Chapter Text
“As we all know, the netherworld is a dangerous and unforgiving place. There are multiple dangers to young fledgelings such as yourselves. Such as other demons, evil cycles, magical beasts, poisonous plants-” The long haired professor gently pulled Clara back to his chest when she grabbed one of his books.
“Well…at least someone is enjoying this…” Iruma sighed inwardly at his hyper friend, a bit exasperated and a bit fondly when she happily nuzzled into the professor's gentle pets.
Shaking his head good naturedly, he didn’t realize that the teacher had stepped up to stand beside him until a hand started to rub up and down his back.
“But as long as you have your wings you will be able to…” The teacher trailed off as he kept rubbing the young boys back.
Iruma flinched in fear when the petting got more desperate.
“To….” The teacher continued before flinching himself. “HUH?!”
Iruma tried to lean away as the muscles in his back started to jump but before he could get far he was lifted in a princess carry by giant arms. He yelped in fear as he was rushed to the classroom doors. “ALL OF YOU, BACK TO YOUR CLASSES!” The big teacher shouts before dashing down the hall.
Wincing as a bad pain started to bloom from his spine at the rocky movements, Iruma tucked his face against the large demon's chest. He had no idea what's going on but his nerves were on fire from being touched so carelessly.
Then it hit him.
The muscular man hadn’t felt wings.
He knew he was human.
Flinching he tried to escape the strong hold, pushing on the bird demon's chest he let out scared screams, hoping to get someones attention, anyones attention!
A door slamming open made him flinch and look up to see that they were in the teachers common office.
Fear struck him like an execution cannonball to the face, his body beginning to shake as he attempted to climb over the giants shoulder. His dull nails scratched at the man's shoulder, attempting to find purchase but he was simply and gently pulled down so his tummy was resting over the other males knee.
“Iruma, let me see your back!” He heard professor Robin shout, fear and worry very evident in his voice.
“No! Let me go! Please!” Iruma cried, tears falling down his face.
A ripping sound quickly made its way to his ears, the collar to his shirt momentarily choking him before falling limp against the knee he was over.
When he felt a soft breeze on his back he flinched and let out a terrified sob.
“They’re gonna eat me!” He sobbed, gripping onto Balams’ pant leg tightly.
All the teachers that he came to care for…they were going to kill him, eat him, pick their teeth with his bones!
As soon as he felt like he could trust adults, just when he thought he’d finally be safe, life had to pull a fast one on him.
Why couldn’t anything go right for him?!
Hiccuping he buried his face into the strong thigh and tried to prepare himself for the pain of fangs piercing his skin.
He hadn’t even got to say goodbye to his friends and family…
…
…
…
Why…Why wasn’t anyone biting him?
Hiccuping, Iruma slowly looked over his shoulder at Professor Robin only to see that the green man was staring at his back with tears spilling down his pale face.
“Crying? Why?” He thought in confusion.
Testing the strength of the man holding him he was greatly surprised when the bird demon's grip on him was completely lax. In fact the man seemed to be shaking heavily.
Turning over he shakily reached out for the man's face and tried to wipe his tears away with his small thumbs but they just kept coming. Every time he wiped away the old ones, new ones formed. The man was shaking in his hold and seemed to be fighting back sobs that were quickly turned into constant hiccups.
He looked up at the much, much bigger man and was going to ask for help when he was shocked to see the anger and saddened look in the man's leaking eyes.
Looking around for help he noticed that there were more teachers than just Balam and Robin.
Professor Buer was standing by a desk with tears pricking the corners of his eyes, paper scattered around his feet.
Professor Momonoki was staring at him with a pale face that was tinted a bit green.
Behind Momonoki was Professor Orias who looked to be fighting back the urge to either puke or cry…or both….with a gloved hand over his lips.
Looking back at Professor Robin he tried to get out his soft, timid question of if the new teacher was okay but the green man had started to openly sob, stepping away from Iruma and attempting to wipe the tears away to no avail.
Reaching out for the man he flinched when his mind reminded him that this man had just seen his back.
That…That he was crying because of him…because he had lied…because he made him care about him…a human…a liar…a traitor to his friends.
He could feel the cool air touching his back as he stared at his teachers, his heart feeling as if it was going to shatter from the devastated looks that were being shot at him.
He watched as Professor Orias had shakily stepped forward and brought Robin into his heavily shaking arms and was attempting to calm the younger man. But he looked…he looked absolutely haunted.
Iruma's hands shook as he watched the teachers closely.
Miss Momonoki had fallen to her knees at some point, tears freely falling down her face as she seemed to be staring off into space.
