Stepping out into Winter, she turned as Dirdos followed in a burst of flames, calmly holding open the case for her while she geared herself up.
The first guard to come across them was met with her turning, a throwing knife in her hand and the knife thunked as it landed in his eye.
He hit the floor with a clang, but no one heard him, and she turned back, ignoring the two of them as she went back to applying her gear as though nothing had happened.
Looking up as she braided her hair, she lifted a brow at their wide-eyed stares, and it was only a moment more as Daemon pulled the others through. They had paused to gear up and Daemon only glanced at the guard before he looked at her.
Stretching out her arms, she gripped her elbows, and the shirt settled, her corset rising into place. She took the last two knives, sliding them into place against the small of her back while Uzo stepped behind her and re-braided the long length of her hair, tying it off.
The case was snapped shut, and she bent down to touch her toes, straightening to an appreciative Dirdos watching her backside.
She smiled and flicked his nose, making him jerk as she approached the dead guard, pulling the knife out of his eye socket and wiping it clean on his shirt.
She didn't give any word of her planning to leave, instead she simply started down the hall and they followed after her, weapons drawn, and faces set as they prepared for the destruction.
Drawing her new swords, she flexed her fingers and settled them on the grips, holding them out at her sides and pointed down towards the ground, her boots making a soft thud on the ice.
A guard stepped out, and he wasn't ready for her, jerking back as she turned and drove her sword up through the underside of his jaw and out of the top of his head.
Ripping it free, the handle grew warm in her hand, and she knew she would have to be careful not to kill too many. But if they were loyal to Megara, they weren't loyal to her.
There were very few guards for that matter, and she had to wonder how many had remained loyal to her when Megara took over.
She had already moved on by the time he hit the ground, and she stepped out into the throne room.
The room went silent, and she smiled, looking up at the tree that was hers.
"Hi Meg…" she said softly, the queen's eyes wide in mingled fear and fury.
"Kill her!" she screamed.
Etani lifted her swords as the guards came forward.
Starting forward towards them, the courtiers backed out of the way, and many fled the scene entirely, not wanting to get caught up in the battle.
"Can't even do her own fighting," Dirdos said, disappointed as he leant against the wall and watched.
A spear was thrust at her and she twisted, her body moving, and she took one step, then launched off with the other, spinning as her foot connected with his head and she landed back on her other foot, twisting around and slamming the blades into the next guard's gut. Jerking back, she bent backwards as the next thrust his spear at her. Her hands landed on the ground, and she flicked her feet up, first one toe and then the second clipping the chin of the next guard and his head snapped back.
Landing back on her feet, she turned and threw her sword into the remaining guard at her back, and it trembled at it lodged in the man's forehead.
Reaching behind her, she withdrew one of her long knives and she lunged forward, slashing down on the first spear as the guard tried to recover, swinging it around in her direction and with her next step, she thrust the black blade through his body.
Ripping it free, she angled the hilt down and drove it backwards into the groin of the guard behind her, dropping him to his knees.
Twisting the sword back, she slammed it onto his throat and back out again, leaving her with two.
"Anyone get the feeling she's been holding back on us?" Versalis asked as she turned, stepping to face the two remaining guards, a general grunt of agreement coming from her friends.
Breaking into a run, she smiled as she launched herself mid step and her knees collected with the shorter man's chest, throwing him back onto the ground and as they fell, her body curled, and her lips met his.
He was dead before he hit the ground and she turned, her sword coming up even as his spear came down and they froze, the spear touching her throat while her sword stopped just at his groin, blade facing up.
Smiling up at him, she rocked herself back, her hands lifting and catching herself, springing off her hands to land on her feet and she lunged forward, coming up under his spear and driving both blades into his gut, both sticking out of his back.
Yanking them both down and out, the man fell as she stood, blood covering her skin as she turned to the queen.
Lifting the black sword slowly, she dragged her tongue up the flat of the blade as she started towards the queen, a shiver going through her as an odd sensation of the blade releasing the souls into her, filled her and she accepted the hit of energy.
Hades was a clever man.
Megara stood slowly, stepping down from the dais and she lifted her hand, ice shooting up from the ground.
