Hellooooooooooo again! Wow! I am the single-handedly most lazy person in the history of lazy people 8D Alright, excuse time: I lost internet for a long time and had to get a bunch a new stuff for it so...ya XD Enjoy chappy number three! (Exclamation points!)

The Ecliptic Plane

The Magic

Pain.

The overwhelming pain.

It was clouding my senses, my mind. I couldn't think, yet somehow I found the strength to speak. "I…d-don't k-know how," I choked out painfully, each word barely ground out by my raw, aching throat. The man standing over me with the crude, red-hot pincers laughed evilly while lowering them once again. My body screamed in agony, writhing, trying to make the pain go away or even just subside. I was bludgeoned and bloody, and I felt so disgusting. Thank the Moon that I didn't look quite as ugly as the man even in the state I was in.

His face was twisted, a permanent grimace stretched across his visage. I half expected him to ask me for a Baby Ruth* before he killed me. I almost laughed at the thought, but he lowered the glowing orange pincers once again and instead I screamed.

Ugh. My head throbbed, and I felt as if the whole of the world was pushing down on it. I slowly got up, my eyes pulsing between being focused and unfocused, my legs feeling as if they were jelly. I looked around and saw the biggest, ugliest creatures I had ever seen. They were like giant bugs with green scaly skin and paper thin, see through wings.

I started toward the first of many and saw three of the four mages fighting. Erza was dressed in a peculiar sort of armor that seemed very elegant to me, like a silver birds feathers. There were at least one hundred swords, if not more, surrounding her in midair, pointing straight at the giant bug they were fighting. Natsu was screaming like a madman, fists aflame, flying at the monster. Gray's hands looked like they were frosting up, and Happy and Lucy stood on the sidelines cheering for everyone. The way that they all worked as a team stirred something within me. I don't know what it was but the stirring turned into churning and the churning into full blown pain. I watched them for a few more seconds, particularly Natsu. The way he fought was interesting to me and the way he moved only made me even more enamored of him.

"Watch out!" I heard a voice warn me. Next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air, hitting the ground full force.

"Ouch," I muttered, sitting up on my knees. I looked over my shoulder and saw one of those really ugly bug things. "Heh, you should learn not to hit me you asshole. You are so gonna fucking get it!" I screamed at it, angry. "Let the invisible chaos that sleeps within consume you, you bitch."

It was one of my incantations, excluding the last part, though I don't truly need to say them to cast the spell. I always thought it kind of fun, and it made me feel like some type of person that everyone would like. That's why I love to battle. It makes me happy.

The bug began to shimmer with a dark sheen stretching across its body. What looked like smoke poured out of it, the black tendrils curling around each other in a deadly dance. It screamed in agony, writhing hopelessly against my spell. After a few more moments of this it fell to the ground mid-flight, sending tremors throughout my body and everything in the general vicinity. Well one down and…um a lot to go.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and was surprised to see Lucy standing there, no cat in sight. "Yeah?" I asked.

"How did you do that? I mean, not even Erza, Natsu, and Gray could defeat one that quickly together."

"Now's not exactly the time to be worrying about such things, right? Why don't you help me out?" I asked her. She seemed surprised at my request, beautiful brown eyes widening even more.

"Doesn't look like you need any help to me," she said. I didn't think she would want to help me. Why would anyone want to help me? I shouldn't even have thought about asking in the first place.

"You'd be surprised."

"Alright then, if you want me to, I will," she answered back, surprising me. Wait…what? Maybe she really does want to help me.

"Let's go." We ran in the direction of two of the green bugs, and I involuntarily gagged. They were so ugly. "Almost forgot, what type of magic do you wield?"

"I'm a Celestial Spirit mage," Lucy told me with questioning eyes. My heart stopped. I knew it…I didn't want to acknowledge it but she did have the keys. Alright, focus. I can do this.

"Call out a spirit. Any one that fights will do," I instructed her. She did as I asked and pulled out her ring of keys, grabbing a golden one.

"Open, gate of the Lion: Leo!" she shouted. A shimmering light descended, and when it disappeared, a tall man sporting blue shades and an orange lion's mane for hair came forth.

"Hey, Lu-" he froze when he looked at me, his eyes roaming over my face, searching. It made me feel a little uncomfortable and my cheeks dusted a light pink.

