Soon after Indigo finds the truth of the program that he is working for, he is caught and quickly punished. However, this punishment does nothing to dissuade Indigo from helping his students.
What is Minerva's Curse?
In order to punish Indigo's curiosity, Minerva places a curse on the man that is directly tied to Indigo's interests. He is unable to speak on the truth of the program nor his own condition. Trying to do causes a buildup of poison magic in his system. Due to his own natural resistance of poison, the curse can kill him, but slowly. However, it would take a bit of time.
Progression of the Curse
After initially getting cursed, Indigo's first reaction was to yell at Maxwell about her betrayal. He wanted to ask her why she would put the "children" in harms way just to bring back someone who was long dead. But of course, he couldn't get any of his ideas out. This is when he learns the main issue caused by the curse. Trying to speak on the truth is not only impossible, but makes him feel incredibly ill.
However, he finds that this doesn't happen when going about his explanations in a roundabout way. As long as he didn't directly state what he meant, he felt fine.
Indigo thought he was being clever by hiding his thoughts within his paperwork. But through the haze of his own pain, he hadn't realized that he was indeed still getting worse. Although Minerva and Maxwell had already written him off, they still knew that Indigo would try to look for a loophole within his curse.
Symptoms/ Stages of the Curse
Indigo constantly rambling about snakes and the color purple are him testing the limits of his curse. He finds these subjects to be the "safest" options for himself. They appear often as subjects in his school and homework for the students. Indigo finds himself able to teach this way for the first few days of the school year. He tries to answer the questions his students give him, but he quickly loses any good faith the students may have in him, as all his explanations are confusing.
Indigo is also forced to avoid his own child completely, as he can't control himself enough to avoid making his curse worse. He also isn't on good enough terms with them to communicate in a roundabout way either.
However, regardless of what Indigo does, he is still doomed to lose control over himself. This loss of control mainly affects his poison magic. Normally, he is able to manifest snake-like features in order to attack or disarm his enemies. But as the curse takes over his body, he finds himself unable to will these features away. The first sign of this was Indigo's fangs refusing to retract and leaking. This made it more difficult to speak (not that this stopped him) and forced him to swallow it. Although he has a strong resistance, Indigo isn't fully immune to his own venom. His magic works as a paralyzing agent, making him lose control and feeling within his entire body. The stress of the situation and his symptoms of his magic overloading in general is what causes his mental decline. He's unable to focus or think, and his frustrations turn to anger and restlessness.
As the week goes on, Indigo feels as if he isn't getting his points across to the students. He grows more desperate, and his messages come off as more frantic as a result. His physical condition gets worse alongside this. His skin takes on a purple hue as his body becomes more saturated with poison magic. Even though he has given up on speaking to others, he finds his lungs filling with the venom he can't stop exuding. He can only give out worksheets for the students to complete. If they needed him in any capacity, they could visit him in the nurse's office. He deems his instability as dangers and only wants to be visited during emergencies. Regardless, the students start avoiding him anyway.
Since he is now practically isolated, Indigo works on himself more often. With nothing to lose, he ends up experimenting on himself directly.
By the end of the week, Indigo is unable to attend class at all and is forced to focus completely on curing himself. He stays holed up in the nurse's office, experimenting on himself in a desperate attempt to cure himself. But at this point, it is a useless endeavor. His body can no longer handle the amount of poison magic flowing through him and he collapses. He ends up going "missing" and is replaced with two other teachers.
Indigo felt a great sense of dread. Ever since he had... Returned, he had been itching to help people again. Sure, he had enjoyed being with his child again, and her odd husband, but he craved normalcy. Even though he knew this, Indigo didn't dare say anything. It wasn't until Iowa's massive husband spoke, did his desire to work again get revealed.
"Mr. Morada, is there something wrong?"
The poor man nearly jumped out of his seat, as Marcus almost never directly spoke to him. That was usually for the best, as Marcus scared the hell out of him. Indigo didn't want to question his daughter's choices, but why a literal demon?!
Indigo sucked in a breath and looked into the golden eyes of his step son.
"I'm... Not sure what you mean?"
"You're not satisfied with your life here, are you?"
