They stayed clutching each other for what felt like an eternity, simply relishing the feeling of holding the other. When she finally drew back and stared up at him, so many things needing to be said, and eternity wasn't long enough to say it all.
"Uzo, I'm so sorry, I love you so much… I tried to get to you, I tried to fix everything, I tried to be good enough…"
His hand lifted, and he placed a finger against her lips to silence her. She whimpered, wanting to tell him everything but she couldn't.
"Don't be silly, I know you tried, my darling girl, I know you did your best. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I was meant to die?"
She pulled back from his finger and stared at him, scowling.
"No one is meant to do anything." It was like prophecies; they were just stories, and no one was destined to do anything.
He laughed softly at her expression, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, squeezing her.
"Sweet mother, I missed you…" he breathed against her hair.
"I missed you too… so much…" she whispered. "Nothing feels right without you."
He kissed her hair again and pulled back from her, looking down to scowl at her. "You look thin, have you been eating?"
She started laughing, but it quickly turned into sobs, and he pulled her back to him, rocking her gently. The entire thing was absurd, he was dead, and he was so concerned for her.
"Hey now, come on… it's all going to be okay," he crooned, stroking her hair while he comforted her.
"So much has happened, so many terrible things. I just want it all to go away," she was whining, but she couldn't stop it, she wanted his pity and his attention so terribly.
"You can tell me all about it when we're back," he said, and she nodded her agreement. The question was, how was she going to get him back?
"How?" she asked, and he looked down at her, brows lifting slightly.
"Had hoped you would know that part," he said.
She shook her head. "Maybe you need to take me like you did with Kai?" he asked.
It was worth the try at least.
His eyes moved past her and widened slightly. She turned, freezing with a little squeak as she saw the form of death she had come to know.
Massively tall and skeletal, with a hood pulled forward over his head. He pointed at Uzo with one long, bony hand, and then swung his hand away slightly, pointing back to where Uzo had been crouching.
"No. He's not staying here," she said.
Death looked down at her. He was easily twice her height, his hood barely missing the ceiling, and she had been certain it wasn't that high before. Had the passage grown taller to accommodate Death?
"Go…" the rattling voice was terrible, and she jerked back violently, having no idea Death could talk, nor that the sound of his voice would send a sudden need to kill through her.
She rarely killed without reason anymore, but that urge was violent and hot through her being, and her mouth began to water at the thought of fresh blood.
Uzo took her arm and pulled her around, his eyes wide and afraid.
Moving on instinct, she leant up and her lips met his, but there was nothing to delve into, no life, no soul, nothing.
Death was moving towards them, and she pulled back, staring up at the Fae for a second before she made a split-second decision.
Turning, she grabbed Uzo by the hand and yanked him off his feet in a rapid pace towards the edge of the passage. Death was big, but he was also somewhat slow, and they slid past him, rounding the corner and heading down the passage as fast as they were able to go.
"What's your plan?" Uzo asked as he ran, his breaths oddly even considering they were running as fast as possible.
"The entrance," she said, her voice staggered and broken with the padding of her bare feet on the stone.
He nodded once, and she was nearly airborne as he yanked her sideways and they slipped through a hidden passage, glancing back to see Death was alarmingly close. He might not be able to swing his giant mass around fast, but he could move forward fast and if it weren't for the corners, he might have caught them in seconds.
As it was, they were able to dodge around all over the place and she was surprised by how well Uzo knew the layout of the passages.
Deciding not to ask, they burst out of the last passage and the entrance was in sight, running full speed for it and then bursting out into the nothingness.
Turning, she watched as Death stopped at the entrance, looking out at them as they floated, and she laughed, though she no longer had a voice to laugh with.
Turning, she found Uzo floating behind her, his eyes huge as he looked back at her, dragging his gaze down and then back up her form.
Frowning, she wanted to ask, but she couldn't, and so she pointed up.
He looked up and with her hand still in his, they started for the little light.
They weren't moving very fast at all, and she looked down at him, frowning as she felt him dragging them back down, though he was working to push them upwards.
It was going to be a hard trek, but it would be worth it in the end. That helped keep her going as she strained, fighting against the force that was pulling them down.
It felt like hours that they were simply trying to get off the floor that was no floor, and then hours more before they got even halfway, Uzo was exhausted and had given up, pointing back to the cave but she shook her head, wrapping her arm tightly around his chest. She was not leaving without him. She refused to leave him.
Screaming in her mind for Versalis, the lightning bug jerked, and she smiled weakly as she reached for it, the tiny thing zipping towards her like an arrow and her fingers found it with a burst of light and the feeling like they had surfaced out of water.
***
They reformed slowly, reality confused by the secondary figure, but it accepted him after a small hesitation and she was able to suck in a breath, her wings unwrapping from around them slowly.
Uzo was on his knees in front of her, his arms wrapped tightly around her hips and his face buried in her stomach with her arms wrapped tightly around him, protective of him and his life.
There was a loud scream, and her eyes opened slowly into the blinding light of day as her wings expanded, stretching out to brush the ceiling.
She was so incredibly tired that she couldn't look up as the scream was met with shouts and running footsteps.
Looking down, her hair formed a curtain around Uzo's head as he lifted his face to her, smiling slightly before his eyes rolled up into his head and he dropped.
She didn't have enough energy to be scared for him, barely enough to straighten up, and her eyes lifted to find a small, redheaded vampire sitting on the couch, looking tiny as she tried to make herself as small as possible.
She had a vague feeling she should know that woman, but couldn't place her, and her mind was sluggish at best.
A soft murmur came from behind her, and she jerked as she felt her magic leaving her, her wings bursting into feathers that scattered into dust before reaching the carpet.
Arms found her and she was glad for it as she had begun to sway.
"Uzo? Is that Uzo?" someone asked and a pale face with dark eyes and a permanent scowl was in her face, clutching her arms with cool hands.
She didn't care who it was, she only cared that she wasn't going to collapse on top of Uzo as her body gave out and Jaia caught her.
He was yelling for someone to help as the redhead continued to scream and the sound was annoying enough that she wanted to wring the pretty little thing's neck. At least she thought that was why she had a sudden, deep desire to kill her.