"Something wrong Loke?" I heard Lucy ask, her demeanor obviously showing off the fact that she was worried about her Celestial Spirit. He shook his head, told her no, and turned to me, giving me a knowing look that told me he somehow knew what I was up to.

"I'm ready," he stated nodding at me. Lucy looked confused, but I didn't have time to be, because both of the bugs had noticed us by now and were slowly making their way towards us.

I nodded once at him in acknowledgement and started reciting the incantation for the spell I was going to use. "Powers of yours, and powers of mine, combine, and may you and I use it as one." Another light then came, though this time it was tangible and you could feel it on your skin. I always loved the feel of light on my skin. It soothed whatever wound, physical or no, and made me feel calm and safe, like I was in my mother's arms once again.

"Thanks!" shouted Loke before sending a killing blow to the head of the closest monster. There was another one of those words. "Sorry" and now "thanks"? Maybe these people really were nice.

The second creature came at me and I whirled around, casting the same spell I used on the bug before. It fell to the ground just like the last one and lay limp, giant eyes staring lifelessly into oblivion.

Lucy stared at me with shock like she had never seen another mage kill a monster before. I sauntered up to her and said, "You guys can kill the rest. It's your mission and I apologize for intruding."

Snapping out of her trance, she looked at me once again, her face trading shock for surprise. "Why? You could save peoples' lives if you take care of them all quickly. It's obvious you can do it."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. I hate when things get serious and she was giving me a very serious look. "Please?" I halted abruptly when I heard that. Yet another one of those nice people words. I mean, I guess that I could call them nice people words even though I had never met a nice person.

"Alright, I'll help but I do want part of the reward."

"Done." She nodded curtly and turned around, walking over to the rest of her friends, who I realized were staring, mouths agape at me. It unnerved me a little the way their eyes watched me. It's not like I had never had people staring at me, but the way they did it made it look like they weren't threatened or afraid. Then it hit me; they were in awe of me. Of me! That's…definitely something new.

"If you have time to stand there, then you have time to defeat some giant bug things, you dumbasses." Natsu and Gray looked fairly scared and Erza seemed a bit peeved at being caught. After a while they slowly turned around and went off to fight the rest of the monsters. "Lucy, you should go help your friends," I told her. She nodded and started to jog off toward them when I stopped her again. "That spell I cast earlier…it works both ways." Understanding lit up on her face after a few seconds and Lucy smiled at me, running once again toward her friends.

"Hey!"

"Fuck!" I yelled in surprise turning to see who had screamed. Natsu's face was several inches away from mine, and I could hear his heavy breathing as he looked me in the eyes. My cheeks flared up at the close proximity of his body, but I tried to keep cool. "What the hell? How did you even get over here?" I screeched. He flinched but still didn't back away.

"Can you cast a really big spell so that we can save more lives? You know, one that would demolish them all in one hit without destroying the town," he asked, albeit a bit sadly. I'm guessing from watching his behavior that he has probably done things like blow up towns and forests in the past. The whole fact that he couldn't blow up anything evidently made him gloomy.

I couldn't cast a spell that large right now though since I cast that one spell on Lucy and Loke which was still active. If I stopped the stream of power while they were battling I could end up indirectly killing them. Plus I had expended much of my magic already. "I don't think I can," I replied truthfully.

"There are people who could die! Don't you get that?" he bellowed, his mood quickly changing into one of fury.

"Of course I know that you asshole! Just…" I trailed off. I could kill not only Lucy, but also myself if I used up too much of my magic. Natsu regarded me with confusion this time at my sudden attitude transition. "Just tell Lucy to stop fighting and I'll see what I can do."

He grinned that cute lopsided grin of his and ran off to go to Lucy. I stood there contemplating the worst that could happen to me: death. I also might just faint and become unconscious for a few hours. No biggie as long as I saved some lives 'cause the Moon knows that I don't like the killing of innocent people. Natsu came running back. "Ok. We're good."

I sighed. "Alright, here I go," I said. "One blood red eye to use as a death curse so you will die: Lunar Eclipse!" I chanted, that same tangible light emanating from my body in beautiful waves. They danced and swirled so that all was blinded by their calmness and splendor. It flashed even brighter, the light growing heavy, almost suffocating.

