"Why is it suddenly purple?" Janna's question came out of the blue, catching Marco off-guard as he turned to look at his classmate as she walked with him down the empty hallway of the school.
"What the heck are you talking about?"
The teenager pointed towards Marco's arm, poking at the large patches of purple that were growing along the length of his arm. "Your arm, it's totally turning purple, dude. Are you getting sick or something?"
Marco's face blanched, eyes widening as he subconsciously gripped at his arm and trembling in fear. "Oh no. Nononononono!" Clenching the meat of his arm tightly, he struggled to stay on his feet, attempting desperately to scrape the discoloration from his skin. "Oh god, this can't be happening, not again please!"
Janna's brows furrowed, face contorting in slight confusion as she watched Marco panic in a whole new manner. "Jeez Marco, it's just that arm of yours coming back, what's the big deal?" She couldn't help but feel worried as the Latino began to have a panic attack, his whole arm shaking as he strained to keep himself from giving into the madness of his monster arm. "Marco? What's the deal?"
"I can't deal with it, not again please, I can't let him come back." the teenager droned to himself, nails raking at violet skin and adding to the discoloration. He felt her hand on his shoulder and immediately threw her away, staring at the raven-haired with the expression that she had tried to assault him, dropping to his knees on the floor.
"Marco" Janna's body trembled as she stared at him with a look like he'd been possessed, never seeing him act towards her in such a way before. There was pure fear in his eyes, a terror that she'd never seen in all the years she'd known him. "Marco, what's the problem? Isn't the 'crazy tentacle arm' a good thing?"
"You need to go." His voice was low and hoarse, eyes wide with pure terror like there was some sort of terrifying presence beside of him. "Find Star, tell her to bring her wand, I need her hand spell right now." Janna thought that he would literally rip his arm off, the way that he was gripping at himself.
"Yeah, like heck I'm going to let you go." she deadpanned, approaching him and attempting to release his hand from the deathgrip that he had on himself. "You obviously need help now, so there's no way that I'm gonna leave your side." The thief ignored Marco's attempts to shake her away, instead pulling his arm away and into her chest. "You're really shaken up by this, aren't you?"
"You don't know, Janna." She'd never heard him speak that way before, like he knew that if he let whatever was happening finish, he would undoubtedly hurt someone, maybe even… Janna shook her head as she pulled Marco closer. "You didn't know what it wanted, what it could've done… I don't want that, I can't let you see it, can't let it out again. I won't do it, I won't I won't I won't"
"I don't care what it wants, Marco." she whispered into his ear, holding him tightly and keeping his arm close to her, kissing at the fingers and knuckles. "It's not the boss of you, you're the boss of it. Don't let it control you."
Both stayed together on the floor in silence, breathing deeply together until Marco's breathing became calmer and more collected, his body becoming relaxed as the discolorations of his arm began to recede and fade away. Janna watched with intrigue as his skin began to clear until there was only the faintest sign of indigo, a simple little blotch along his upper arm which he immediately hid underneath his shirt sleeve.
"Janna" Marco looked her in the eyes, unsure of how to what to say. "You… I…"
"No need to thank me, Marco." she sighed, pushing him away and standing up. "I mean, really… don't tell anyone about this, okay?"
"Janna, I-"
"You don't need to thank me." The thief gave a sigh, walking towards the end of the hallway and waving slowly. "What are friends for, am I right?"
