~Following The Truce twins~
Juno drags a hand down her face as she shares a pained look with her brother, he seems to be suffering just as much as she is from their sisters squawking. "Marylin can you please form a coherent sentence if you so desperately want our opinion" Juno drawls, giving her younger sister a look. "What she said" Matthew supports despite not understanding half the words used.
Marylin gets a petulant look on her face, like a child that was just told that they couldn't have dessert. "Come on… I know that Lauren is your friend considering you're all complete losers. So maybe pay attention" Marylin sasses, glaring at her older siblings. Juno snorts at the word friend, she turns to Matthew and gestures for him to take control of the conversation.
He rolls his eyes "Marylin, what our lovely sister means is that it would be a little easier to understand what you're saying if you just slowed down" Matthew says, trying his best to calm the situation before things get too violent.
"Jeez y'all are senile. What I was trying to say is that Lauren and Elora had a fight at their last tutoring thingy, Elora told me that she accidentally broke something and that Lauren portalled her face first into the Unity Garden" Marylin repeats what Elora told her earlier when she found her in the dirt.
Juno's face contorts into a weird myriad of expressions, first being the most obvious, shock then confusion and finally caution. "What do you mean Lauren used portal magic to send an entire person from her room all the way to the gardens. And she's apparently still alive, I find that hard to believe" She says, her voice hard.
Marylin looks weirded out by Juno's sudden seriousness. "Isn't Lauren super smart, why wouldn't she be able to do that?" Marylin says, questioning her sister's sudden behaviour.
"We know she can do portal magic successfully, just last week she used it to deflect Mr Coffins lightning" Matthew cuts in, just as confused as Marylin.
Juno sighs, letting the tension flow out of her shoulders. "Nevermind, isn't recess going to finish soon anyway" Marylin and Matthew's eyes widen in shock at Juno's words, they start shovelling food into their mouths with a desperation only seen in starving children.
Sometimes I think you two were meant to be the twins Juno thinks as she watches her siblings continue to choke down more food.
The ringing of the school bells echo through the unity garden, drawing Junos' attention away from her siblings, thinking of the classes she has next. After a moment of thought she stands up from the table her siblings and she are seated at and leaves for her next class. Marylin takes Juno as her cue to stand up and start heading to class herself; she waves goodbye to Mathew who does the same as the two girls.
Juno continues to walk to her next class which just so happens to be environmental studies in the greenhouse. A light drizzle starts around the school, the temperature cooling making Juno shivers as she enters the greenhouse. Her thoughts linger on the conversation she had with her siblings. Lauren at their current year level is doing Teleportation magic, At this stage this could turn into something worse, they predicted she shouldn't do anything strenuous at the risk of her own life. Juno tries to brush off her negative thoughts as the teacher begins to talk about their latest chapter on herbal healing.
In all honesty, her thoughts keep lingering at the very back of her mind, the voices of insecurities and anxieties telling her how Lauren is pushing too hard. The rain heavies outside as the lesson progresses. When Juno tunes back in, the topic has moved onto flora adapting in different environments and if they will survive or not.
Juno's is enthralled by the rain as it just seems to continue on, only when a classmate pokes her arm does she bring her attention back to the lesson. The teacher, at the moment she brings herself back to the lesson, is talking about the natural selection of plants. She continues to listen and take notes as the lesson that felt more so of an eternity than an hour class came to an end.
At this point the rain has ceased, students have started leaving the Greenhouse and begin dispersing to their usual gatherings . Juno stays in the garden, preferring to look at the plants rather than look for her brother. The humid environment of the Greenhouse always keeps the plants at a stable temperature even through the rain.
In her younger years when her parents were still together, they had a garden filled with many types of flora. Juno still remembers the sounds of the Cicadas on the hot summer days as they worked at the garden. Those memories are rooted back to when her father was still a somewhat decent person.
But of course that all changed. Juno's mother was out for the week on a business trip so their father was left in charge. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her mother was always a busy person so her father being left in charge of taking care of Juno and her siblings was common.
