[ In the aftermath of one arrow, one bullet, and one dragon conflagration, even the body of King Arthur must yield. Gray's doppelganger finally collapses in a soggy tatter, bleeding the same shadowy tendrils as Eustace's. Yet still it clings to life, magical energy holding its existence together by threads. Gray approaches it without thinking, magnetized.
The doppelganger is a pitiful thing. Gray watches as it struggles to breathe, fending off the inevitable, and she imagines that it fights not because it has the strength to live, but because it's afraid to die. But she quickly realizes she's mistaken; the doppelganger gathers the last of its energy so that it can settle an eye still vibrant with hatred on her. It lives by its loathing, a bundle of emotion not unlike a ghost.
Its face — her face — shoots through Gray like a bullet from Eustace's gun. In equal measure, it suffuses her with dread and satisfaction. Dread at that face so nakedly bared at her. Satisfaction that it should recognize what there is to be hated.
Without knowing it, she's raised Add in his scythe form. The giant, gleaming blade hangs like a guillotine over the doppelganger's head. And then it falls slowly like a blanket laid to rest. The doppelganger goes without complaint, its bright green eyes baleful on Gray until they dissolve to black and then to nothingness along with the rest of its body, leaving behind a bullet and arrow to clatter quietly on the floor. ]
some naps are longer than others...
The doppelganger is a pitiful thing. Gray watches as it struggles to breathe, fending off the inevitable, and she imagines that it fights not because it has the strength to live, but because it's afraid to die. But she quickly realizes she's mistaken; the doppelganger gathers the last of its energy so that it can settle an eye still vibrant with hatred on her. It lives by its loathing, a bundle of emotion not unlike a ghost.
Its face — her face — shoots through Gray like a bullet from Eustace's gun. In equal measure, it suffuses her with dread and satisfaction. Dread at that face so nakedly bared at her. Satisfaction that it should recognize what there is to be hated.
Without knowing it, she's raised Add in his scythe form. The giant, gleaming blade hangs like a guillotine over the doppelganger's head. And then it falls slowly like a blanket laid to rest. The doppelganger goes without complaint, its bright green eyes baleful on Gray until they dissolve to black and then to nothingness along with the rest of its body, leaving behind a bullet and arrow to clatter quietly on the floor. ]