, and then explaning how this will theoretically give us a conflict between the demon butler and our petty child.

Basically, Abberline drawing the similarties with our earl due to a shared trauma/tragedy: They both lost their families, but one learned to heal from the event, and the other completely refuses to accept happiness. (guess who's who, lol)

Fundamentally, O!Ciel is creating a hypothetical comparassion: If he hadn't gone through his personal tragedy, then he would've been as naive and innocent as Soma.

Something to consider about this parallel: The narrative in both cases textually highlights the similarities between Ciel and Abberline/Soma.

O!Ciel saying he only needs pawns, and that he has no time to have real emotional connections with people.

O!Ciel saying he uses people as pawns and doesn't see Soma as a friend, he doesn't need him by his side.

Notes to take here:

In both of these instances, o!Ciel refueses to form real human connection.

Both of these convesations spark up due to confrontation about o!Ciel's true intentions and nature.

His face is turned on both scenes/pannels, making us question how genuine o!Ciel's words are.

"Keep your distance from me, or you'll get killed" - Ciel to Abberline, season 1 episode 20

o!Ciel explicitly stating why he kept Prince Soma at arms lenght. He didn't want him and Agni to get hurt/killed in result of their closeness to our earl.

Things to point out:

o!Ciel's entire reason to push people away is because he doesn't want them to get hurt, so his earlier refusal to cut ties with others is due to fear and hestiance to accept love.

Abberline got hurt because of his relationship with o!Ciel, likewise with Soma. Causing our earl to display emotional reactions in both cases, demostrating he does care for the people close to him.

While Abberline ended up dying due to his closeness to our earl, Soma did survive the attack in chapter 125, but a part of him died with Agni as shown in the image below:

Remember when o!Ciel said that he would've turned out like the prince if it weren't for the amount of abuse and grief he went through? Well, isn't it ironic that Soma is turning out exactly like o!Ciel after losing Agni: Turning his back to salvation, his heart longing for revenge after the injustice he was put through.

(I also want to point out, Yana had made a statement that Prince Soma was originally going to die instead of Agni, but changed her mind in respect for Agni's character.)

Now, lets run back to the title of this post:

"You do have a chance to move forward, to build a brand new future for yoursef. Don't ever forget that, promise, you won't." - Abberline, Black Butler season 1, episode 20

Before our dear investigator dies, he states that he wants o!Ciel to open up his world despite his desire for revenge.

How does this connect to Soma's resolve and his relationship to Ciel? Well...

Here, our prince boasts that he wants to become o!Ciel's "Agni." In other words, he wants to provide his friend with love and protection, creating a positive worldview for the earl, who continues to turn away from the light.

It's important to note that this was before Soma thought o!Ciel killed Agni! But of course, I feel like his initiaal intentions to help o!Ciel will come back when he finds out o!Ciel isnt the true killer. (also, Soma now has Agni's powers, so atleast physically, he already has his strenght that he will hopefully use to protect the ones around him.)

So, now what?

Anime!Abberline and Soma having a similar resolve for o!Ciel, as well as their relationship with him. (as if it isn't clear enough, Abberline died protecting o!Ciel, making the earl realize his own life has value).

Prince Soma has his back turned away from the light, and o!Ciel will witness this eventually. I think it's crystal clear that our earl wouldn't want the prince to make this decision, but wouldn't that make him doubt his own quest for revenge?

Circling back to Yana intending for Soma to die, there could be a chace for him to die while becoming o!Ciels "Agni", causing o!Ciel to realize how Soma died protecting him due to love and not bc of revenge, making him question everything about his own resolve??? Plus, if o!Ciel willingly gives his life now, then that would make Soma's sacrifice worthless.

There could be a slight chance, Prince Soma survives this whole ordeal, and completes his mission of protecting o!Ciel without dying. In this hypothetical, he would then decide to florish again and go back to india, which could give o!Ciel a similar relazation that maybe, his life is worth living, just like Soma's.

In the anime, Abberline's sacrifice causes our earl to truly question his contract with Sebastian, as well as his need for revenge.

This causes the demon to feel obvious anger towards his master. And throughout the following episodes, he desperately attempts to make the earl feel hopeless again. (he clearly doesn't want to lose the meal he has been working on for years).

In conclusion:

Theres plenty of textual evidence that Soma and the earl have lots in common, especially now that the prince lost someone and vows to get revenge.

o!Ciel and Soma's relationship with revenge as of now are in a similar stance, but Soma's initial idea of protecting o!Ciel and living for love instead of revenge will come in fruition soon enough.

What would be the point of having glaring obvious parallels, and not taking advantage of them to further create a long awaited conflict between the two main characters, additionally developing them?

Anyways, that's all I have to say folks! I hope you enjoyed my take and please, let me know your thoughts:)

[zetsubo-bani]

Scenes/characters I expect to see after blue revenge arc

Just to clarify, with blue revenge arc I'm referring to this mission arc we currently have. I doubt r!ciel will be defeated after the missions are over so I will probably give it a different name whatever follows after we've seen o!ciel and sebastian at the hotel.