It dissipated, and all the bugs were dead, lying motionless on the cement. I guess that's what you would call pretty intense. In fact it was so intense that I just fell to the ground like one of the many green monsters that I had slain. Black and yellow spots danced in front of me and I heard shouting from seemingly very far away. I was pulled into someone's firm yet soft and warm hold. I saw worried black eyes, salmon colored hair, and a white, scaly scarf. Natsu…

I touched his cheek while managing a weak little laugh. "Are you going to die?" I heard that far away voice ask. Natsu's lips moved with the question so I assumed it was him.

"Not…close, just dizzy…is all." I fared a little longer before I became unconscious.

When I awoke, I was lying on an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. He doesn't have me does he? I sat up quickly which was, I decided, a bad idea. Waves of nausea were sent whirling through my head, and I plopped back down immediately onto an unfamiliar pillow.

"You're alive!" someone cried, hopping onto the bed. Black eyes were boring into mine excitedly. Huh, most people would take one look at my dead body and say 'Good riddance'. "I was really worried you idiot. You shouldn't have done that." He gave a pointed look at me, all serious, and I laughed. "What're you laughing at?" Natsu asked, all huffy. This only made me laugh more.

My laugh was probably one of the most annoying things I had ever heard, yet it was so contagious that Natsu began to giggle until he was laughing as well. His laugh was nice, not at all like my own loud obnoxious one. It was by no means quiet though. It was a deep one that sounded like it made his chest rumble, and I liked it…a lot. Once we calmed down he told me something that surprised me.

"You were bleeding really badly though, but we couldn't figure out why. You don't even have any wounds and it…um," he sort of trailed off with a disturbed look on his face. "What was it? Do your eyes normally um…bleed?"

No. Please don't remind me. Please…

Without answering him I started to cry, my shoulders shaking silently. I didn't want him to see me cry, and not just because only two people have ever seen me cry and not run away, but because of the crimson tears that sprang from my multicolored orbs. I stopped acknowledging them after that happened, always thinking of them as regular drops that fell from a normal person's eyes. I hated that certain shade of red which ironically was the same shade of red my blood was.

I heard the bedsprings creak as a heavy burden lifted off the bed. Of course he's leaving. Why would anyone want to be around someone who cries blood of all things? Though wallowing in self-pity wasn't going to do anything for me, I did it anyways. Both my face and hands were stained in that certain shade of red I detested most when I heard the door to the room open. Someone gasped in what sounded like horror and I guessed that that person had just seen my crimson hands. "Run away, go ahead. I've had enough people do that in my life," I said, my voice filled with emotion.

"Now why would we do that?" a sweet, tender voice that chimed in the small confines of the space asked. The person who had just spoken moved closer so that she was standing next to the blood stained bed. I looked up to be met with large brown eyes that shone so much loving care that I thought of my mother once again. "You seem like a very nice person, so why would anyone want to run away from you?"

This day seemed to be absolutely filled to the brim with questions. It was question after question after question and frankly, I was getting tired of it. I laughed manically and I saw that everyone in the room involuntarily shivered. A sick, twisted grin made its way onto my face as I started to rise up off of the bed toward the oh-so-nice people backing up against the door. "Why do you think?" I yelled, more red gems slipping from my eyes and down my pale face. "People take one look at me, or not even a look at all, and run screaming for help! I want them to pay!"

I barreled past all of the surprised mages and aimlessly ran through the building I was currently occupying. Seeing a window, I ran towards it, smashing into it and falling down two stories. I hit the ground hard and my head swam. Not just with the pain, but with the hurricane of emotions swirling within me. I slowly stood on my feet again and willed myself to keep going, doing whatever it took to just get out of there.

I ran. It was as simple as that. I don't know what truly wanted me to get out of there, but I had to or I wouldn't have been able to last much longer. Soon, it was completely quiet, and I calmed down long enough to notice that I was surrounded by large, lush trees. The green scenery was beautiful so I hoped I could stay and admire it for a long while. However, I heard shouting in the distance and immediately started dashing through the forest once again.

*Internet cookies to anyone who can tell me what movie I'm referencing! 8D

Yay! Chapter 3 finished, though I don't really like how the end of it turned out...oh well! Anyway, I really do agree with you(OwlCookies XD) on the whole Erza's REALLY beautiful thing, and I'm a girl too, which is saying something also XD And thanks, my character's quite bizarre, though she is actually beautiful, people treat her like shit. Thanks again, and REVIEW PLEASE! 8D