The entire battlefield was silent for a beat, and then Jaia was screaming, red running down his cheeks as she stood. She lifted her scythe back in her hands by the ribbon.
He ran for her, and she spun, slamming the base of the handle into his chest to send him flying backwards, tumbling as he rolled to a stop only to run for her again, blind in his loss.
Her deal with him meant she was unable to raise her scythe to him, instead she used the back and the butt on him, every attempt met with cold indifference and finally the handle connected with his temple, and he no longer got up after he had finished rolling.
She felt part of herself reaching out for him and a loving caress told her he was still alive.
Turning, she saw Epharis was almost on her and she smiled at him, welcoming death to her. He was one of her creatures, dead and yet not dead. and she loved him for that.
Her hand reached for him, wanting his and she saw his confusion, his burning need to join his mistress.
Something whipped past her, and she blinked once, confused by the sudden movement that lacked even a trace of sound. She felt something missing, her fingers closing reflexively on the scythe, but it was still there.
Slowly, her hand that had reached for the lich moved to her breasts and she found the crimson crystal to be missing.
Looking down, the light in her eyes sputtered and went out, her scythe exploded into mist, and she looked at her hand as the ribbon slid back into her skin, digging a mark into her wrist as her gloves melted away.
Her eyes found him then, the vampire king holding the chain out to his side, the crystal dangling free in his fingers.
Her wings exploded into a shower of feathers, her headdress dissolved back down into her hair and her dress seemed to melt into the ground, leaving her in her gear, the metal sinking back into her to be replaced by her tall boots.
She staggered forward at the loss of her wings, off balance as she dropped to her knees.
Falling forward onto her hands, she felt the power leaving her, the strength and perfection, leaving her just a woman who could barely protect those she loved.
She began to scream then as the realisation of what she had done hit her, and the remembered little ball caressed against her breast that was Kai.
She had killed him because he had been injured, yet there was something there in the back of her head that was urging her to move for him, to do something for him and yet she didn't understand the order.
Screaming her pain and loss, she felt a knife drive into her back and through her heart, her world going black as her body hit the ground.
***
She woke suddenly, sitting upright and looking around with frantic horror at the memories of the battle, but there was no battle, and she was in a cell, chained to a large bed.
Trying to figure out what was going on, she squinted in the dimness and Versalis seemed to materialise.
She studied him, trying to understand what was different about him and then it clicked, his eyes were no longer crimson but had turned an odd pale lavender that matched him remarkably well.
"Versalis?" she whispered, trying to understand what was happening.
"Etani…" he said gently, holding the bars of her cell door. "You kill him."
Her breath stopped as the memory slammed into her, and tears filled her eyes at the horrible, terrible realisation.
Her heart seemed to break and there it was again, that need that itched at the back of her head.
"I need clay," she said instead of the begging for forgiveness she had meant to say.
He blinked at her and then shook his head. "Why Etani?" he sounded painfully tired. She didn't know which 'why' he was asking and so she only looked at him.
Finally, he let out a breath and moved away from the door, his boots sounding loud on the stone.
***
Within a few hours, she was permitted to leave the room with gold linking her wrists, allowing her room to move.
They led her from the dungeons and up, though not to where she expected. They led her to the throne room where Alaric, Epharis, Uzo, Izziah, and Jaia stood.
Jaia looked broken, his face streaked with red, and she couldn't look at him, even though she felt his eyes boring into her to leave her heart riddled with holes.
Versalis removed the chain to give her full range of motion, something the others didn't appear to appreciate.
"Etani, what is the meaning of this?" Alaric demanded but she ignored him. Instead, she stripped out of her boots and tore the sleeves from her shirt, using one to bind back her hair.
She didn't think, she only moved with a purpose she had never felt before.
The pile of clay that had been provided was too much by at least five times, but it was smooth and quality, squishing between her fingers as she tested it.
The king spoke again, but she still ignored him as she began to scoop up large balls into her lap.
Someone moved and Alaric had stood, but Epharis had stopped him with a hand across his chest.
She didn't look up, her eyes on her work as she began to mould and shape the clay.
A brain was her starting point, working the clay into a thick density and placing it gently on the ground as she constructed a skull and tenderly placed the brain inside the skull.
Turning then to the spine, she pieced every bone together, that burning urge inside her turning to fire.
Each internal organ had to be crafted and then laid out inside the ribcage, connected and then checked.
Scooting around on her knees, she lovingly crafted every tiny bone of a set of hands and feet, placing them aside before she started on the ligaments, using them to connect each bone together.
An hour ticked by as she worked, then a second and third.
The fifth hour had her finishing the ligaments and she moved on to veins, rolling out the clay into tiny ropes that she laid out.
Hour ten had her finishing and she studied her work on his nervous system, turning then to the top layer.
Clay was flattened by her hands, smoothed with gentle touches and manipulations, and then laid out over the body, the seams smoothed out and then she manipulated it, adding creases and lines. She didn't so much as flush as she crafted his genitals, as she had seen him naked any number of times with little interest aside from the fascination of seeing a naked vampire.
Each hand took another hour, his feet one each as well but it was his face that took the longest.
She worked his face back into existence, his full lips that tilted down just so, the smooth lines of his brow and jaw, the fullness of his cheekbones and the hollows of his cheeks.
Round ears, a slender neck and then short, wavy hair.
The last thing she did was to apply hair over the rest of his face.
***
When she had finished, the night had disappeared and she stood back, pacing around him again and again, with her eyes sweeping and searching. She was hunting for imperfections, wanting to find them and then smoothing them out as they were discovered.
Not a single sound had come from the crowd, which had grown to include others, including Catherine, the elf, and others she didn't know.
Finally, she looked up, her eyes finding Jaia who was staring down at the perfect clay replica of his brother.
She hated herself for what she had done to him, despised herself for his loss and she swallowed to keep the tears back.
Slowly she wiped away the excess clay from around him, ensuring that nothing would be touching him except what was supposed to be there.
She sat down beside the figure, his hands resting at his side, naked and alone in death.
Her fingers traced his brow gently as she had done a hundred times, touched his lips, his hand, and found them to be exact. Her head bowed as her grief hit her again and she swallowed hard.
Finally, she turned inward, and she found the little ball, stroking its head and hearing it purr in contentment. The blackness wept out of her iris to spill into the colour and then the white, spreading through her veins around her eyes and lips, turning them black.
Finally, she leant down and she kissed him tenderly.
His chest expanded as she reached from herself to him, that little ball cupped in her hands as they stretched, finding that place in which it belonged inside his new form.
Clay cracked as the chest filled and lungs expanded, filling with air and exhaling dust.
The little ball cooed at her as she released it, finding its home and settling in there, just so.
It found her as she began to retreat, a gentle kiss and she smiled, pulling away from it and back into herself.
Sitting up slowly, her lips parted as a black mist passed her lips, dissipating into the air as Kai's eyes opened and they were perfect.
He sat up suddenly, clay pattering to the floor and her eyes lifted to Versalis, meeting his white-lavender.
She knew what they would think of her, and she didn't care, she loved Kai, and Jaia. She would ever wish them apart.
As Jaia ran for his brother, her body fell sideways and she hit the marble floor.