For obvious reasons I will exclude o!ciel and sebastian, they are literally the protagonists, ofc we will see them again. Undertaker and r!ciel will also be excluded since they are the major antagonists right now and will also definitely appear again.

So let's begin:

1. An interrogation scene between layla and the reapers

Remember that layla got captured by ronald and william? I definitely expect layla to make a return once she arrived in the shinigami corp. I'm not sure if I expect ronald to be there but william definitely will be and I can also see grell and othello watching since we haven't seen the two in quite a while

2. Another interrogation scene in scotland yard headquarters

Blavat got arrested and was supposed to be put into prison and later appear in court alongsides o!ciel but since he and sebastian already escaped, blavat is the only one in prison. Considering scotland yard just freshly captured blavat, an interrogation about his motives is to be expected

3. Some focus on the midfords

Lizzy is included as well (but that was the best picture I found). They obviously need to deal with the whole drama themselves and I definitely expect them to reappear and talk to each other about what they think about the twins drama and lizzys depression

4. Sieglinde and wolfram with their research and planning

Sieglinde still has the blood samples from the sphere music hall and surely must have read what happened in the newspaper. I don't think she will just sit by and do nothing for the rest of the manga, I'm certain they will appear again somehow

5. A reunion between the servants, lau and ran mao

Sebastian and o!ciel will probably be there too (or not depending on their mission) but I do expect those 5 to see each other again and exchange how their missions went. I think that's where they will find out that snake died

6. The queen and her servants

Girlie has been awfully quiet since the twin reveal and I wonder when she will appear again. R!ciel mentioned needing to hold a audience with her but being too weak right now so who knows when she will appear again. I do think it will happen somehow

7. The p4 reuniting

I don't think we will get something too big but I definitely think they will appear again. They were part of the sphere music hall so the police was on the lookout for them anyways. I do expect them to appear again and talk to violet since we haven't seen them reunite after blavat nearly killed violet

8. Soma focus (?)

Now I wasn't sure if I should include him since I'm pretty certain he will be in the hotel that o!ciel and sebastian will visit next. But if he isn't in the hotel then he will definitely still appear afterwards. That man can not completely dip after agni died and he still falsely believes it was o!ciel

9. Tanaka (maybe with the servants?)

Tanaka is still with r!ciel and undertaker but we haven't seen him in a good while. I do think we will see him again once yana finally shows r!ciel again. I theorize that maybe we will see some reunion between the servants and tanaka but that's probably something I just really want to see. I doubt tanaka will leave r!ciels side since he did say that he's forever serving the head/heir of phantomhive and o!ciel wasn't supposed to be

10. Some flashback with vincent

That smug bastard will appear, I know it. I'm pretty sure he must have done something to end up dead so I think we will get a focus on him in a potential flashback from r!ciel. Afterall since r! ciel was raised to be the heir, I'm certain he spent more time with vincent than o!ciel did and probably did catch a few things here and there. Maybe that would explain why r!ciel caught onto the fact that something was off much quicker than o!ciel did

That was my little theory on who/what I think will appear/happen in the next arc after the missions. Hope you liked it!

If you have any corrections, additional thoughts or agree with anything, please let me know!

[redthefortuneteller]

About Snake's death

*Edit: I had to edit out a mistake I made, which was that I wrongly assumed the 20+ people Agni hung upside down in London had died! Thank you for letting me know in the comments and apologies for that! The main focus of the post still stands of course, which is to consider and wonder how the rules of justice in Kuro are applied and which are the rules exactly, if there are any. I also couldn't deny myself of adding a few other things, I once again hope you will tolerate my tendency to ramble on too much!*

From what is generally understood, Yana has a penchant for punishing characters for their wrong doings. I'd mentioned before that we can see this in Snake's case with him getting cut in the same side of the neck that Phelps got the snake bite on. It doesn't look like a coincidence, especially knowing how Yana operates in terms of details and foreshadowing. *Edit: I should like to add that Phelps dying was an accident. Snake, although he wanted to kill Smile, really didn't kill Phelps, specifically, on purpose. I've read someone argue that Snake isn't even to blame for the murder as it was a black mamba who killed Phelps, not Snake. I do not share that opinion, simply because he was the one who sent the snake. But it's still an interesting thought to consider as in "what does the author think or consider in this case?"* This being said, it's still a little hard to stomach that Snake should be dealt with in this way. I will try to explain what I mean. He died not even properly acknowledging Doll's presence, nor all his snakes surrounding him. He saw Finny leaving him behind. He died alone in his mind, wondering why he had such a horribly unfair life, treated like an animal, getting tricked and lied to by everyone, not understanding why or having anyone explain anything to him about why he was made a fool by everyone.

As he had just realized he was in the middle of it all, he was killed. He was dead before he could understand what had been happening all this time. Take Agni for instance, one of my dear long time favourite characters. He died a violent death, but at least died peacefully and happy that he got a chance at redeeming himself by doing good and living for Soma, after his sinful past in which he said he'd lived a life of sin in India and that he "hurt a lot of people". He did get sentenced to death but we don't know for certain, if what he'd done included killing. So I will still refrain from taking that into account. *Edit: Here's a link to a separate post I made, explaining why I assumed Agni had killed those people in London*

So all things considered, why did Agni die with a smile on his face, while Snake died with "why-?" as his last words? Indeed, why..?

