A Different Kind of Anger Management

This is joint-written. Niqi realizes her mistake, and opens up to someone she wouldn't expect to be able to lean on.

 

“Wake up.” Glide growled, hitting Niqi in the side of the head and forcefully ejecting her from the dream realm. “After some thinking, I’ve decided to give you your powers back, because…well, without them, you’re f*****g useless to us. You’ll have to earn your rank back, and as for your life itself, it’s not yours anymore.”

“Because you were planning on killing me, I owe it to you, right?” Niqi asked, trying to shake off the strike Glide delivered.

“No.” Glide replied. “You owe your life to Sandy. He’s alive, and so are you. But if anything happens to him, I’m going to cripple you. If he dies, I’ll cripple you first, and keep you alive for weeks, just letting you suffer until you beg me to end your life. Think about it, you know I’m willing and able to do it. In case it didn’t sink in the first time, you are on my bad side.”

“…I got the message…” Niqi murmured.

“Though I loathe admitting it, you’re one of the better fighters on this ship.” Glide said, getting to work on untying Niqi. “So I’m not going to leave you tied up. But I’m gonna be watching you like a hawk, and if you do anything stupid…”

Niqi nodded mutely, moving to the side of the ship, to the spot where she set her blade. “It wasn’t a dream…” She breathed, picking up both Bane and Scourge. “Bane’s real…” She ran her hands over the red blades. “I think they look better as twin blades, as a matter of fact,” she mused to herself, temporarily forgetting the situation. Recollection came soon enough, though, and she frowned, attaching the sheaths to her hips and sheathing the blades. She turned, staring at the deck as she spoke to Glide. “How close are we to shore?” she asked quietly.

Glide shrugged, glancing over the bow. “Looks like another day, maybe less if the wind’s on our side.”

Niqi nodded, biting her lower lip. “I think I’m going to go below deck…if you don’t mind,” she added quickly, deciding it was best to recognize her lower status whenever possible.

“Go.” Glide said, waving a paw. “Maybe somebody can find a use for you down there.”

Niqi hurried below deck, retreating to her temporary quarters and closing the door. She sat down against the wall, drawing Bane and staring at it. “This is not going to work,” she admitted to herself. “I can’t keep using anger as my method of dealing with everything. This just proves it.” She sat in silence for a while, running her fingertips along the dull side of the blade. “Maybe she was wrong,” she sighed. “Maybe I don’t deserve my abilities back.” She repressed the urge to throw Bane across the room, instead sheathing it once again and clenching her paws. “What the hell am I going to do with myself?”

“You could start by teaching yourself how to lock your door.” Shetani smirked, standing in the doorway. “Is he still in a bad mood up there?”

Niqi jumped slightly at the sound of Shetani’s voice. She took a moment to compose herself, and then replied, “Yeah. And I hardly blame him. I mean, we’re talking about his son here, and one he gave birth to himself as well. I don’t know a lot about motherhood, but I think I can imagine how enraged I’d be if anything or anyone hurt my baby. And I wasn’t even thinking about how anyone could be hurt – I was just concerned with venting my frustrations through fighting. I definitely had it coming.” She stared at the floor, clenching her paws again.

“He’ll probably cool down in a couple days.” Shetani said, moving to sit beside Niqi. “My advice, just stay clear of him unless he gives you an order. He gives you an order, jump to it, don’t say anything, do it as quickly as possible, and go back to staying away from him.”

Niqi smirked. “I had figured that out myself before he knocked me out.” She paused for a moment, and then growled quietly. “I just – I…I hate myself. I hate how I keep screwing things up, relationships or situations or whatever. And it’s sort of like, I’m standing by, and I can’t do anything to change it. I just keep falling into the same patterns, over and over.” She stopped, glancing over at Shetani. “Sorry. I have no idea why I’m saying this,” she mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it.” Shetani said, standing up. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me about their problems. I’m used to it. Now, come on, let’s find something to keep you occupied until we reach land.”

Niqi nodded, standing up. “Like what?”

Shetani shrugged. “I’m not sure, to be honest. We’ll just have to see what needs doing.”

Niqi nodded again, following Shetani out of her room.

Reviews

[KEi]

"one he gave birth to himself as well."

Yeah.
Despite the non-humorousness of the situation, I still managed to laugh at that.