A/N: Hope you like this part!
Mari woke up in the middle of the night to find Kidd with her. He must've left for work, then come back. She held her stomach as pain jabbed through it. She stood shakily and walked to the bathroom.
She clutched her gut as she felt something move in it and she knew it was the dark tendrils. She jerked as they twitched and sent pain though her. Something stabbed into her stomach and she gasped. The black blood sealed off the internal wound, but not in time for some of it to seep into her gut and mix with her stomach acid.
Her stomach heaved and she crumpled to the floor. She dragged herself to the toilet and threw up into it.
"Mari?" Kidd's voice said. He saw her and moved next to her. "Mari!" he said, his voice frantic. "Wh-what's wrong? Are you sick?"
She shook her head as she coughed. He gently rubbed her back, his eyes scrunched together. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, tears forming in her eyes. She sat back, hugging her knees. The tendrils seemed okay now, but her stomach was still roiling.
"Mari...?" Kidd asked. He put a hand on her forehead and frowned as he checked her temperature. "You're burning up..." he said.
She held her neck with one hand, her throat burning from the stomach acids. "It was the tendril... things in my stomach. They cut open my gut and my blood mixed with my stomach acid." She said, wiping her face off.
"You have a fever. I think you were in the sun to long yesterday." Kidd said, feeling her warm cheek. He straightened and opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. He got a small bottle and fished out a few pills. He filled a cup with water and sat on the floor next to Mari. "Here." He said, holding out the pills.
Mari took the pills and swallowed them with a sip of water. She tilted her head back as the pills went down. "Thanks-" said began, and then the water hit her upset stomach.
She clutched her stomach and she felt herself about to throw up. She scrambled forward and heaved into the toilet.
Kidd was helpless, and all he could do was rub her back. He pulled one of the landlines off the small set of draws in the bathroom and dialed Ray's number.
Mari gasped for air, her stomach empty now, only able to conjure up bile and her dark blood.
"Ray?" Kidd said. Mari wiped her mouth again, her head beginning to pound. "I'm sorry... I know it's three in the morning..." Kidd said to Ray, flinching as she said something. "Please... can you come? Mari is sick and I don't know what to do." He said.
Mari gripped the toilet with one hand the other hand on her stomach. Kidd rubbed the spot between her shoulder blades, hoping to make her feel better. Kidd hung the phone up and dialed another number. He pulled Mari into a hug, pressing her face into his chest.
"Stein?" Kidd asked. "We need you." He said. Someone said something on the other end and Kidd replied, but Mari's ears had filled with buzzing that made everything muffled.
'Hello?' a man's voice said, and Mari flinched. 'It seems I can control these tendrils inside you. They're just like the ones I used to have.'
The buzzing cut off and Mari held herself, her body shaking. Her eyes were wide with fear as she realized who it was.
The keshin was back in her mind.
"Mari?" Kidd asked. Mari felt his arms around her and her ragged breathing slowed a little. "You okay?" he asked.
Mari bit her lip, her shoulders shaking as her stomach burned on.
"Mari! Kidd!" Ray's voice came from the doorway. She ran to Mari's side and got on the floor next to her. "Mari? Mari are you okay?" she asked.
Mari shook her head, feeling horror and fear running through her body, along with pain. "I..." she said, her body quivering.
"I'm here." Stein's voice said. Mari looked up as he walked into the bathroom. There was a small girl standing next to him, her long shining grey hair flowing around her shoulders.
The small girls baby blue eyes were familiar but she couldn't place it for a moment. Her mind clocked and tears filled her eyes. "Bella...?" she asked and the girl took a step away from Mari.
"D-daddy..." she said. She looked up at Stein, holding onto his leg. "I-is that...?" she asked.
Stein bent down next to her. "That's Mari. You remember her from when you saw her in the place." He said. "She's the one that took care of you when you were a baby and your mother died. You never got the chance to meet her after we found her." He stroked her hair. "You were a smart baby. You must remember her a little." He said.
Bella's eyes flickered around Mari's face for a moment, her clever blue eyes fitting the puzzle pieces together. "Mari?" she asked, her extraordinary memory remembering Mari.
Mari reached her hands out. "Bella..." She said. She hugged the little girl and sighed as her calming wavelength washed over Mari, all of the pain washed away and all of the insanity.
"Mari, I need to looked at you." Stein said. Bella pulled away and Mari felt the pain begin to creep back on her, the comforting warmth of Bella gone. Stein tilted her chin up to look into her dark eyes. He pressed a hand to her forehead. "You're way to warm." He said.
"I'm okay..." she said, starting to shiver.
"You're not, Mari." Stein said. "You have a fever."
Mari pulled away when he reached forward to lift her to bring her to the bed. "I said, I'm fine!" she growled. A voice in the back of her head began to laugh, the man, Ashura.
"Mari..." Ray said, her eyes pleading with Mari.
Mari began crying tears of frustration, the voice in her head just laughing harder. "I just... want to be... alone!" she said, her ribs beginning to ache with the effort of breathing so hard.