I wonder if Yana is also taking into consideration the envenomation of the soldiers in the Emerald Witch arc to up the numbers? If we were to consider this to be Yana's "sword of justice" (haha sounds quite dramatic!), should we expect to see other characters dying such abominable deaths? Because there are so many characters who have killed a lot people and others that have killed some. Starting with the Phantomhive servants and ending with Wolfram, it could be a lengthy list. *Edit: Take Baldroy for example, he likely killed too many to even count. If there's such a concept as a "sword of justice", I dread to even wonder what will happen to him in the end.* Of course, don't consider for a moment that I'm wishing such things! I'm simply entertaining the possibility of this implicit method of justice being employed by the author, if, we were to consider that Snake's death came as a sort of payback for Phelps, that is all. Part of me wishes Snake's death would have been handled with a little more gentleness and grace. As he's such a kind hearted character... he didn't even get the chance to understand what he'd unknowingly gotten dragged into. But alas, this is the Kuroshitsuji universe after all where life's injustices are abound!

Thank you for reading and a virtual hug to all of you who love Snake! ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

[darkspellmaster]

As kuroshitsuji gets a hiatus to make way for Yana to prepare for the climax, what are your current thoughts or predictions to how the next events will unfold? How long do you think we still have before the loose end of the story gets tied together?

Also.. do you think Lizzie will still have a chance to return to Our!Ciel, or will it be too late for her/them? I have a horrible thought that she might end getting injured or killed (I really hope she won't though 😭) but I still hope there will still be time for them to explore and acknowledge their feelings for each other, no matter the nature of it.

And what about Soma? I really hope he finds out the truth soon that it wasn't his best friend who killed Agni :< he can't drop out of the series not knowing anything sksksks

I absolutely love these two characters so I hope we get to see them return to the earl's side eventually

Thoughts for Yana going on break. GOOD! Girl needs it, she hasn't had a break ever, and avoided it even when her mother passed in 2011. So yeah I'm all for her going on a trip.

Few things are crossing my mind. First, the stranger, Barnabus, who showed up to greet Sebastian and O!Ciel, I have a feeling he's going to be someone like Blavat. He knows things. Honestly I feel like the young Earl is going to have to come face to face with some aspects of himself, and possibly the fact that Sebastian liked to trick him into the contract.

My guess, at least a few months after the break, and probably a year or more for it to conclude. I'm of the opinion that Lizzie is going to be like Gerda from the Snow Queen and be the one that saves O!Ciel from Sebastian in the end. I think the kids from FOL are going to play a part, (what I'm worried about with Theo is that HE's going to be the one that gets with Lizzie since HE fits Ciel to a T and Finny even implies that he's the most like his young master) in dealing with R!Ciel and Undertaker. I honestly think UT isn't clued in about how R!Ciel may have helped in the deaths of Vincent and Rachel. I honestly think there will be for the two of them. I'm wondering if Yana will end up doing what Kaori Yuki did and split the series into two. In that case we had Godchild and Count Cain. In this case I wonder if we'll have Black Butler and something else. So that would allow more exploration with Ciel and Lizzy. God I'm going all over the place with this because so many theories in my head right now. Soma I think will come back and protect Ciel, he's going to be his Agni going forward and keep Ciel safe from things. I think he knows that O!Ciel and R!Ciel are two different people and realized that it wasn't O!Ciel that killed Agni. If I was a betting person, given what Yana has said in tweets: Druitt is the final big bad and not the Queen as she stated that he is always there when important things happen.

(We've seen it with each arc where something happens. Jack the Ripper (Madam Red dies and we get the Reapers), the curry arc he's a judge, Circus I think he's mentioned only, Ship arc he's trying to take over the world, Public school he connects Redmond to Stoker, He's seen as the Red house leader in the Green witch, He probably will show up in Brighten. Also the guy is based on Alister Crowley, the famed Occultist, so Yeah...I'm banking on him being behind the whole thing.

Already has a connection to Vincent via the past.

Noble and a doctor

Has the goal and desire to be a king

Dude was willing to sell Ciel as a girl to the highest bidder.

There's more there, but maybe I should do it as a theory.

O!Ciel and Lizzie are going to be the Kai and Gerda of this story and in order to stop Sebastian, Lizzy is going to have to cry out the seal in some way and remove it with tears.

Soma is going to be the one that protects Ciel from R!Ciel and helps beat him.

I feel like by the end, Sebastian just isn't going to want to eat Ciel since it would be no longer fun for him. Or he can't because of Ciel's connection to Undertaker.

I hope so too. Soma will be coming into my story though.

[correctproseka]

Been thinking about absolutely strong An has been through this event.