That night everything was normal until Juno and her siblings went to bed. It had been half an hour since they went to bed. Juno and her brother started hearing chatter downstairs, excited at the thought of their mother having come home early, they rushed straight down the stairs only to find a disturbing scene that would form a resentment that no child should ever experience.
Their father was on the couch with another woman who was most certainly not their mother. A short while after this happened Juno and Matthew told their mother. Juno's father and mother divorced and their father left for the U.K with his "partner" and neither Juno nor her two siblings had seen him since.
Juno snaps out of her thoughts when someone grabs her shoulder. "Sheesh, do you know how long it took me to get here? And then I had to find you through this jungle" Mathew says, gripping his sister's shoulder tightly. "That's why I came up here, Doofus," Juno says, prying her brother's arm off her shoulder.
"Come on, let's go find Marylin. You know she hates the rain" Matthew sighs out, trying to drag Juno out of one of her episodes. Juno's eyes clear at the sound of Marilyn's name, her shoulders drop a little when she takes a deep breath.
"Fine, let's go" Juno clips, taking long strides out of the Greenhouse to the exit of the campus. Matthew speeds up, quickening his steps in an attempt to keep up with Juno. "She's probably waiting for us in our campus, if she even bothered to try and brave the rain" Juno informs Matthew, despite knowing he is most likely already aware.
"Speaking of, I really don't wanna get soaked either" Matthew says, poking his head out of the entryway, peering through the thick and heavy rain. Juno is about to snark when suddenly an older student comes rushing by, they gasp out a quick apology as they run into the rain.
"Are they stupid, they could get se-" Juno's eyes widen when the older student raises his hand above his head and the Rain parts, though the student flinches as the rain heavy's.
"Oh my, uh come on" Juno glares at empty space as she rushes out of the rain to meet the older guy. She mimics his position and summons her glassy pink magic, forming a shield above her head.
"What are you trying to achieve standing in the rain?" Juno rolls her eyes at her senior's stupidity. The older student turns slightly, his face flushed in embarrassment. "I have a date and don't want to ruin my look" He says, using his eyes to gesture to his outfit. Juno snorts and uses her free hand to take out her textbook.
"You're a water elemental right?" Juno asks, humming in confirmation is all the answer she gets but that's enough for her. "Here, cast this spell and you won't have to try and manually push the rain out of the way.
Juno steps out of the way after he confirms that he understands the incantation. "Mhm, apothesis ydaton".
His arm visibly relaxes as he speaks the incantation, the rain above him starts to morph and bend around him forming a protective dome from the rain. "Thank you, I would ask if there's anything I could help with but I really gots to go. Bye" He rushes out as he starts jogging through the rain to wherever he needs to go.
"Hey sis, why aren't you gonna just use that spell for us?" Matthew asks, copying his sister by holding his grey magic above his head as a shield. Juno turns to face her twin "because it's a water elemental spell, we can only manipulate elements on a smaller scale through complex spell work which we won't learn for another couple of years" Juno explains, slowly losing the energy to be annoyed at his stupid questions.
They proceed to make their way to the Witches campus, using their magic to ward off the rain as best they can. Matthew sags in relief when they enter the campus, his magic dispersing around him. "Why couldn't you have been born an Elemental, it would've made that so much easier" He says, holding a hand over his face as he tries to catch his breath.
"Oh quit being a baby, we barely got our socks wet" Juno responds, rolling her eyes so hard they might just fall out. She drags him off the wall and up the stairs, ignoring his incessant groaning.
"Oh looky here, Laurens lap dog and her bitch" A snarky voice bellows out from behind the twins. Matthew snaps around glaring at the raven haired Witch. "Hey! Don't call my sister a bitch, she's mean but not a bitch" He yells at Alexandrea, eyes glaring daggers through her.
"Oh, you're mistaken. Juno's the lap dog… You're the bitch" Alexandrea cackles out, revelling in the fury on Matthews face. She opens her mouth to continue when a body suddenly slams into her.