Stein grabbed her arm, a needle in his hand that hadn't been there a second ago. "Mari, listen to me." he said. Bella had backed to the doorway, her little features frightened.
Mari's eyes flashed and she yanked away from Stein. "Don't... touch me..." she huffed. He reached out again and she screamed, her hands flying up and her magic flashed.
There was a soft shushing sound, almost like rain running off metal, and something began to form in front of Mari. Her hands were pressing into her ears as insanity flashed through her, creating a white noise that she couldn't block out.
The black, shadowy substance in the middle of the room began to take shape; two long tendrils forming into arms, some in the middle creating a torso, legs, a head. Ray stumbled back, falling into the wall, the demon's eyes opening as the sound met it's new ears.
It's mouth opened, letting out air that sounded like it had been held for a long time. It smiled as long, spiked wings grew from it's shoulder blades, the shadows that formed it's body hardening to create skin.
It looked around at each person in the room, it red demonic eyes staying on Mari. It slowly took steps toward her shaking form, leaving burned footsteps like the other demon. It bent down next to Mari and slowly pulled her hands away s=from her ears.
She looked up at the demon, her eyes wide as tears streaked her face. Her eyebrows moved together, staring into the things eyes.
"The child, Ját, the first summoned, told us of you. The person who now held the power of creating bodies for us in the mortal world." It said in a deep, wind cutting voice, soft, so it was barely audible to the others.
Mari nodded slowly, her black eyes roaming over the thing's body.
It smiled at her, it's white teeth glinting as it's red slitted eyes roamed over her. "But I didn't think you would be so young." It said.
"Get away from her." Kidd's voice said, anger full in it.
The dark being in front of Mari turned to see Kidd. It smiled, white teeth shining with the intensity of fire. "I should probably leave. I'm not welcome." It bowed before Mari. "Goodbye, my mistress." He met her eyes with his slitted eyes. "I almost forgot to tell you, my name is Cain." He straightened, beginning to fade into darkness. The light bulb shattered and all you could see in the dark room was Cain's bright eyes, fading to crimson.
There was silence and Mari could barely hear the other people in the room breathing. Stein turned the light on in the bedroom and faint light passed over everyone.
Kidd knelt next to Mari, his eyes worried. "What just... what just happened?" he stroked her hair, confused.
Mari looked up at him, her black eyes looking dead inside. "You know how witches have their "animal"? I guess that's what the demons are." She said.
Ray bent next to Mari, all of her fear gone. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Mari nodded. "I'm fine." She said. She grabbed the edge of the sink and pulled herself to her feet, able to stand a little to her amazement She smiled a little at the ground. Kidd kissed her head.
"Mari," Stein said. "You should sleep. Your soul is wavering." He said, lighting a cigarette. Bella held onto his leg, staring up at Mari with huge eyes.
Mari nodded, smiling at Bella. "O-okay." She looked up at Stein. "I need to tell you something though..." she said.
He nodded and looked at Ray and Kidd. The two left reluctantly. Mari looked up at Stein, Bella's scared little eyes looked up at Mari. Mari smiled a little at Bella, then looked back to Stein.
She shook a little. "He's... he's back in my head, Stein..." she said and he jerked.
He looked at her with calm eyes. "Who?" he said, his voice telling her that he knew who she was talking about, but he wanted to be wrong.
Mari looked at the ground. "Ash... Ashura." She said.
Stein looked out the window. "How long..." he asked, lighting a cigarette. He blew out a puff of smoke and Mari watched it fade.
"I don't know." Mari said.
"H-how long for wh-what?" Bella asked. She tugged at Stein's pant leg to get his attention.
Stein bent down next to her. He ruffled her hair, smiling at her. "There was this man, and his name was Ashura. He tried to sink the world into insanity a few years ago, before you were born. We managed to kill him, a few students from the DWMA that you've met." He stroked her cheek as he looked up at Mari. "It seems that when we killed him, his essence wasn't completely destroyed. A little over eight years ago, be basically possessed Mari and she tried to hurt some friends. She told us that he was controlling her, and now it seems..." Stein paused to click his screw. "I can almost feel the insanity rolling off of you, Mari..." he said.
"Papa?" Bella asked, shaking him a little.
Stein nodded and looked back to Mari. "Show her, the eyes, please." He said.
Mari nodded and pulled her shirt up enough for Bella to see the three red keshin eyes. Bella stepped back a little, her eyes full of wonderment.
"He's going to take her over again. And we don't know how long she has." Stein said as Mari pulled her shirt down. He rubbed his forehead. "It could be tomorrow... or twenty years..." he mumbled to himself.
Mari closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the tendrils in her move. "I'm okay now Stein. Tell Kidd and Ray to leave. I just want to be alone." She said.
Stein nodded and picked up Bella as he stood. He stopped just before opening the door. "He's not going to leave you. Or Ray." Stein said.
He left and Mari slid to the floor, starring at the wall, hearing a man's faint laughter in the back of her mind. She drew her legs into her chest, racking back and forth a little. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out all the noises, nothing working.
"It's okay..." she whispered. "It'll all be okay..." she said.