Chapter 337

337 Desperate Fury

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, AND GORE***

Everything had happened so fast; Skye and Tidas weren’t sure of the reality of it until the monster slammed down on top of Mickey’s snow mobile. He had jumped from his vehicle, and was left to face the creature head on alone..

Tidas had immediately turned back around, as did several of the other Highlanders and RMC members. As they closed in, Skye could see Mickey swinging his sword at Richard. He was slowly chasing him back, and Mickey was continuously hacking off his oozing, outstretched hand.

Black muck expanded all around them as he hacked away, and the Highlander found himself completely surrounded. The muck had stretched around in a U shape until it had connected behind him.. Taking another few steps back: Mickey’s feet became stuck in it.

Skye had jumped off of the snow mobile, and was running at them with her swords drawn; but it was too late. When Mickey became distracted for those few seconds to look at his feet, the monster’s fingers combined into a single long point, and stabbed him through his chest..

“NOO!” both Skye and Murdoc screamed as they watched Mickey cough up blood.

Richard pulled his hand from Mickey’s chest as he heard their bellows, then turned to face the oncoming horde of angry soldiers. Mickey flopped back with a thud, then slowly started to get covered up by the black ooze as Skye rushed Richard.

When it saw her coming, the creature mumbled; “Catalyst..”

When she neared him, Richard grabbed at her with a speed he hadn’t showed before. Skye dodged it by jumping back, then used her Earth magic to act as a springboard. As she jumped past him, Skye ran her blades across him.

.....

As rage fueled her strike, her blades lined up one after the other, allowing her to cut halfway through his long, creepy neck. Richard wailed loud enough to cause avalanches throughout the mountainside as he flailed in pain.

When she’d made the ground shoot up for her to spring off of, Skye had also raised up Mickey out of the muck. When she feet touched the ground again, her power surged, and she made a pathway for herself to get to Mickey..

Not looking back, Skye left distracting Richard to her husband and the others so she could heal Mickey. When she reached him, he had already lost a lot of blood, and the ooze was trying to creep up the side of the raised ground Micky was on. It was like the ooze was reacting to the bits that were still on his body..

Not wanting to deal with the stuff, Skye turned over the topsoil, and buried the black goop. Once it was cleared away, Skye immediately went to Mickey’s side, and started to try to heal him..

When he looked up and saw the desperation on Skye’s face, guilt ate away at him as he felt his life slipping away. He tried to talk, but coughed up blood again instead. After swallowing several times, he finally cleared his airway enough to say what he needed to as he felt himself slipping away.

Swallowing several times as he talked, Mickey looked at Skye as the darkness tugged around the edges of his vision; “S-Sorry, I’m so s-sorry-”

“Ye got nothin’ ta be sorry for, now don’t talk,” Skye replied as she started to funnel her magic into him.. or tried to.

As she funneled her magic into him, it was swallowed whole by the mix of Dark and Ether magic. She tried to overwhelm it a section at a time, but nothing worked. For the first time since she was a child: Skye felt helpless.

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Mickey had been trying to talk the entire time; swallowing back his own blood countless times trying to get the words out. When he saw Skye features drop, he knew what his body had already been telling him..

“Skye.. Ima sorry.. Malcolm.. Don’t trust him.. He wants ye dead.. He doesna want ye.. ta be a threat ta.. ta Murdoc.. He has a gaun- *Cough* ..a gauntlet that I took..”

Mickey gasped for breath for a moment, then spit up even more blood as he fought to stay conscious; “He wanted me ta steal.. explosives next.. He’s gonna do somethin’.. bad.. Ima so sorry.. I should’ve never..”

“Shh, shh, shh.. Tis alright, now. Ye told me, and ye didna get the explosives fer ’em yet, right? Ye havena done anythin’ that ye canna come back from,” Skye said as she desperately tried to figure out a way to save him.

As tears streamed down the sides of his cheeks, Mickey looked up at Skye with soft, fading eyes as he asked; “Will ye.. tell Amara and Gavin.. that Ima sorry.. I never meant ta hurt.. hurt anyone..”

A small sob escaped him as his vision faded out; “Do ye think.. they’ll hate me? ..Will ye tell them.. Ima sorry.. It’s dark, Skye.. Ima scared.. I don’t wanna go yet..”

Tears filled Skye’s eyes as she said; “Ima here, I won’t let ye go, okay? Stay with me, Mickey!”