Indigo swallowed hard and tried not to actively tremble in front of the man before him. Marcus always seemed amused whenever he was able to *get* to Indigo.
"Is there something you'd rather do? Is reuniting with your daughter not good enough for you?"
"MARCUS!"
Marcus's teasing is cut off by his wife slapping his back. The man visibly shrinks, as if ashamed by his actions.
"Don't be mean to Dad! He's sensitive," the short woman says with a pout. Marcus dwarfed her without even trying. Hell, he was far taller than even Indigo.
"Oh, I didn't mean anything by it, Mr. Morada. But I can tell you want something more."
And Marcus was right to say that. Seeing as both he (supposedly) and his daughter wanted what was best for Indigo, he decided to admit his boredom.
"I... I want to go back to my old job. I want to help people. I'm not ready to retire-!"
"Oh, is that all? You should ask Chiono to sponsor you!"
Indigo immediately tensed up upon hearing the name. Chiono, the glory of the snow. The name his wife chose for his child. However, he knew that the name now belonged to the current Monarch. And that Monarch wasn't his child.
Iowa could easily see her father's darkened expression, the way he was now gripping the edge of the table, and tries to ease him up.
"Don't worry, Chiono listens to me. And... And I think he really likes you. You should give it a shot. And I heard the weather's nice this time of year."
And so he did, if only for a shot for him to speak his mind. After all, it was Chiono's fault his baby girl was dead. It was him who was now puppeteering what was left of her corpse. And it was all for what? Power, the seeds of greed planted by his mother? Indigo knew that it was his fault too, since he allowed Iowa to stay in such a terrible situation. But he couldn't bare that both of them died. Instead, now it was only she who was dead. He was breathing again, thanks to her. He was back to himself.
Indigo found little to no resistance as he stormed into the Monarch's castle. He had told a few guards that he requested an audience with the monarch, and the obligated saying," that Chiono was already waiting for him." So the bastard was watching him? That was just like his mother.
Despite the guards insistences that Indigo bowed or showed any form of respect, Indigo blindly made an appearance in front of the Monarch. Literally, for his eyes were closed. He couldn't bare to see what had happened to his daughter's body. Even after being returned to his senses himself, Indigo's body had been permanently altered. His hair remained like smoke and his skin was still tinted purple.
"Now listen here, young man. I was told that Iowa already spoke to you about sponsoring me. And although I am humble to be given an opportunity to work again, that doesn't mean I approve of you OR the things you've done. I-I know- HOW DARE YOU REPLACE-"
Indigo's ramblings is cut off by a cold embrace. Since entering the room, Indigo opens his eyes for the first time. He sees the odd lacerations and staples that decorate Chiono's neck. He can feel the odd pulsing from whatever vile machine replaced his daughter's heart. He can smell the decay poorly masked with the scent of chocolate.
"D-Don't touch me you-!"
Indigo pushes away the zombie, finally getting a better look at Chiono.
He had meant to glare at the taller "man," but Indigo's gaze quickly turned into one of regret. The expression on Chiono's face was one he knew all too well. It was the same, wide eyed stare his daughter used to make whenever Doxa yelled at her. They'd blank out completely, trying not to cry or register what was being said.
Although there were minor differences, such as Indigo only being able to see the top half of his face, Indigo KNEW the expression. Chiono was the same child that he was before. Both Iowa and Chiono was his child.
Indigo had promised himself that he'd never make his child make such a face towards him. And yet...
The expression didn't last for very long, as Chiono regained his "composure" quite quickly. Within a blink, the Monarch's expression became almost bored and very tired.
"Welcome back... Professor. You'll find your lab in the same condition you left it in. I... Used it myself, so please alert me personally if anything is missing."
The monarch then tossed Indigo a key before trying to return to his throne. But Indigo wouldn't let him. The shorter man was now clinging to Chiono's jacket, sobbing into it.
The older man began blubbering his "sorry"s and his "forgive me"s directly into Chiono's back. Chiono wasn't sure why, though. But still, he wanted his father to be happy. And to release him.
Carefully, Chiono reached behind himself to remove Indigo's hands from his coat.
"Professor... Father, please just get back to work," Chiono says, still holding onto his father's hands.
