mea culpa. (overblot!juno)
A long-awaited ficlet for my bestie @coffeefruits-world! Happy birthday, love! Hope you enjoy it! 🩷 Credit for the dividers goes to @pixopix
“Everything… is my fault.”
The infirmary doors flew open with a loud bang.
"Juno!" Ace yelled, skidding into the room with Deuce and Grim right at his heels. "Hey! Stop runnin’ off like—"
Ace froze. The words died in his throat.
The room was already half-destroyed. Glass shards from shattered medicine bottles littered the floor. Dark, viscous ink bubbled up from the floorboards, pooling around the despondent brunette’s feet. The heavy, sweet stench of blot filled the air, so thick it made Grim cough violently.
"Gah! It feels like my nose’s meltin’ off!” Grim gagged, clutching his nose.
"They’re… overblotting," Deuce said, his face draining of color. He instantly raised his magical pen. "Ace, Grim, get back. Juno-san! C-Can you hear me?!”
Juno didn’t look at either one of them. They stood in the center of the swirling ink, their appearance shifting violently. Flowing, tattered fabrics of deep purple and emerald green materialized around them, swaying to an imaginary, tragic rhythm. Golden coin charms jangled sharply around their waist, chiming like a funeral knell with every shuddering breath they took.
Unlike the others before them, they weren’t bound to a phantom. They had absolute free will over their newfound power, and that made them dangerous, moreso than anyone they and their friends had battled. Ace nearly jolted when they started talking. They sounded… unnatural, as if there was a second voice layering the one he’d recognized all too well. The words that spilled from their mouth carried no fury, agony, or crazed euphoria from the power they somehow acquired. There was only sorrow, self-loathing, as they spoke to themself.
"It's my fault," the prefect whispered, their voice cracking. "Tyler... everything... because of me."
"Waller-san!"
Before either of the trio could respond, a commanding voice cut through the panic. Olwen Salazar charged into the room, her expression fierce but eyes wide with alarm. As a skilled healer, she recognized the lethal spike in negative energy instantly. She’d seen the aftermath of an overblot incident multiple times, but never in her years of experience had she witnessed one occur before her eyes. “Boys, step away, now!”
She paused, her brow furrowing in sheer shock. "Wait... Waller-san doesn't have magic. There is no phantom controlling them. How is this possible?!"
"Mea culpa," Juno cried out, ignoring them entirely. Tears of pure, black ink tracked down their cheeks. They repeated the phrase over and over in a language that Olwen was familiar with. "Mea culpa... mea maxima culpa!"
In a blind panic, they reached out for the nearest heavy object to keep everyone away. Their hands gripped a tall, heavy brass candle stand resting near a cot. Even without magic, the raw, chaotic strength of the overblot fueled their muscles. With a desperate gasp, Juno wrenched the massive iron stand off the ground. The lit candles at the top flared with a violent, unnatural orange fire.
"STAY BACK!" Juno screamed, voice raw and warped, swinging the flaming candle stand in a wide, lethal arc.
Ace leaped backward, pulling Grim by the collar just as the whistling iron stand shattered a nearby wooden chair into splinters. Sparks and hot wax sprayed across the room. The flame-haired teen swore under his breath.
"Whoa! Watch the fur!" Grim shrieked.
"They're completely out of their mind with guilt!" Ace yelled, dodging another fiery swing. "We can't get close without getting burned or smashed!"
Muttering an incantation, the older woman raised her own magical focus, her witch's instinct kicking into high gear as she analyzed the swirling vortex of ink and fire. "We have to disarm them first! If they keep burning through their emotional energy like this, the blot will consume them entirely!"
Grim leapt forward, the cool blue flames in his ears as bright and ardent as the fire that shone in his eyes. “Then don’t just stand there and blab; let’s help my henchhuman come back to their senses!” He said, and without word the small group got into their battle stances, glowing pens poised to combat their transformed companion’s attacks. Each were determined to pull them back from the void of their own despair.
We… no, I can’t lose them. Not here, not now. I… I need them with me, or who’s gonna graduate with me? Juno, I’ll get ya back. Just hang in there!
