Mari (Soul Eater)

Part Twenty-two

Mari: I hope you guys like this! Don't forget to give me feedback!

Mari watched as the beam of deadly energy flew toward her and Leo. There was a terrified look on his face. Mari made a split second decision and turned and grabbed Leo, putting herself between him and the beam. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, waiting for the pain to hit her. Leo's eyes were wide with his face pressed into Mari's chest, her body between the beam and him. He was about Mari's height and she pressed him close to her chest. She held him off the ground but once the beam hit, she didn't know what was going to happen. Her long blue hair curtained them, hiding the full terror of the beam. "Leo..." she said quickly. "I don't know if-"

Suddenly agony exploded across her body and her sentence was cut off. Her eyes went wide with shock as the world seemed to cut off for a moment. Her mouth opened with a silent scream as she felt the skin on her back start to burn. She couldn't hear anything for the longest time, then the sound of the beam dissipating. There was smoke everywhere and Mari felt like she was on fire. She was still holding Leo when her arms gave out and she dropped him. He fell to his knees and looked up at Mari.

She felt the hot fire on her skin and her mouth trembled with a scream. She heard someone shout something as she put a shaking hand to her back, feeling hot sticky blood on her fingers. The smell of burning flesh was thick in the air and she chocked at it.

She straightened, feeling the skin on her back pull and bleed, singed and broken. She put one hand to her mouth, trying not to scream with pain, but she was just numb. A soft hand landed on her shoulder and then she screamed. She fell to her knees and began to cough up blood. Somebody screamed and she heard footsteps all around her.

Kidd pulled her into his arms and rocked her. He was saying something over and over again... I'm sorry. Her head felt light and she started feeling something in her heart, something evil. She closed her eyes and her screams stopped. She knew what it was and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Insanity.

Stein was there now and he gently lifted her away from Kidd and opened one of her eyes to see her. His fingers were rough on her skin and she felt his coat get wet with her blood. She knew he must've twitched a little at the sight of her eyes, almost all black like a demon.

He started walking, ignoring the state she was in. she could feel every movement he made, his arm rubbing her bloody back and his hand gripping her shoulder. They entered a small hallway that she knew led to a secret room where he would inspect her.

"Stein..." She said.

His eyes flickered to look at her as she said his name. "Mari?" He answered.

She moved and pain flickered over her skin. "Help me." She said. She laughed a little. "I keep getting hurt. I can't help it. I have more scars than you can count and I think I'm going crazy aga-"

He cut her off with a sharp shake of his head and opened an almost familiar door. She went rigid as he stepped into a white room. One wall looked as if it had been scrubbed clean of something red... Blood.

"Stein-" She said, panicked.

His hand gripped her arm and he set her down face-first on a table. As soon as he turned she sat up and winced with pain. "Stein... get me out of here." She demanded.

He shook his head. "Death's orders."

Mari looked down at her shaking hands. "N-no..." She slumped as the pain overrode her system and she almost blacked out, her head pounding.

He turned, an IV in his hand and bandages. She looked away and he walked to her with the needle. He set them down on a cart and reached forward to take off her mask. It slipped away from her face and she almost felt like something was missing. He set it down on the cart and lifted the IV again.

It slipped into her arm and she winced but sighed at the relief it gave her. He cleaned out the burns while Mari rambled about something strange, not realizing she was talking in a different language. Stein looked at her with a slight look of worry.

She started talking about Medusa in the other language and the Keshin in her. She took off the remnants of her shirt and jacket and wrapped her back in bandages. He stepped away and she fell to the side, whispering something about Kidd and her friends.

She smiled and her eyes slid closed. Stein sighed and walked out, lighting a cigarette. Mari's eyes opened a little and she stared at the wall, wondering about the slight red on it. Her eyes began to flash with images of words on the wall, the same ones as before. Her shoulders began to shake and a burst of laughter escaped her lips.

She pressed her hands to her mouth at the noise and suppressed it, but she began to laugh in earnest now, her body shaking with mad laugher and her eyes watering with pain. She looked over at the IV, the needle pocked into her arm. She hated needles.

She took the end in her fingers and ripped it out with one movement, sending a trickle of crimson down her wrist. She took the blood bag in her hand and ripped the top open, draining the coppery contents into her mouth. She swallowed it and relished the warm feeling of it going down her throat.

She coughed through her laughter at the bitter taste in her mouth and her eyes were dark and scary. She stood and walked to where she knew the door was. "Stein!" She screamed, banging on the door with her fist. "I finished my food!" She said, her laughter thick with madness.

She crumpled to the floor and began to cough, her stomach heaving and the blood spilling all over the floor. She stared at it with big eyes, her stomach empty and roiling. She put her hands to her mouth to stop her scream at the sight of the blood. She held her mouth as she threw up again, bile instead of blood.

The raw skin on her back stretched and pulling in hurting places and she cried out as fire raced across her. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she held her stomach. "Kidd..." She said. "Soul... Maka..." her hands hit the floor and kept her from falling into the blood. "Liz... Patty... Black Star..." She rambled. "Tsubaki... Ray... Leo..." She shuddered with fear at the though of Leo's dad. She laughed and stopped as her stomach heaved again. "You bastard." She said.

She grabbed the wall and tried to pull herself up, banging on it's white surface. "Help." She said, her head pounding. There was blood on her chin and she couldn't tell if it was hers or from the IV.

The door didn't open and after a second, she fell to the ground. The blood on the ground covered her and her back stung. "Monster... I'm a monster." She said as her black eyes slid closed.