Professor Buer was seemingly trying to walk over to either Iruma or Miss Momo but he was shaking so much that the young boy thought that the man was going to fall.
“He’s…He’s so sweet! He’s just a fledgling!” He heard Robin sob brokenly. “How could…?!”
Iruma felt his heart beat quicken as he watched everyone closely.
His lungs felt as if something was squeezing them, spots were forming in the corners of his vision and his body started to shake.
These teachers…he betrayed them…he made them care about him only to be a liar and to completely break their hearts.
“You did something wrong again, Iruma.” His fathers voice said in his ear. “You were a very bad boy…you know what to do.”
Moving away from Balam he slowly made his way over to where the couches he had been seated at earlier this year to gain the Royal One and picked up a letter opener that had been left there with some mail and slowly made his way back to Balam who was watching him with wide and startled eyes. Putting the letter opener in his open palms he lowers his head and holds the impromptu weapon out to the man with shaking hands.
Closing his eyes he didn’t hear any disagreement to his weapon choice and turned it in his hands to point it at himself.
“I was bad…I deserve this…I was bad…so I must be punished…” He whispered as he brought the blade to his chest.
“Sir, I am sure that Master Iruma is just fine eating in the cafeteria with his friends, now please just sit back down…”
“But Opera…!”
Opera frowned as they forced Sullivan back into his chair for the third time in the last half hour. They honestly started to get exasperated with the chairdemon when there were frantic knocks on the door to the office.
Both demons quickly looked up as the doors slammed open and young Asmodius Alice ran in with a terrified look on his face.
“Sir! We have a situation!” The young teen shouts, panting softly from an obvious run.
“Alice-kun, what seems to be the matter?” Sullivan quickly stood from his desk when he didn’t see Iruma.
“Pro-Professor Balam kidnapped Master Iruma and I have no idea where he went!” The pink haired student said in a voice laced with anger and fear. “H-He was petting Master Iruma and suddenly he shot up, picked up Master and ran out of the room!”
Almost immediately, Opera could figure out exactly where Balam had taken their young charge and felt a rare panic enter their being. Without waiting for their masters orders, they ran as fast as they could out of the office and towards the Faculty Room.
Pulling a pair of white gloves out of their vest pocket, Opera slipped them on and closed their fists.
“If one hair is missing from my kits head…” They thought angrily. “This school will need many new teachers.”
Spotting two forms running ahead of them, one lime green and the other a dark purple, Opera grit their teeth and ran a bit faster to get to the doors before them. Once in front of the large wooden doors, Opera slammed them open and nearly stepped inside when they were suddenly jumped at.
Dodging the attack, the Security Demon nearly raised their leg for a kick when they saw it was the new familiar teacher, Robin Bars. The young man had tears in his eyes but he looked, well for lack of a better word, pissed.
In fact…his hair seemed darker…
The cat demon's eyes widened as they realized why.
Growling low in their throat, they lifted the young man by the front of his uniform and gave a fierce glare.
“Where. Is. My. Kit?” They hissed.
“Opera-senpai!” Kalego shouted. “Release that idiot right…Valac, return to the classroom immediately.”
Opera lifted their gaze to their dear Kouahi and felt their tail flicking in absolute anger.
They watched as the young girl beside him went to protest until they had presumably scared her. She turned and ran as fast as she could.
“Drop him.” Kalego ordered once they were alone in the hall.
With one last growl, Opera did as told and released the Archer.
“What the hell is going on? Valac ran into the classroom and started tugging on my arm until I followed her outside.” The younger man grumbled. “What has Iruma done now?”
“Your mate kidnapped my kit.” The cat demon hissed as the green clad man quickly got up to his feet, running back into the office. “And I am here to retrieve him.”
Kalego frowned and went to touch Operas’ shoulder but the older demon quickly turned and entered the office. They looked around and took notice of the couches having been turned towards the windows to act as a wall, a letter opener embedded in the divider to their right and heavy breathing coming from somewhere in the room.
“Balam.” They called out in a voice that was dripping with malice. “Where are you?”
Stepping towards the couches they easily yanked one back to find Professors Orias, Buer and Momonoki in a huddle, all of them unconscious. Hissing through their teeth, Opera moved towards the dividers only to jump back when a thorny vine nearly embedded itself in their head.
Looking up, they glanced around behind the dividers to find many of Balams’ vines wriggling around on the ground and ceiling, some even covering the windows so the room was bathed in darkness.
“What the hell is going on…?” Kalego whispers as he steps over to his senpai. “Shichiro! Where are you?”
“Kal…ego…” A deep voice whispered from the other side.
