Mari (Soul Eater)

Part Thirty-Seven

‘Why wont you just live for him?’ a voice in her head asked and Mari flinched. ‘Why can’t living for him be enough of a reason to carry on and survive?’

“Because…” Mari said, her words cutting off and she held a hand over her mouth.

‘You’re just so weak that it’s sad. You can’t even say a word to them that won’t hurt them. You’re just like a child, locking yourself away so they can’t reach you. Like a child. Just like a child.’ Another voice said, angry.

“Stop…” Mari said, moving her hands over her ears so she couldn’t hear Kidd’s hands banging on the door and the words pleading for her to let them in.

‘Maybe we should just stay in here forever.’ The first voice said like it was giving up on her. ‘Since you’re just too weak. Just too fragile.’

The voices were joined by more people, adults by the sound of them and Mari pulled her legs tighter into her chest.

Someone tapped on the door and asked a soft question that Mari couldn’t hear until she moved her hands. “What do you want?” Mari asked into her arm.

“Mari? Is that you?” Marie’s voice said. Mari grabbed her shoulders and hunched over.

“Is she having another one of her fits?” Sid’s voice said.

Marie snapped something at him and turned to the door. “Mari, I have Bella with me… with you come out and see her?” Marie said to her and Mari started shaking. “She… she misses you…” Marie said, her voice sounding like she would do just about anything to get Mari out.

“Mari.” Stein’s voice said and Mari pulled her arms into her chest.

“Mari, Bella is waiting for you.” Marie said, sounding as if she was ignoring everyone else. “Please come out, dear.”

Mari could feel the blood draining out of her. She pulled herself up by the door handle and unlocked it, opening it just a crack so she could whisper through the door. “J-just you… and Bella.” She said, her voice rasping. She moved back so Marie could walk in with the small baby in her arms. Mari had her dark eyes turned down and could feel everyone looking at her with worry as the door closed.

Mari looked up at Marie and held her arms out, soaked in blood. “B-bella…” Mari bent next to her and handed Mari the small child. The little baby smiled up at her with her light blue eyes. She smiled and waved her hands in front of Mari’s face. “H-hello Bella.” Mari said and the little girl gurgled happily. Mari wiped away blood that had dripped onto Bella’s cheek from her face.

Bella’s little hands reached up and touched Mari’s face, causing warmth to flicker into her. Mari closed her eyes with happiness as she felt the pain flow away from her a little and the madness go to the back of her mind. Bella was smiling and her eyes gleamed. Tears dripped down Mari’s cheeks and Bella made a sound that made Mari think she was worried about her.

“Mari… what happened? Who did this to you?” Marie asked, the people on the other side of the door silent. “Please tell me?”

Mari nodded, looking into Bella’s eyes. “It was a few people… I… I don’t know who they were though. They beat me up, and then Amme and Sora came and scared them off.” She was quiet and Marie nodded, reaching forward and moving a strand of hair away from Mari’s face.

“They beat you up pretty bad.” Mari said. Mari nodded and Marie looked into her eyes. “Mari, will you let Stein and I fix you up?”

Mari looked away to the side. “Can I hold Bella?” Mari asked and Marie nodded, tears of relief gleaming in her eyes.

The door opened all the way and Stein walked in and bent down next to Mari. Mari looked up into Stein’s stitched face, watching as he clicked his screw a little. “Let’s see… let me get some bandages on you.”

Stein looked up suddenly, his eyes confused. “There’s two witch-“ There was a loud crash and Mari heard someone scream and Marie moved her body over Mari and Bella to shield them as the walls crumbled around them, causing dust to fly up.

Mari coughed as the dust started to clear and she could hear confused voices around her. She opened her eyes, seeing her body had turned to protect Bella by itself. She looked up, not seeing Marie.

“S-stein? Marie?” Mari asked as Bella began to cry. She looked to the side and saw Marie, on her side, her arms out in front of her. “M-Marie?” Mari said, feeling something bad in her stomach. She moved to Marie with a crying Bella. She could see blood on Marie’s face and her heart dropped into her stomach as she saw that Marie wasn’t moving. “Miss… miss Marie?” she said, shaking the woman. Mari didn’t get up and Mari saw the edges of her body begin to glow and fade.

“N-no…” Mari said and tried to hold onto Marie as she faded. She stared at it, her eyes wide, her arms holding Bella close to her chest. The dust cleared and someone screamed with dismay as they watched Marie’s body turn into a blue soul.

Mari looked up, trying to find Stein in the remaining dust. She saw three figures by the gaping hole in the wall. The dust faded and she saw Free, the Immortal Man, and Erica, the witch that used to work for Medusa, standing in front of Stein.

Mari’s eyes grew wide as she saw the long ice spike protruding from Stein. Sid yelled something from behind them as Mari watched Stein claw weakly at the spike. His body went limp and he fell to the side, hitting his head on the floor, causing his body to go limp, but he didn’t dissipate.

Free grinned with his sharp teeth. “Sorry to break up a happy little reunion. But we didn’t want to kill anyone. Our new master wanted us to get Mari.” He said.

“But now,” Erica. I guess we’ll have to watch the great Professor Stein die.” She said.

Mari stood. “No…” she said, causing the two witches to looked at her. “I’m not letting Bella… watch her mom and… dad… die… not like I had to do…” she looked up at the two, her eyes flashing with rage. “You’re going to pay!” She screamed. Mari ran, screaming, at the two witches, her teeth morphing and same with her hands. She lashed out at Erica, her unexpected attack catching her off-guard and letting Mari’s two-foot claws rip into her. She gasped and Free caught her before she could fall. She was gasping for air as Mari lashed out at Free, holding Bella’s crying form in one arm tightly to her chest.

Her claw dug into Free but her just smiled as the wounds closed. “You can’t kill me. I’m immortal.”

Mari looked up at him, pure hatred running through her body. She jumped up at his face and bared her sharp teeth. She dug into his eyes, the one that had “No Future” above it. He made a noise of surprise as she tore out his eye.

She pulled it out of her mouth and held it in two blood-covered fingers as he held his face, realizing she had gotten the magic eye. “G-give it back!” he said and Mari threw it out the gaping hole into the night.

“Fetch.” She said.

He gritted his teeth. “We’ll be back. Count on it. And we’re going to kill every last one of your friends until you have no one left!” He jumped out the hole and was gone.

Mari turned slowly, seeing people around Stein, trying to stop the bleeding. “If we get him to the DWMA, we might be able to save him…” Spirit said.

Some of Mari’s friends were standing by the place where Marie’s soul was and they were crying. She was gone. Gone.

Mari fell to her knees, holding Bella close to her. The baby was crying, her wailing cutting through the noise. Mari looked down at her, her blanked covered in blood.

Mari’s tears came and she couldn’t stop them as they fell onto Bella’s crying face. “I’m sorry...” Mari cried to Bella. “I couldn’t save them! It’s all my fault! I’m so sorry!” She pressed Bella’s cheek to hers, her tears flowing. “I’m so sorry Bella…” she whispered.

“Someone get help! We need to get Stein to the DWMA fast!” Spirit yelled and Kidd ran to call his dad.

Mari heard people rushing around her and she just held the crying Bella. “I’m so sorry…” she said.