- Finds out her aunt died from her uncle after he said her team would never beat RAD Weekend in their lifetime

- Watched her colleagues (EVER, Arata, Kotaru) get decimated in a singing battle SECONDS AFTER by the same uncle who broke the sad news to them (Arata especially getting Shredded from Taiga’s remarks about carrying dreams since he carries Soma’s dream of becoming the best singer ever)

- Later performing against said uncle with her team WHILE STILL PROCESSING NAGI’S DEATH, WHAT TAIGA IS DOING, and other thoughts racing in her head, only to get eviscerated by him sINCE SHES GOING THROUGH A LOT AT THE MOMENT MENTALLY (“Your Aunt’s dead, your team wont ever beat me, lets have a rap battle now!!” - Taiga)

- Seeing said colleagues leave seemingly forever because their dreams have been shattered, only having her own team

- Her father finding them and telling her the whole truth, which included the reason why until now everyone had been LYING TO HER FOR YEARS about Nagi’s condition

AND THIS HAPPENS ALL IN ONE DAY

AND SHE GETS RIGHT BACK UP AFTER A FEW MOMENTS OF GRIEVING NAGI’S DEATH

She gets back up, thats true, but lets make a few things clear.

She only gets back up because she has her team and her dad. If anyone in her team had given up, i dont think she could've handled. And as much as she is rightfully angry at her dad, he is also a good reason she can stay as confident as she is.

Plus, we know that whatever happened was NOT acceptance, well, it kind of was, but also not. You know the stages of grief are.. weird. An skipped denial (or we can count those three years as denial), right into anger- and she unleashed that anger while singing, and is angry at her town and at her dad- and in between anger she has depression, i would say they're both so intertwined you can barely see which is which. She can't bargain, or maybe she's bargaining at herself, she cant fully break down in front of Taiga, or until she learns of everything.

And once she does, more at side cards than in the actual story. Here comes the acceptance, alongside again more depression. You just know she possibly cried herself to sleep that night- if she slept at all. But also, yes, An is strong, but we cant just ignore the fact that she set her feelings to the side enough to cry at a safe place- and that she has her team to lift her up.

Because for one. Nagi is right. If An knew about it before she met Kohane, and before they formed Vivid Bad Squad, An would have given up on music all together, not that she wasn't strong then, she would have gotten over with that situation, probably EASIER without yknow. Knowing it three years later. But also the main reason she was into music would be gone, so what was the point? Now she has more people- and more reasons- to be into music.

Just adding salt to the wound yknow.

Also my headcanon is that after An was. Like yknow, not fighting tears just because of Nagi's name (which took like a full week), Ken took her to the cemetery where Nagi is, which made An cry all over again but helped her mourn since she never had the chance to, he walked away to give them a bit of privacy while An talks to the grave to give Nagi updates about her life and in the end, she feels more determined than ever, she leaves a little drawing of the vbs logo on top of it and goes back more at peace than when she came in.

[existingtm]

I think Soma and Lizzie are going to have parallel arcs in that they both turn on O!Ciel initially but have to confront that decision down the line

I'm curious if they'll rejoin him in fighting on his side, and if they'll interact with each other during this conflict. Lizzie seems like she's going to return to O!Ciel. She's clearly in the midst of a crisis of conscience, and I don't think she's going to be able to convince herself she made the right decision for much longer. I'm not as sure about Soma yet. It wouldn't be too difficult to clear up any misunderstanding about who killed Agni, but we don't know what state of mind Soma's currently in. We'll have to wait and see

It would be tragic if Soma and Lizzie take different sides, or if one of them dies while the other lives. They're both sweet characters... Regardless of what happens, however tragic or not, I'd like to see them interact more.

I would also be surprised and delighted if we only think Soma doesn't know about the twins. It would be fun if Yana made us worry only to spring a happy surprise on us for once- lol

[sapphic-woes]

Omg what about maid reader gets injured protecting Ambessa from an attack or something ??

Over protective Ambessa >>> 🥺

I sat on this for a bit and I think it's cuz the over protective part. I wrote smth similar to this with Soma, and I mentioned that if you were hurt Soma would send out people to catch the culprit but she'd stay by your side until you felt safe/were treated.

Ambessa would do the opposite.

I imagine that if you somehow threw yourself in the middle of the battle (which tbh I think she'd think was quite dumb lmao. She's taken lots of hits before–you'll break after one in her eyes) and got hurt in place of her, she'd be furious. At you, at them, at herself, everyone. She'd probably grab you roughly, give you to the nearest soldier.

"I'm trusting her to you." Words that barely contain her rage is all your hazy mind can hear, and maybe you pass out.

But the soldier?

They stand there, and they watch a bloodbath occur. They're reminded why Ambessa is their warlord. Why she's held that position for so long despite others coveting it.

It's because the others died, becoming nothing but red painting her sword. They were reduced to futile begging and haunting screams, panicked attempts of escape only to be dragged back to her.

Ambessa Medarda stands amongst corpses. She drags one by the ankle towards you two. The sick sound of sticky blood stretching and smearing across the ground makes the soldier want to vomit. They're too scared to though.

They're frozen. No–shaking–sweat beading on their neck and arms barely holding you up in their arms, legs wobbling like they'll give out any second.

Ambessa stops before you two. She only looks at you. She raises a bloody hand to trace your cheekbones. You mumble with half open eyelids.

"Dear," the tenderness in her voice is a sharp contrast to what she says, "How do you want me to kill the man who hurt you?" The soldier blinks, realizing the body Ambessa has isn't dead, and it is the man who hurt you in the first place. Stiff, the soldier watches you blink, smile sleepily at the warlord, and...