Etani smiled, amused by the show as she flicked the last of the blood from her weapons.
"Give me back my magic, Megara," she said.
"Rot in the underworld, half breed bitch," Megara snapped back.
Etani grinned. "Can't say I didn't ask nicely," she cooed.
Megara thrust forward her hand and Etani lifted her sword, deflecting the magic to her right and she glanced to see a courtier had frozen solid and then shattered, a million chunks falling into a pile.
That cleared out the room of everyone who wasn't her group and the last guards who were hanging back around the doors, ready to run.
The second blast was deflected with her swords, a blaze of heat coming from behind her as Dirdos deflected the magic with his own shield, fascinated by the show.
"You have something that belongs to me," Etani called.
"You don't deserve it!" Megara snarled.
"Perhaps not, but it's mine."
"I'm going to skin you alive!"
"Kinky… do you promise?"
"Whore!" Megara screamed and Etani laughed, the third blast deflected upwards, and the ceiling exploded outwards, throwing ice and stone who knew how far.
"Pillow talk, Meg. I do like when they talk dirty."
Where the sexual aggression was coming from, she didn't know, nor did she care to try to find out, it was getting Megara stressed and she was pressing her advantage.
As the next blast flew, Etani dodged it and ran forward, the queen screaming and throwing up a barrier of ice.
Switching tactics, Etani spun her swords and jumped, slamming the blades into the front of the barrier and starting to climb, using her swords and her boots to scale it even as it grew.
"You can't hide in your ice bubble, Meg!" she called, standing on the top of the dome.
Looking down, she drove both swords into the top and then again, watching as the ice splintered.
Again, she stabbed and again until it cracked, and she fell through, landing in a crouch beside the queen.
"I want my magic, Meg," she growled, and a thump went through her chest, locking them both in place as the eyes opened, wide and blue-white as the child-like form turned to her.
She felt its sadness even before it spoke to her. 'Don't want me,' it whispered, agony rocking through both her and Megara.
"They made me give you up," she murmured, Megara frozen in place at the horror of seeing Winter.
'Gave up willingly,' it chided her, turning its back on her, and bowing its head.
"No, not willingly. I love you," she wanted to reach for it, but it was inside Megara, it was nestled deep inside her black heart.
'Do not love. Only resent and fear.'
"I love you, more than my own soul," her heart broke for it, seeing it turning to peek at her over its shoulder.
'Really love?'
"I would do anything for you. I would kill for you… I will never let anyone take you from me again."
Megara screamed as the tiny form turned back to face Etani, eyes wide and hopeful.
'Promise to love forever?' it asked, and she swallowed.
"Forever and an eon more. I will never let you go again," she whispered, putting every ounce of the love she was capable of feeling into that promise.
'Prove it,' it said.
She lifted her eyes to Megara and her terror was real as Etani launched herself forward, slamming into her.
The ice bubble shattered as her sword sank into the queen once, twice, and then a third time, her body curled around the final thrust that drove the sword out of her back.
"Come to me, my beloved. You will be safe with me. I am where you belong, I was wrong to turn my back on you and will never let you feel such pain again," she was speaking quietly in Megara's ear, not caring that her friends could hear her and as Megara collapsed, she dropped to her knees with the dying woman. "Be mine again and I will spend the rest of eternity proving that I love you. You are my deepest love."
The cold reached out for her, and she felt it taking her hand buried deep in Megara's chest, a small hand that was like ice.
"Forgive me…" she whispered, and the face lit up as it reached for her and even as its arms wrapped around her, it sank into her and Megara slid free of her swords.
Looking down at the dead Queen, her voice rose in a battle scream as her hair began to turn silver from the roots, her skin aflame as markings burned themselves into her flesh and her heart froze in her chest, solid and cold as the heart of a glacier.
Tilting her head back slowly, her swords fell to the ice with a clatter as she felt Winter feeding into her, filling her being until she felt like she was going to explode.
She had fought for it; she had killed for it, and now it was hers.
There would not be any argument over who or what she was, no doubting it again. She was Etania Daewen, and she was the queen of Winter.