Dawning Skye

594 Shinobi Potential(Part Six)

Tidas stared passed the dust at his wife’s face, and instantly regretted letting his love of fighting get the better of him. If looks could kill, he would’ve been burned to ashes in a firey death a hundred times over. After Skye had gotten to her feet, her voice was eerily low as she said; “So that’s how it tis, huh? Okay then..”

In less than the blink of an eye; Skye was in front of Tidas, and sending him flying. Even Hao had flinched at the obvious pain caused by the force of her elbow-driven body slam. Tidas skidded across the dirt floor for several feet before he was able to get a grip, and stop himself from tumbling.

As he got up into a crouched position, Tidas readied himself for another blow, but it never came. Skye hadn’t moved after her initial hit, and stood rooted in her spot with a deep grimace etched on her face. It reminded him of the scrunched, angry faces she’d make as a child before walloping him, and a familiar nervousness shot through his body.

“Are ya sure ya wanna do this, Tidas? I dinna want ta hurt ya before, but yer startin’ ta change me mind,” Skye’s tone was dead-calm as she asked, sending another tremor down her husband’s backside.

After swallowing hard, Tidas spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, and replied; “It’s adorable that you think that you Could..”

Skye scoffed loudly, then stared daggers at him for a second before saying; “Aye.. We’ll see..”

Skye launched herself at her husband, but he was ready this time. She impacted hard enough to kick up dust, making Tidas grin as he held his ground. His cocky expression incited Skye’s anger further, making her think that he wasn’t taking her seriously; just like he had assumed of her.

Genie hadn’t been actively using his Wind magic before, but now he was to monitor them extremely closely. He could literally feel the air shifting around them before he’d even voluntarily used his power. Their speed and strength was increasing exponentially, and he couldn’t keep up with his basic senses alone anymore.

Hao stood quietly as his head whipped back and forth, doing his best to keep up with them. Skye wasn’t as large as her husband, so she understood that getting in close for an extended period of time was to her disadvantage. She ducked and dodged with seemingly little effort, although she was breathless from her efforts to try, and keep a step ahead of him.

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Tidas was becoming increasingly hostile in his attacks as their fight hit the four minute mark. It didn’t seem like a long time, but in battle; four minutes felt like forty. Especially when up against a person with virtually unlimited power. As Tidas tried again and again to overtake his wife’s speed and agility, he unconsciously increased his powers to dangerous levels.

Skye had had several opportunities to knock the windows out of her husband, but every time she went in for the hit; she’d dodge to the side. Tidas had noticed it the last two times, which made his anger reach a boiling point. There was a move that he used on the battlefield, but he’d never attempted to use it on his wife before.

Ina moment of clouded anger mixed with excitement; Tidas came up from behind his wife with murderous intent. Genie felt the shift in the air, and tried to intervene, but Tidas was already on Skye. He grabbed her shoulder, and tried to grab the bottom of her chin..

As soon as Skye saw where his hand was going, she grabbed his fingers, and twisted. When his arm bowed in an effort to go with her twisting motion, she jammed her other elbow into his armpit. The cracking sound from his ribs ripped through the air before Hao could get to them, and pull them apart.

The second that the sound registered, Skye ran to her husband’s side, apologizing profusely over injuring him. Before she’d even reached him, Tidas was on his feet, and in front of her. As she looked up at him, he was bringing his elbow down with enough force to smash her head into her body; like a turtle retreating into it’s shell.

Shock and fear filled Skye’s eyes before she turned away, waiting for her husband’s blow. But it never came..

A massive gust of wind shot Hao across the room. He grabbed ahold of Tidas, and yanked him backwards just before he’d brought his elbow down onto his wife’s head. The sudden impact with the ground had knocked his senses back into place, and Tidas cringed as he realized how far he’d nearly gone.

Skye had frozen the moment she’d thought that Tidas was going to end her, and she hadn’t moved. She stood so still that it was obvious she was trying to not shake. The second it registered with him, Tidas started to run over, but he wound up falling over instead.

With his adrenaline levels dipping, the damage that Skye had done to his ribs hit Tidas like a landslide. He was gasping for breath while grabbing at his heart as Skye appeared at his side. Terror reflected in her eyes as she quickly tried to ascertain the amount of damage done.

Skye’s heart sank as her magic revealed two broken ribs, one of which that had punctured the second layer of his heart. As she started with repairing a few of his coronary arteries, Skye profusely apologized with tears in her eyes. Tidas was mumbling through his pain and gargled gasps, so it was hard to understand him.

But Skye had clearly heard him say; “No, I’m sorry.”

Honestly, Tidas didn’t want Skye to heal him; he felt like he deserved every ounce of pain he was experiencing for what he’d done.. ‘I Actually attacked Skye to hurt her.. To get a ride out of her: to Make her want to fight me.. It took everything I had not to mock her to incite her further! What the Fuck is Wrong with me?!’