...fall back asleep with a mutter of "Pretty."

Ambessa and the soldier stand in silence, save for the groans coming from your assailant. Finally, Ambessa sighs.

"I'll keep him imprisoned for now."

[beevean]

Random analysis of how the various Alt. Modes in the Castlevania games might take place in the story

Pre-game:

Sisters Mode (PoR). The game ends the moment Brauner's room is reached, where we see him killing Eric and turning Stella and Loretta into vampires. It has two cutscenes with dialogue, and it's even possible to calculate when it takes place: two years before the events of the game.

Imprecise sidestory:

Julius Mode (AoS). Unlike many alt. modes, it's easy to imagine this happening in parallel with Soma's adventure, simply stopping at the moment of Graham's death.

What If?:

Joachim Mode (LoI). Joachim manages to break out of his prison and kills Walter himself, becoming Lord of the castle. This What If accidentally breaks the entire series, as it's implied Leon died to Joachim and Mathias is not there to collect Walter's soul, but it is a fun scenario to think about.

Julius Mode (DoS). Deliberately so, as you unlock this mode by getting the bad ending and this story is a continuation from that point. It has an actual plot with dialogue, and the final boss is completely different, being Dark Lord Soma.

Plot? What plot?

Richter Mode (SoTN). The game ends with the fight against Shaft, which in theory should mark the moment he takes control of him, but his death makes the castle crumble. The Reverse Castle also exists without reason.

Maria Mode (SoTN). Identical to Richter Mode.

Maxim Mode (HoD). No relics to collect, Evil Maxim doesn't exist, and Maxim only fights Dracula Wraith's second form as the final boss. It's an extended boss rush.

Trevor Mode (CoD). It could have counted as a side story to Hector's, but canonically Trevor gets taken down before Dracula's castle. It can be seen as a What If where Trevor accomplished what he was set to do rather than Hector.

Albus Mode (OoE). It looks as if it takes place pre-game, as Wygol Village is empty implying Albus had already kidnapped them, but the mode progresses until the end instead of ending at Mystery Manor like by plot. There is no explanation as to why he fights his own doppelganger (in Joachim and Trevor's cases, they have encountered doppelgangers before; Albus' also still calls for Shanoa), and he can defeat Dracula without Glyphs.

Straight up impossible:

Richter Mode (PoR). This and Old Axe Armor Mode are pretty much rewards with no lore meaning.

[lentendays]

Kuroshitsuji 209 Theory

Snake will be a bizarre doll.

Let me explain. I don't think Snake's role is over. Yana hasn't really been in the habit of fridging characters without payoff, and Snake's arc hasn't paid off yet.

When Snake reappeared at the end of the Murder Mystery arc, we established two things:

1) Snake wanted to kill "Smile" for doing something to his family, the circus troupe

2) Ciel employed Snake under the lie that they were going to find his family

These two things immediately foreshadow future conflict, where Snake will inevitably find out the Phantomhive household massacred the Noah's Ark circus. At the start of his employment, he wouldn't have hesitated to try to kill them for it. But we get to know Snake more - he's kind, insecure and shy, willing to give a job his all, and responds most to kindness from others. He gets treated well by Ciel and the servants; told that his looks don't matter, given an education and housing, and has saved Ciel on more than one occasion. We don't know who he would choose once the truth comes out, and that presents great conflict. With Doll showing up, we knew this reveal was going to come.

And it did, and it broke Snake, then he died saving a boy from Doll. But that doesn't seem to be the end.

The major deaths we've seen in Black Butler have all happened for a reason to drive the plot forward; Madame Red was discovered to be Jack the Ripper and her death served to introduce Grell and shinigami. Her story was over. Agni died at peace, protecting Soma, who has now turned into a vengeful possibly inhuman force. His story had little arc beyond protecting Soma and suspecting Sebastian, and it heartbreakingly concluded well. We are still picking at the mystery behind the Phantomhive parents' deaths.

Snake's death offered no new information and did not conclude his arc. He was still in denial and wondering what was happening in his last moments. If Yana wanted to kill off a major character for shock value, Bardroy could have died in the previous arc. We had his backstory and there was nothing new to share. But he didn't die.

For Snake - who has a lot more story to tell - to die for a child we just met, having been unable to process his love for the circus and the Phantomhives and what he's just learned about both or take any action, feels too abrupt for what's been set up. He *is* dead; the shinigami's presence and his reel proves that. But will he stay that way?

We still don't know how the bizarre dolls are made, only that they require a constant supply of blood. Snake's corpse is now in Doll's hands, and we know she definitely is a bizarre doll. We never got to see her actual death onscreen but it's extremely unlikely that Sebastian would miss a kill shot.

Hence: Snake will come back as a bizarre doll.

We do know that Bizarre dolls retain the memory and probably personalities of who they were before they died. Doll remembered everything and while she's more violent than she was in the past, that can be explained by the trauma she went through and her desire for vengeance. Same for R!Ciel and whatever he has planned.

Yes, there was a shinigami for Snake, but notice that this isn't anyone we've seen before. Why introduce a new shinigami when there are so many established ones?