Growling, Opera immediately knew whose voice that was and tried to step forward but once again they were almost impaled. “Shichiro! Release Master Iruma this instant!” They shout, rare emotion entering their voice.
Kalego held them back and stepped forward. “Shichiro…where is Iruma?” He spoke softly.
“Hatchling…is with me.”
“Can you…can you step out of wherever you are hiding?”
“No…Opera will…take him…”
“Opera will do no such thing. Just…Just show us that he is alright…” The purple haired demon whispered gently, his eyes scanning the area. When there was no noise for a few moments Kalego grit his teeth and went to step into the vine covered room. “Shichiro…please. We just want to see if Iruma is hurt…”
“Hatchling is…okay. Safe…with us…”
“Us?” Opera whispered with a glare.
“Robin…is here too. He’s keeping Hatchling asleep…so he doesn’t hurt himself again.”
“Again?! What do you mean again?!” Both demons shout.
“Go away…need to keep him…safe…” Balam growls, his voice gaining a darker tone.
Not one to step down from a challenge, Opera growled low in their throat. “SHICHIRO BALAM, I SWEAR TO SATAN IF YOU DO NOT BRING ME MY KIT I WILL TEAR YOUR WINGS OFF!” Opera shouts, struggling against Kalegos’ arm.
A swift beat of wings made both animalistic demons flinch before the soft yet sharp clack of talons against the marble floors sounded out around the room. The vines on the window moved and revealed Shichiro with his wings folded around himself, his arm holding something to his chest.
The duo flinch when they see the absolute anger and darkness in their old allies' eyes, his mask missing so his large scar was on display. “Shichiro…where is Iruma?” Kalego tries once more.
“Iru…ma…?” The Gargoyle whispers with a tilt of his head.
“Blue hair, blue eyes, disgustingly selfless…” The dog demon says softly, watching his mate carefully. “Where is he?”
A look of understanding crossed the white haired demon's face before he gently lifted his left wing to reveal Robin clutching a sleeping Iruma to his chest, his eyes wild and angry.
The small human was shirtless and had his head turned towards the duo, his breathing was slow and steady as he cuddled up to the new teacher. Robin was gently holding the back of the young teen's head with one hand while the other was wrapped around the boy's back.
“Hatchling…safe…now…go away.” Balam hissed, baring his fangs.
That was seemingly the wrong thing to do as Opera growled back, their pupils forming into slits, their tail flicking in anger and their claws ripping through the fabric of the gloves on their hands. “I’m not leaving until Master Iruma is safe with me.” The cat demon hissed in anger.
“Opera…” Kalego warns before turning to his mate once more. “Shi…give us the boy.”
“No.”
Quickly becoming both exhausted and worried by his mate, the purple haired demon stepped forward and reached a slow and steady hand out to the much bigger man, knowing for a fact that if he moved too quickly then he would no doubt be missing a hand by the end of this confrontation. “Why are you acting this way? What caused you to fall into an evil cycle?”
Balam glared at the hand that reached for him but made no move to stop it. Instead he stepped back once and pulled both Robin and Iruma closer to his being.
“He tried to…he tried to hurt himself…” The big demon whispered. “Because I…I showed his back.”
Opera felt their world freeze at those words.
No…no, no, no, no! Iruma would never…but…there was that one time when Master Iruma had just come into their care…
“His back? What about his back?” Kalego whispered in confusion.
Balam tilted his head slightly, his hair shifting and forming a slight curtain over his charges. “You…didn’t know?” He whispered back.
“Shichiro…what is wrong with Iruma?” The smaller demon questioned, a bit more desperate now. “What happened to the pup?”
Pup?
Opera spared their underclassman a glance before their eyes traveled back to their master.
The gargoyle raised a hand and his vines quickly reacted.
Green vegetation quickly formed a little table-like surface low to the ground, low enough that someone would have to kneel to sit at it.
Once it had taken shape, Balam gently placed Robin down and pointed towards the table. The green haired man shook his head and held Iruma tighter, coincidentally keeping the boys back covered with his arms.
But one glare from the bigger man was all it took for him to scoot over and gently rest Irumas’ upper body against the vines. After a shaky breath Robin moved out of the way and…oh by Lord Derkila the two wished he hadn’t.
All at once, Kalego and Opera were enveloped in such a strong sense of rage, pain and fear that they both stumbled slightly.
“Wh-What…?” The dog demon whispered brokenly.
For what the two had been looking at was a back painted in anguish.
There were scars on top of scars; both as small as wounds that could’ve been made from plant life with thorns to ones obviously made deliberately with sharp objects such as a knife, scabbed up wounds that looked as if they’d hurt if touched by anything, old burn scars that looked as if they had once needed skin grafs, in dents in the skin that would surely hurt if anyone were to touch them and…and right between his shoulder blades sat the most disturbing scar of them all.
