Eclipse spirit arc:

I really liked the arc. Or at least the idea of the arc. I didn't think it was near as good as it could have been. I have been thinking about this for a long time, and after shuffling and discarding idea after idea. I have settled on this one. Of all my ideas this arc inspired in me, I think this one is the best that I have come up with.

I hope you enjoy it.

It was well into morning before Aquarius returned to the celestial world.

She and Lucy had spent the better part of the night just staring up at the stars. It hadn't been the worst use of her time. Aquarius supposed, and Lucy had fulfilled her promise and made her laugh. As unintentional as her hanging from a branch like a drowned rat had been.

Aquarius felt content as the thrum of starlight swirled around her and she materialized in the celestial world. She opened her eyes as the wash of magic faded.

Then she froze.

"What the hell!" her entire body tensed and jerked as she took in her surroundings. The entire landscape was devastated. The grand pillars of the celestial court were toppled, crumbled and broken. The magic that flowed through the world like bubbles in a stream, glittering and fluid. Now only dust and bitter smoky wind blew around her.

How? It couldn't have been more than a few minutes by their time that she had been gone. What could have caused so much damage so fast?

Aquarius shook her head. Now was not the time to panic or spaz out! Like a certain blonde bimbo might in a similar situation. Oddly enough the thought of Lucy helped focus her mind.

First things first. Find the other Zodiac spirits, or the Celestial Spirit King, or Grandpa Crux…

Find someone.

"Scorpio! Capricorn!" she yelled, they had been with her when Lucy and that other mage had done their whole "thank the spirits by granting wishes or whatever" nonsense that had happened just this morning. Scorpio had been standing right here when Aquarius had been summoned. "Anyone!"

No answer.

Quite.

The sort of desolate quite that usually only came in the aftermath of a battle. When the civilians were still hiding, while the soldiers took stalk of survivors.

She would try again. She swam through the air as easily as she would through water. Deeper into what should have been the grand plaza of the Spirit King's court.

"Leo? Ares! Virgo?" her voice echoed through the broken shell of the court. Empty and lonely. Again her mind flashed to Lucy. The notion of going to the human world on her own power and telling Lucy what was going on fluttered through her mind.

Until she passed a corner.

"Scorpio!" she rushed to her boyfriend's side. His tall strong form looked so broken, sprawled against a broken pillar. He was covered in wounds and caked in the gray dust of the tainted land around them.

At her touch on his shoulder, he jerked in pain. She could hear his teeth grind together. His tail creaked and groaned like it just didn't have the strength to move even though it wanted to.

Aquarius looked around, and realized with growing fear and horror, that Scorpio wasn't the only one.

Her friends, her family. Lay broken and battered around the hall. Virgo was pinned under part of a column. Gimi and Mini were collapsed next to each other. Sagittarius was facedown in the center of the room, Libra was collapsed close to his left. She could see some of the others scattered around the hall. They were all wounded, and hurt.

Then her mind registered Leo. Barely standing, more like swaying on his feet. It was painful to watch. He looked so weak and helpless standing in front of a rising set of stairs. His suit was torn and his glasses were missing. His rings flickered with the light of Regulus. She hadn't seen him in such bad shape since his return from exile.

It chilled her bones to see their leader so frail and fragile.

"Leo!" Aquarius rushed toward him, her fear and curiosity overwhelming her.

"Stay Back!"

She froze as he managed to solidify his stance. Aquarius only then noticed that someone else was in the hall with them. She realized only then, that Leo hadn't been talking to her.

A form surrounded by dark blue flame. They stood on the stairs, looking down on Leo. Sparing little glance at Aquarius or the other Zodiac spirits.

Aquarius felt a pressure, heavy and suffocating, surround them. She didn't wait for anything. Her urn already in her hands. An ocean barreled straight into the dark form. Leagues of water compressed into a mighty torrent of pure force. Focused on the single point of the enemy before her.

But then.

"Aquarius No!" Leo's warning came too late.

A wave of the violet fire erupted out from the enemy. Aquarius' attack dissipated into puddles on the floor. While most of the dark light blasted Aquarius off balance and smashed her against one of the few pillars still standing.

Stunned, she fell to the floor. Her urn still in her grasp but she wasn't sure how much good that would do her.

Aquarius suddenly felt tired, drained. Low on magic and awareness. It was now easy to see how the others were incapacitated so quickly. Whatever this magic was, it pulled and drained at their celestial magic. Pulling it in and allowing none to escape its grasp.

"Why you!" Leo growled loud and angry. His predator heritage leaking into his eyes as he turned back to their enemy. He charged forward, Regulus glowing around his fists. Bright and strong as he rushed his foe.

The feminine laugh rang through the air like the whistle of a knife. Aquarius could now just make out the curves of a female underneath the black fire surrounding the intruder.

"Poor little cub."

Aquarius gasped, her entire body ran cold as fear covered her skin in chills.

That voice! It couldn't be her! It wasn't possible!

A sharp SNAP! Echoed through the air air. So sudden and out of place amidst the quite and desolation that it made her jump. And just as Leo was about to land a blow on the intruder…

A wave of the toxic dark energy engulfed the entire court hall.

Aquarius held onto the floor as the dark force pushed and battered against them, around them, and down on them from all directions at once.

She could just make out Leo. Limp and fallen against the cracked marble floor. His eyes struggled to remain open, like he was trapped in a dazed half sleep. His dimly flickering ring still on his fingers. Shining in, what seemed to Aquarius, protest against the dark violet fire that surrounded them.

His wrist held high above his head. Held firm in her flawless hand.

"Fear not, little cub." Her voice was like honey, mixed with oleander. "You and yours will soon see sense. The mistake you made will be rectified."

Aquarius felt the weightlessness of a magical summoning. But it wasn't the warm golden sugar dust that was Lucy's magic. It felt hard and gritty. Tasteless and slimy, as it surrounded her. She could barley make out the forms of the others. Some like Capricorn, Torus and Libra, roused enough by the magic to attempt to struggle against the force.

But it did no good.

And darkness surrounded them.

I do my best in general to keep OriginalCharacters out of my wrighting. However that doesn't really apply to bad guys or minor characters. As long as they don't stay and take over the entire source material. Arc specific OCs are totally fine, as long as they go away at the end of the arc. ;)

That being said. The antagonist of this Story is an OC, so if you are like me, you may want leave now in abject protest. If you are still here by the next chapter, then I know that its ok!

I will do my best to update soon, but I make no promises. Because I write for fun and relaxation and not to please the fickle whims of fanfiction readers.

Thank you and please review!