One potential reason: because everyone we know is already investigating the Undertaker.

In the Campania arc, we know the prototype bizarre dolls were created by editing the reels. We don't know if this is still the case, but if it IS, and the Undertaker needed Snake's - it would be easier to get from a shinigami we don't know. We don't know their loyalties, or how strong they are, whether they've heard of the Undertaker situation. And if it comes down to it, we don't like them enough yet to feel any way if Undertaker ends up offing them for the reels he needs.

So it's not impossible that Snake comes back as a bizarre doll. And that would put his loyalties further into question. Does he side with R!Ciel and his friend Doll and the memory of his troupe, who were kidnapping and killing children for bone prosthetics - in addition to the fact that they would be the only faction capable of keeping him "alive" as a bizarre doll? Or does he help O!Ciel, who lies aside has treated him kindly and given him peace and an education, at what would be Snake's own "second life" as cost?

This would be a far more interesting story than him dying confused with little resolution.

Narratively, in a meta sense, there are a couple reasons this makes sense. We already have Soma vying for revenge; there doesn't need to be another similar story. We saw that it was possible for Lau to go back for Bard in the previous arc, despite having little reason to and not really knowing Bard in the first place. So why was Finny, who's always been shown as ride-or-die, the heart of the servants, who clearly cares about his colleagues and Snake, not allowed to do the same for Snake (in a narrative sense)? Because he needed to leave Snake behind to let a different story start.

Anyway that's my theory. Thoughts?

[so-bitya]

I would be so happy for a soma and lizzy team up.

I think they would have good dynamic with tension. after all, lizzy sided with r!ciel and we know it's his fault agni died. it would be an amazing way to confront lizzy's morals as a bystander to his schemes (i don't even think she knows agni was killed, so this would be such a messed up way for her to find out). and if they meet up with o!ciel again, it would be the most awkward fight between them.

(also assume they'll become best friends in the future and form a "ciel died support group"...)

[jessysapphireblue]

One Piece Advent Calender Door 17

Door 17: Getting the Supplies

“A date with my beloved Goddess”, Sanji almost flew behind you with hearts, while you looked at the shopping list. “Sanji, your creepy side shows” “Ah, sorry sorry”, he stopped and went to you. “How should we do it?”, you asked. “If you want we can go together!!!” “But it would take double the time, and you´re already busy as it is”

The cook swore, he nearly died when you said it in a soft, concerning voice. “MY GODDESS~~~”, he swooned loudly and hugged you close, praising you like there was no tomorrow, and people began to look at you both, some snickering, some cooing.

“S-Sanji” “Oh my beloved! You light my day like an angel, carry me away with your love to the Garden of Eden, just the two of us! No one else~ I´ll be your slave for all eternity~” “S-Sanji, please” “Ah, my beloved you-” Picking his nose, he yelped shortly and let you finally free. “Thank you, Sanji. Following. You do half of the list, I do the other one”, you swiftly folded and ripped the list in half. “There! You take care of the meat we need, and I get these things like cabbage, fruits and everything else. Does that sound ok to you?” “B-But the date”, he looked so depressed.

“URGH!”, you groaned. “If you get protective over me because some store clerk or ANY guy that talks to me, I am gone and you do it yourself, understood?”, you said serious and Sanji´s nose already began to drip. “Y-You mean-”

You started walking. “You comming now or not?” “OM MY WAY!”, you swore he used soru or anything similar, how fast he was by you.

Walking from store to store you both bought the stuff needed, and Sanji had to bite down his jacket whenever a male talked to you, no matter the age. Even if it were little boys from the Christmas cards you did few days prior asked if Soma was by you again.

“Do you seriously got jealous of the children?”, you laughed softly. “My Goddess! A male is a male!” Laughing more, he began to swoon again from your laughter. “Ah, you´re simply perfect~” “Me? I´m not perfect! Nobody is...so” You spotted an empty bench and went there with Sanji. “Sanji, stay here for a bit. Rest your arms from all the grocery shopping, I come back soon, Promise”

He sat down and watched you run away, his heart warmed. You were always so kind to him, gentle and a big help in the kitchen, even if it was just simple serving of the food. “Damn Luffy. If you break her heart I will break you...”, he growled a little as you came back. “Thanks for waiting. Here. I got you some hot coffee and a crepe. What would you like? I have Banana and chocolate chips with peanuts or with some hot cherrys and vanilla”

“You-thank you” he said and took the coffee. He didn´t wanted to admit it but he did needed something hot. “I saw how you began to freeze and I thought you could use something warm. So what would you like?” “Oh, the banana one” Smiling, you handed him the crepe before taking a bite out of yours.