Tidas couldn’t look his wife in her eyes, and Skye couldn’t meet his, either. They both felt an absurd amount of guilt over their conduct, and both had mixed feelings about how they should react. The only certainty was that Tidas could’ve killed the love of his life just now, had Genie and Hao not stepped in.

Seeing the tension, Genie spoke with a calm voice; “I know that things got a little...close, back there. But everything is fine-”

“It is Not fine. It couldn’t be farther from it,” Tidas’ voice was shaky with raw emotions as he stood up; “I almost Killed her!”

“But you didn’t. Hao and I made sure that would Never happen. Not on our watch,” Genie replied matter-of-factly.

“But it nearly did,” Hao stated subtly, but the three had still heard him, and Genie shot him a death glare for it.

Skye stood up while still keeping her eyes low; “Hao is right, but tis not their fault I almost died..”

Tidas flinched at her words, knowing that they were directed at him. Guilt racked him, and he felt like a mountain had been dropped on top of him when Skye wouldn’t meet his gaze. Desperate to feel like she didn’t hate him; Tidas grabbed her shoulders, and bent his knees to look at her face.

“I am So sorry, Skye. I Never meant to get carried away like that. I...I have no words to describe how sorry I am for scaring you.”

After a moment, she finally met his gaze, and Tidas felt like his heart would split in two. Tears were welled up in her eyes, and the amount of pain he saw reflected made him feel like a monster all over again. He turned away with a strained sigh, and started walking towards the exit without another word, despite Genie’s protests.

As Tidas’ figure disappeared, Genie sighed with heavy disappointment, and a touch of fear.. ‘Peggy is going to kill me..’

As the thought crossed his mind, a low thud noise sounded from behind him. When Genie had turned around he saw nothing, then realized that Skye had sank to the ground, and was now silently crying to herself. Hao was already at her side looking her over, but he already knew that her pain wasn’t due to an outward injury.

Feeling a rare pang of sympathy for the young woman, Hao said; “You understand that he had no control over his actions, right?”

Skye snapped her head up at him; “Bullshit..”

“Come now, Skye, you know it’s not,” Genie stated after he couldn’t feel Tidas’ presence anymore, and walked over to them; “It’s different for people like your husband.”

“How so?” Skye asked with rising anger.

Genie sighed as he thought about how to word himself. There was no excuse for Tidas lack of restraint, but there was a reason why he’d lost it. As he readied himself to speak, Genie crouched down by her, and looked Skye in her eyes as he spoke with a tentative voice..

“You know as well as I do that Tidas loves to fight. He’s been that way since he was a child, and he used to get into scuffles with other children constantly. Usually over you.”

Skye partially glared at him, causing Genie to clear his throat before continuing; “You fought with him in the Highlands, so you know how people like us are-”

“People like us? What do ya mean?” Skye cut in with a quirked eyebrow.

“I can relate to Tidas, well, my younger-self, anyways.. I used to relish going into battle because they were so rare for me. Usually my assignments were more...silent. I’ve never cared for killing, but fighting: there’s something primally freeing about it. It’s hard to describe..”

Skye had pulled herself up, and stood up while Genie had been speaking. He moved with her, keeping a softened kind of eye contact with her that surprised Hao in an unfamiliar way.. ‘Does master hold actual affection for this woman?’

Not letting his curiosity show, Hao stood completely still as he watched his master interact with the Alconian Princess. He had just finished a small story, and was now explaining how that connected to Tidas..

“Whenever I went into actual battle, it was like all the frustrations and regrets were set out before me. I knew that the men I was killing were just there doing their jobs, but that didn’t matter. They were enemies-targets to be taken down, and nothing more..”

“Once you remove the aspects of a human that make them a person, they become less than what they are, and the guilt just...isn’t there. Soldiers become the same as animals, and slaughtering them no longer seems like the sin that it is.. Murder becomes justified, and the ones killing become the animals. And animals do not care about what they kill.”

Skye felt a deep cold sinking into her bones as Genie had spoken. When Tidas had gone to strike her, there had been an emptiness in his eyes that terrified her more than his fist. He had hit her countless times during their sparring sessions, but this was different..

‘He was different.. It was akin ta when Marco tried ta get’em wit that shard.. The dark part of’em..’

Genie gently placed his hand on her shoulder; “Tidas isn’t as mindless as I was as a young man, Skye. I think the only reason that he let go like that is because he trusted Hao and myself. I don’t think he would ever intentionally hurt you.”

“Skye flashed a weak smile; “I ken he wouldn’t.. I think the only reason he attacked me like that is cause I almost killed Him..”