“I think yer.. magic’s workin’.. I don’t feel cold.. I don’t feel..”

“Mickey? Mickey?! Come on, keep talkin’! Mickey?!” Skye screamed at him, but it was too late..

Mickey was gone.

It was the first time that Skye couldn’t save someone she was treating, and the guilt and grief overwhelmed her. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she cried out her sorrow. Letting the others know that Mickey was lost.

Murdoc froze for a moment, and looked over at Skye. She was balling, and Mickey wasn’t moving. After that, the world fell away, and all Murdoc could see was red..

He roared a warrior’s cry, then charged at the creature. Mickey had a rough life, and wasn’t the best of people, but he was a good lad. Murdoc had known him ever since he was a boy, and watched him grow into a decent young man.

When he thought about how heartbroken Petrie would be about losing his childhood best friend; rage engulfed Murdoc. He picked up an axe that was laying on the ground, and chucked it at the beast. It landed squarely in the middle of it’s freshly reattached head.

As it howled in pain, Murdoc ran past it while slicing at the side of it’s leg. The monster cried out again, but didn’t buckle. As Murdoc went to circle around, he saw Tidas strike right below where he had, closer to it’s knee.

The creature crumbled and howled out louder than before, proving Murdoc’s theory. The creature felt the pain from the strikes, but they didn’t cause it damage: except for Skye and Tidas’ dragon swords. He didn’t know if it were the material, or the wielder was the difference, but he understood that they could injured him.

Murdoc wasn’t the only one who noticed the difference. Skye, Tidas, and Richard himself had recognized that there were only two major threats..

When Tidas went to circle around, he saw that his uncle was now chasing him. As he sped into a wide turn, he yelled to everyone to get back on the snow mobiles. Most went back, but one person in particular joined Tidas in attempting to take Richard down..

As he neared Tidas’ backside and raised his arm to strike, Skye lept into the air, and sliced right down his spine. He screamed out in pain, then turned to attack her, but she was already gone. Next thing Richard knew, Tidas cut off his arm.

The two zipped around him as the sun disappeared, and the light quickly began to fade. Taking turns luring and slicing at him, Skye realized that it was the first time that they had fought together. As their speed picked up, Richard’s anger soared.

Skye and Tidas felt a sudden surge in his magic as the black ooze spread out. Skye barely had time to make a safe place for both her and Tidas to land. All of the others were out of his range: except Murdoc.

As the black goo tried to devour him, Skye pushed her Earth magic into the ground, and rose him out of it enough to break free. As she turned her head back to see where Richard was, he was right in front of her..

As he went to slam his arm down on top of her, Tidas sliced it’s arm off again as he jumped in front of his wife to defend her. When Richard reared back and howled in pain, Tidas turned to Skye, and told her to run for the snow mobile.

Skye nodded, then took off towards it. Several of the Highlanders were lined up with rifles in their hands when she approached. As she jumped on and started it, Tidas came running towards her. As soon as he jumped on the front and they took off, Richard was practically behind them.

A large slash mark was across where his empty eye sockets were. As Richard chased them, he swung wildly, but missed every time.. Except once.

Tidas’ heart dropped when he felt Skye’s hands let go of his waist. She went flying off to the side, making the monster turn around to go back after her. As Tidas jumped from the snow mobile, he had only one thought in his mind: save Skye.

As he rushed towards them, Richard was leaning over Skye. She was laying on the ground, trying to get her vision to un-blur. When she did, she had instantly regretted it..

Richard stood over her with a pointed hand; just like he had killed Mickey. Tidas’ heart felt like it was going to explode as he watched the creature swing down as it mumbled; “Catalyst..”

Skye squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the worst, but it never came. Opening her eyes and looking up, she realized that Richard had stopped out of fear. His head darted back and forth as the wind picked up around them.

No one understood or knew what he was looking for, but Tidas wasn’t planning to stick around and find out. As he ran over, Richard saw him out of the corner of his eye. Lifting his arm up like Skye, Tidas barely had time to dodge the ground spikes as they came out.

“Run Skye!” he cried out, but she was starting to become paralyzed. Some of the black goo had gotten on her skin, and she could feel the effects of the magic. It reminded her of when Marco tried to walk off with her, and Lawrence had to save her.

Remembering it, Skye tried to metabolize the poison-like substance that was within her body, but it took too long. As Richard stretched out his claw-like hand towards Skye, pure fear spiked within her as she heard him mutter again; “Catalyst..”