“This is nice”, he said and you looked at the blond cook, his smile genuine and soft. “what is?” “This. I had a lot of fun shopping with you” “Sanji, I already told you that I join you. Can´t you get everything alone! It isn´t fair...” “But still- Thank you” “Of course. But dont worry about me. I can defend myself...I have the higher bounty than Zoro” “Haha! Mosshead got overthrown by a girl”

“Oh why yes! Want a bite from my crepe?” “I-I-Indirect-” An indirect kiss with his Goddess?! Sanji was freaking out. Leaning to it, his mouth began to shake as “UH! YUMMY!”, Luffy appeared from behind the bench and took a big bite from it. “LUFFY!”, both of you shouted. “HOT! HOT HOT HOT!”, he said with full mouth as you laughed a little, Sanji felt depressive yet again. “You runied my indirect kiss with my Goddess”, Sanji fell into the snow. “What´s wrong, Sanji?” Luffy was confused. “Uh! Hot choco!” “Here, take a sip”, you smiled and handed him your cup as he drank but put his tounge out. “No. Your´s is better”

“Because I spoiled you...why are you even here?” “HEHE! I got lost”, he stated proudly “This is not something to be proud off, Capatin” “No? well then” “Ok, let us go back to the sunny, we have everything now” “Yes please. I´m getting hungry and have no money”, Luffy whined loudly.

And with that, Sanji, Luffy and you went back to the Sunny, the boys carrying the supplies while you drank your hot chocolate slowly to an end.

[kassandras-one-braincell]

Soma x Reader - Teeth and Talons

Kinktober 04: Marking [explicit]

Contains: rough sex, scratching, biting, blood-drawing

Word count: 951

Ao3 link here.

Men, minors and ageless/default blogs DNI. You will be blocked immediately upon interaction.

You nearly lost her. The dirt tracks of Cippenham drowned in blood, and hers almost joined the crimson tides. She cast her shield to the wind; by some fortuitous grace, no sword found its way through her flesh, save for a few shallow slices. Narrowly, she lived to tell the tale of her recklessness. And you were furious.

Telltale signs of grief stained Soma’s face as her longship docked, staggering through the currents with fewer oars. There was no glory in death. She confided that much in you through hollow tears. Her faith had choked, and with no divine comforts, only you could console her grief. Weeks of agony she endured, hidden from the ghostly eyes of her drengir, finally slipped through the cracks of her numb visage.

With a weeping heart, you held her. Venom threaded your thoughts, cursing her stupid, stupid habit of succumbing to adrenaline, but you bit your tongue. Yet your mind refused to concede to the love you held for her. The bitter memory of your clash merely days before she departed for Hamtunscire haunted you: you pleaded for her to listen to reason, that her iron-forged loyalties amounted to nought if she never lived to uphold them, that the battle was ill-timed and ill-prepared. The screaming, the tears. The coldness of the furs beside you as she feigned sleep in the bed once belonging to a man who forsook her good, honest heart.

Soma harboured anger, too. It gnawed at her, taunting her grief. A valkyrie’s embrace was nothing more than a lullaby for shit-scared warriors before untimely eternal rest. Good warriors died singing it. Her good warriors.

Desperate for mortal solace, your bodies found one another – as they often did after Soma returned from battle, although never with such saddened fury. You wanted to kiss her. To strangle her. To sew your skins together so she could never leave without ripping you asunder. To stake her to the bed, to sob into her chest. To be whole again.

Woeful rage seeped into the first kiss. You loved this woman – by whatever force brought her home to you, did you fucking love her – and feared the intensity of that love died with her comrades. Feared that your anger was a nail in that coffin. But you were blissfully wrong as Soma spat her pure, earnest adoration for the bond you shared through gritted teeth. You were tangible, unlike anything she had felt other than pain these past weeks, and she tested this palpability with harsh rakes of her teeth against your flesh. Deep, sharp bitemarks littered your thighs at your plea, for you wanted to share her pain. She gripped your hand until her knuckles turned white as she lapped between your thighs, hissing anguished I-love-yous against your cunt.

Your lips found hers again as you trembled through the aftershocks of your orgasm. The salt of your savour muddied with the salt of her tears. You pressed a map of saline kisses into her skin, sinking your teeth into every scar that littered her body until all you tasted was flesh. Bit her down to her hips, where you knelt to fasten a harness when she begged to fill you to completion. You spared her worn palms the burden of leather, for it was all they had known after a brutal eternity with an axe in hand.

Pleasure laced itself into every thrust of Soma’s hips, but what you both yearned for, more than breath itself, was unity. Closeness. She lay atop you, her chest flush against yours, bracing the weight of her body on her forearms either side of your head so as to not crush you, although you wished she would. Her ragged breathing grazed your ear, her face buried into the crook of your neck so deep that you could feel the indent of the scar on her cheek.

She rocked into you slowly, with a heartbreaking rawness. There was love to be made, and she made it with a beauty so grotesque, so tender yet cannibalistic that nobody other than you would understand.

Your heart waned as the muscles of her back trembled under your splayed fingers. Your lips latched onto the skin of her shoulder, the sweat licking her flesh bittersweet against your tongue. Breathy moans were muffled against her scars and ink, but their vibrations carried into her veins.

Soma tilted her head to kiss your neck, soothing over a bitemark. She adjusted the angle of her hips, grinding her cock into the tenderest part of your heat, something you never thought you would find yourself wanting amidst your blissful togetherness until it happened. A strangled sound left your throat as your grip on her back tightened, your nails digging into her flexing muscle harsher than intended.

You felt her grimace under the sting. Moaning out an apology, you massaged the faint crescent markings with your fingertips.