Juno is so fed up with Alexandrea she decides to teach her a lesson, so of course she does the most reasonable thing that comes to mind. Tackle the bitch.
Juno is now on top of Alexandrea as slams her head to the ground "Who's the bitch now you raven haired bint!" Juno screams, pulling Alexandra's hair. Alexandrea yelps and moves on instinct, infusing her hand with magical energy, she slaps Juno.
When her hand makes contact with Juno's face it sends her flying to the wall, residue magic trailing after her. Juno drags herself off the floor and pins Alexandrea with a cold glare. "You're fucked" She growls, pushing her hand forward she sends out a blast of pink energy, knocking Alexandrea from the floor to the opposite wall.
Alexandrea looks to the wall behind her as she gasps for breath, when she sees cracks indenting the wall it sets her off. She yells throwing burst after burst of volatile magical energy at Juno, who dives out of the way and sends a small wave of energy through the ground knocking Alexandrea off of her feet again.
That's it. Alexandrea and Juno think as they collect energy in their hands again. They both push their hands forward as they shout:
"Pyrosvestiki Sfaíra" Juno yells.
"Maniastikoí ánemoi" Alexandrea yells.
A volatile burst of wind shoots from Alexandrea magic as Juno's magic lights a pink fireball and sends it straight at her. The attacks collide, the pink fire being fueled by the wind of Alexandra's attack, causing it to continue to grow.
Matthew, watching on slack jawed, notices the attacks begin to whip around dangerously. This knocks him out of his stupor and he summons his magical energy, he forms a barrier of grey energy around where the two attacks meet and holds it as the residue energy fades and the attacks are contained.
"What the fuck!" a shrill voice yells. Everyone turns and sees Lauren standing at the opposite end of the hallway, her eyes wide with disbelief. Lauren rushes forward to stand next to the now sweating Matthew. "Mind explaining" Lauren says, shooting him a demanding glare. He gives her a pained look "I will after, but please can you fix this" He squeaks out.
Lauren glances down at the Runes on her wrist and an idea pops into her head. Without giving a single word she calmly walks over to where the attacks are being contained and holds her wrist up towards it.
Suddenly the shield and the attacks disperse and draw into the Runes. Alexandrea and Juno stare at her slack jawed, Matthew is sputtering in the back as Lauren gives a cold look to the two girls. "What do you think you're doing?" She asks Juno.
Juno clears her throat "Alexandrea started shit talking then hit me with her magic, I responded accordingly" Juno says matter of factly like she didn't nearly incinerate the entire hallway. "She started it! She tackled me to the ground. I was only defending myself!" Alexandrea squawks.
"You know what, I got other shit to do Just try not kill the entire school while I'm gone" Lauren lets out a heavy sigh as she leaves the bickering girls behind and disappears from sight.
"This would've never happened if you just shut your mouth" Juno growls as Alexandrea continues whining. As Juno is prepared to summon more magic to shut Alexandrea up, another voice shouts from the stairs.
"Baris"
Suddenly Juno and Alexandrea drop to the ground, unable to move they both start panicking. Juno starts violently trying to turn her head while Alexandrea starts screaming in indignation.
Heels echo through the wrecked hall,bouncing through the craters formed in the girl's fight.
"I'm disappointed in both of you for not only the fact you're in the third year and should know better but also the fact you put others in danger because of your quarrel " A stern voice says.
The girl's look in the direction of the voice and see the Vice principal Miss Irene. The two girls look at each other, sharing the same expression. They knew in that moment that they are fucked.
Miss Irene rolls her eyes and turns around. Just as Juno and Alexandrea start to panic, thinking that she might leave them there, Miss Irene flicks her pitch black hair over her shoulder with elegance worthy of an angel.
Juno sighs as the invisible pressure lifts from her body, taking in deep breaths to compensate for the amount she missed before. Alexandrea smirks, her eyes filling with triumph. As the two teenage girls try to stand both of them lose their balance, feet slipping out from under them. Next thing they know they're floating light as a feather and trailing after the young vice principal.