Right between his shoulder blades laid an angry red scar with two smaller but equally as red scars right beside it. Just from looking at them, the duo could tell that they had been reopened over and over and over again, as if the one responsible was having fun with the wound.
“Iru…ma…” Opera shook as they tried to reach a hand out for their young charge, their little kit, their…their child…but their knees suddenly locked up and sent them straight to the ground.
Staring down at the marble floor, Opera was suddenly reminded of the night they had found Lord Sullivan crying in the living room long after Master Iruma fell asleep with his head on the elderly demon's lap.
At the time they had thought that their master was just having a bout of Iruma related cuteness emotions but then they…they could remember the anger in the Tet rank demons eyes, the tremble in his hands and how fast the elder had covered Iruma with a blanket once he had realized that Opera had walked in.
And how fast he had ordered the younger demon to call in a favor with Dr. Banhachi Balam that involved the doctor to make a house call the very next day.
They could still remember the haunted and saddened look in the Doctor's eyes as he left the chairdemons office a couple hours later, how Master Iruma had clung tightly to Opera once the doctor was gone, how he had refused to release them for even a second, how Sullivan had looked so guilty as he tried to explain to Iruma that what happened was absolutely necessary and how Iruma absolutely refused to be alone with the elderly demon for longer than a few seconds.
Then they remembered the nights they had been awoken to their young charge sneaking into their room and slipping into bed with them, tears clinging to his lashes and a shake in his breathing.
They never let it show that they had been awake and just let their child rest beside them for the night, even pretending to still be asleep when he left early in the morning as to not be found out.
Tears welled up in the young demon's eyes as they gripped their knees tight when it suddenly hit them what had been wrong with the boy.
He had been having a trauma response…and they hadn’t helped him.
Gritting their teeth, they squeezed their eyes shut as Kalego rushed for the closest window.
The sound of retching made them slightly flinch but they couldn’t move to help their favorite dog.
No…no, they sat right there, on the floor, wishing that they had seen wrong, that maybe this was just a bad dream and that they would wake up, rush to Iruma’s room, lift his shirt and see an unmarked back and…and join the boy for a rest.
But no.
When they opened their eyes again and lifted their head to look at their little ones back…they knew this was no dream or nightmare or even an illusion.
This was real.
This was real and their little one had faced many more horrors than they ever thought he had.
A flash of a smiling Iruma went through their mind before the child suddenly had blood splattered across his face and a pain filled scream erupted from the boy's lips. They sobbed and held onto their shaking arms, leaning forward until their forehead pressed against the cold floor.
Another sob tore out of their throat as they thought of the pain their kit had gone through all alone, how scared he was and how he had no doubt ever been given proper medical attention…how they no doubt still hurt worse than hellfire…how he had never said anything and simply smiled every day with no hint of him being in pain.
Sobbing, they held themselves tighter.
Then something hit them like a Mountain Blue Minotaur.
Why had this been kept from them? Why hadn’t Sullivan told them what had happened to their little one?
Why had they been kept in the dark?
“Oh my…”
Flinching at the new voice, Opera turned their head to see their Master standing behind them with a saddened look in his eyes.
“I had hoped no one would find out about this…” The tall demon whispered. “But it looks like the cat is out of the bag…”
The chairdemon carefully removed his coat and stepped forward to place it over the young boy when Robin growled and slashed at him with sharp claws.
The old demon simply smiled sadly and used levitation magic on the young teacher to put him out of harms way. Once Robin was floating beside Balam, he bent down and gently rested his coat over Irumas’ shoulders.
“I suppose you lot would like an explanation?” He whispered as Kalego slowly joined them, shaking in either rage or sadness, Opera had no clue.
“What the FUCK happened to my student?!” The young Neberius hissed, his shaking hand gripping the edge of a divider.
“...”
Sullivan carefully lifted Iruma into his arms and kissed the child's forehead lovingly. “I’m so sorry my boy…”
“CHAIRDEMON!”
Sullivan looked up at Kalego and sighed softly. “My office…bring all that are involved in ten minutes and do not allow any students to see you all in the states that you are currently in. Understood?”
With no choice but to obey with the rank rules, Kalego grit his teeth and nodded once.
With a snap of his fingers, Sullivan disappeared in a cloud of light purple smoke.
“If I find out that you knew or had any hand in what happened to that boy…I’ll kill you myself, my dear senor.”
Opera did not know whether it was them or Sullivan that was directed to. But at this moment, they did not care.
They just wanted to hold their kit and never, ever let go.