But she craved the pain of it. It was the safest pain she’d felt all month.

“Scratch me up, sweetheart,” she rasped desperately against your shoulder. “Make me fucking bleed.”

“Soma,” you whispered, tinged with worry. Some of the cuts along her back were newly healed. She had bled enough for a lifetime—

“Please.”

Seldom did Soma ask you for anything, never mind beg. And you refused to deny her. Not now, of all times.

You clawed. You clawed until the skin of her back stained the underside of your nails. And as paper-thin streams of her blood kissed the air, her strained moan into your neck clawed its way into your heart.

“I’ve got you, love,” you murmured.

Raw, bloody, with mark after mark carved into one another’s bodies, she knew.

[redthefortuneteller]

Chapter 209

Chapter 209 was… well I think it provided a lot more questions than one would expect.

So, first off, my theory of Snake being originally a snake was proven wrong by the mention of a human mother. However the experimental facility held by someone akin to a dr Moreau having made Snake the was he is, still stands. As I'd already mentioned on this post, it's been officially confirmed that he did stay and eavesdrop on their conversation. And it's also been confirmed he'd been suspicious when they said they'd leave on that morning when he said "going out again?" and finally he was indeed flip flopping between believing our Ciel and being against him, which was one of the points I made in the dr. Moreau's theory post. He says he always felt suspicious. I believe either from intuition or because Sebastian right from the get go tried sneaking into the first tier side by pretending to be lost, before he even became a member of the circus.

As a small side-note to this @abybweisse's post, Snake didn't know Smile was the earl Phantomhive. He followed the scent of their circus clothes and it led him to the town house. Once there, he was confronted by Agni and Soma, he asked if a small lad and a man dressed all in black lived there. But until then we're led to believe that he didn't know of their identity. It's been so long, I too don't remember all the details about every single thing! Also, I believe he delayed reporting to Joker because he knew Doll knew Smile was in the first tier side and did nothing. So he didn't know if he should take it into his own hands to report to Joker if Doll, who is one of his superiors in a sense, already knew of this and was keeping quiet. I spoke of this more in depth here if anyone's interested. It's the same link as the one I linked in the begining.

Right, then we have a whole rewash of things that had already been known for years, with perhaps the exception of him being taught mathematics. We'd already known that he had been taught how to read. All of this in quite a fleeting, vague way. Nothing even close to the flashbacks Baldroy got. And Baldroy didn't die so, with all humbleness, I don't think he needed so much put in about him because he shall still have time to "talk" about it. In comparison, that is. Of course it's interesting know Baldroy's backstory and know more about his time with the Phantomhives. I simply feel Snake should be rightfully owed much more in comparison, since his time is now over... I will post more of my feelings on this later. Finally, we get information about a human mother, which of course confirms my theory about his origins is not to be! At least not in it's main point which is him being a snake originally. He could still have been in a experimental facility of the sort, of course.

Now, the information we were left with is simply these three points which weren't touched on or explained in any way before he died:

he was at some point in an orphanage (but was illiterate)

he was in a cage since he can remember

he and the snakes came from somewhere far away

his mother was an actress by the name of Sarah Kemble

he not only has snake attributes like snake skin, slit pupils and a split tongue, he also understands what they say and talks to them

I've been thinking hard and am having a little bit of a hard time trying to tie these three things together in a flowing, graceful manner that would fit the story and not sound like a very twisted pretzel of a backstory. Haha! Of course given more time I hope to conjure something of sense up! I'm looking forward to reading everyone's ideas on this! Everything that I was going to say about Sarah Siddons (born, Sarah Kemble) was already said by @abybweisse on this post which is quite aptly named, given that the woman that brought Snake into the world, brought out of her womb a personified epitome of tragedy, which is him.

I'd only like to add that she was born in Wales. Although Wales doesn't really count as a place far away, I just feel like mentioning this as it could become relevant later on, or someone might think of something that might add to the story. It's hard to know exactly how much Yana intends to keep in the manga of the real Sarah Kemble and how much is made up for the story. So, how much we can stretch what we know for theories is limited. We could for example say Sarah went to one of the British colonies, gave birth to her bastard child (Snake) there and left him.

Now the orphanage and the cage are a little hard to put together for me, but alas… also him not knowing how to read is odd as he was in an orphanage. Of course, we should consider too, the possibility that he could've been living there at a time when he was very little and still unfit to learn such skills. Then some organization got him and experimented on him?

Or Was he given away in England to an orphanage and later picked up by an organization that was using "free" orphaned children to experiment on them and thus taken to somewhere far away? And that's when he was introduced to the all snakes? And then they all came together back to England again? You see how it quickly becomes a little messy? But he did say that since when he can remember he was always in a cage… was he in a cage in the orphanage? That's very peculiar. Unless, the orphanage was the experimenting facility, as in my theory (minus him being originally a snake, of course).

Could he have been born as he is of some sort of socialite demonic ritual and the mother was a sacrifice? I mean, I suppose I had already thought of this hypothesis but it just sounded so inorganic that I didn't further consider it… That's simply my opinion of course, maybe with a few little details added, it could become more palatable!

That's it for now! Thank you for reading!