"Um… Miss, what's going on?" Alexandrea asks, for once talking in the normal speaking volume. "Well ladys, I'm sure Principle Klotsia will be quite interested to know as to why two young, third year girls were trying to incinerate the entire campus." Miss Irene grits out, her cool façade only slipping when mentioning their year group.
Alexandrea pales and Juno groans. Okay, maybe this is deserved. But how come I'm getting punished for defending myself when Lauren gets away scot free for portalling a young student through the school! Juno rants to herself, getting caught in her thoughts.
By the time they make it to Principal Klotsia's office Juno is sore and tired, honestly floating loses its rush after the first five minutes and the fatigue kicks in. "All right girls, you two gonna be honest or do we need to give you a few minutes alone to come up with a believable lie?" Miss Irene drawls, surprisingly sarcastic for such an innocent looking face.
Juno shivers when the cool glare lands on her "No Ma'am, we're ready and will tell the whole truth" Juno slips into her role as one of the nerds easily(She actually just cares about school). The three of them enter the office and see a woman with ashy blonde hair arguing with the stony faced Principal Klotsia.
"This school has been letting her push herself to the point of death since she got here, yet I'm the only one who has bothered to do anything about it? If she didn't think to come to me immediately after the incident, she most likely would've been permanently crippled. And wouldn't that be a story, I can see it now, 'esteemed school loses trust of parents after permanent damage done to student'. Not only that, but more than half of our staff are gone, we're left in a very difficult position. Oh wait! Sorry, no, I'm left in a difficult position that you absolutely refuse to do anything about!" Tanya rants, her tone suggesting this isn't the first time she's had to do this.
The older woman takes off her glasses and wipes them with the edge of her shirt. her eyes not losing an ounce of focus, direct back towards the fuming receptionist.
"Tanya," She sighs, "I know you and Lauren have become quite close in her years at this school but you have to understand. I have to take care of all the students in this school, not to mention we need to receive consent from her legal guardians in order to prescribe Runes at all, let alone of the strength you made for her. I've sent a request the maximum amount of times possible and they have insisted that she needs no treatment, I trust her parents' judgement." Principal Klotsia's tone is sharp and sincere, seeming to go through the motions of this conversation.
When Tanya opens her mouth to rebut, Irene steps in. "I'm sorry Miss Tanya, but we have some business with our principal and all that paperwork isn't going to do itself… well, not with your type of magic anyway." Irene is polite and smiling as she ushers a sputtering Tanya out of the door and closes it with a flick of her wrist.
Principal Klotsia looks at the two girls floating behind her vice principal, she seems bored when she sees one of them is Alexandrea but quickly morphs to surprise at seeing Juno hanging there as well.
"Girls, what brings you two to my office?" The older lady questions, her thin brow lifting. Juno yelps as she suddenly drops back to the ground alongside Alexandrea, she scrambles off the floor and attempts to brush herself clean.
"I apologise ma'am, I got into a minor altercation with Alexandrea after she said some… things" Juno, ever practised with her mask, pulls off the calm and collected act brilliantly. Alexandrea practically snarls as she jumps to her feet, ready to defend herself but is cut off when Principal Klotsia's eyes return to their knowing glare. "Does this 'Minor altercation' have anything to do with the large fluctuations of magical energy that have been effecting the building's foundation?" The regal woman asks calmly, not giving anything away.
"Um, well, things got a bit heated and we both used offensive elemental spells" Juno squeaks, her carefully curated mask shattering in the face of fear.
Principal Klotsia sighs again. "Two weeks, you're going to replace the cleaning staff for two weeks. They deserve the break" She says, fluttering her hand in a dismissive gesture. The two girls get practically thrown out and sent on their way.
Alexandrea scurries away with a red face, Juno rolls her eyes and looks around a couple times.
"Matthew you deserter! I swear the second I find you I'll show what happens when my spell isn't interrupted!".