Chapter Text
Humans. Humans were a subject that was sensitive in the demon world, never believed or spoken of with spite. Yet Balam adored the folklore of Humans, how can a creature be so intriguing?
He had always wondered how a creature could live without wings, how would a human adapt to the demon word? What did humans look like? How did humans act?
He never thought he’d know, just rhetorical questions he couldn’t answer. Yet in this world, unnatural things are common. But not very common.
With a loud thud, the large doors to the teachers lounge opened. “This boy doesn’t have any wings!” Balam hollered, he was met with gazes from the two teachers there. A quiet squeak came from the boy thrown across his shoulder, Iruma he thought his name was.
“What are you talking about? Of course he has wings.” The green headed teacher spoke in disbelief and humor, Bars Robin.
“Maybe they’re hidden?” Morax Momonoki spoke with more concern than Robin, yet still unbelieving of Balam’s accusations.
“No, he doesn’t even have Wing roots.” Balam relented, setting the blue haired boy down. The child looked scared, in a storm of his own mind, head down.
Both teachers who brushed off his words earlier stood up, panic dawning their faces. A demon child without wings or wing roots was a problem, in fact any demon without the important appendages on their back was a topic no one dared to brush off.
“Iruma, can we see your back?” Robin approached slowly, hands up hesitantly.
“I’d rather not.” The boy spoke, head still hung low as he took a step back.
“Please?” Momonoki stood close but not crowding, her face downed in a soft expression.
Iruma looked conflicted, like he was fighting against his own mind, his breath was ragged. Gaze looking anywhere but the teachers, “okay.” It came out as a whisper, only hearable in a quiet room.
“I think it’s best if only one of us looks, just for now.” Ever the reasonable woman, Momonoki, spoke.
“Is that okay with you, Iruma?” The shortest teacher spoke, and got a nod in return. “Alright.”
The back of the teacher’s lounge was best suited for the situation, away from eyes that might walk in; or in Balam’s case, barge in. It was private with dividers, couches facing each other. Iruma was familiar with the location, it could bring him comfort for what’s about to happen.
“Come with me, It'll be quick, I promise.” Momonoki put her hand on the boy's shoulder, not too tight. She guided the timid boy to the back of the room, shielding both the boy and her from Balam’s and Robin's view.
Momonoki trusted the two male teachers to not break the little privacy Iruma was given, she doubted privacy would last long, especially at the accusation that was spoken. If this boy had no wings, it could mean only two things. One a folklore and one a dreadful thought.
Iruma was either human, or his wings were stolen from him.
“Alright, I’ll try to be as quick and careful as I can.” She sat the boy down, sitting on the same couch as him. They were positioned so Iruma's back was facing Momonoki's front, away from the windows. She could see that Iruma was wearing layers underneath his uniform, “do you mind taking your jacket and shirt off?”
Iruma shook his head slowly, taking the blue fabric off first. Underneath the white button up, that he was currently working on to unbutton, she could see a black long sleeved shirt. And maybe the outline of a chest compressor, but that part wasn’t any of her business.
Once Iruma was dressed in only the bottom half of his uniform and the black shirt, his discarded clothes laid out on his lap, she moved her hands slowly to the hem of the shirt. “I’m gonna lift this up now.” A matter such as this was meant to be dealt with care and patience, but also attention. Missing a single thing wasn’t on the table.
As she lifted Iruma’s shirt up, she could already see marks that made her want to lash out. Not at the anxious boy, but at the people who dared to harm him in any way. The lower half of his back was marred with scars, all in different shades. White, pink, red, and some purple. They were scattered around, and the further his shirt got lifted up, the more scars were visible.
The scars closer to the upper part of his back and the ones that peeked from his sides made her want to cry. This boy clearly had a tough life. When she finished pulling the black shirt up, she could see what she was looking for.
A line along his spine. Most of it was covered by the compressor, but she could see the start and end of the line peeking out from it. It wasn’t the line she had hoped to see.
It was a light colour, pulled taunt with aging. It looked painful, so deep it made an indent in the boy's skin. The parts of the visible scar explain a lot about his mannerisms, how he sat and stood with a slight hunch to his shoulders. How he couldn’t turn around as far as others can. The scar was stretched to the point mobility was hard, and the scar explained why he never flew to school.
He couldn’t, this boy had been grounded at a very young age.
As much as Momonoki hated to do so, she had to ask more of the boy sitting in front of her.
“Iruma,” her voice had a slight quiver, gulping to keep herself and the boy calm. “Could I unzip the binder a little, it won’t be much.”
Iruma stiffened slightly, nodding his head. She couldn’t imagine how he felt, two secrets being revealed in the span of less than 10 minutes must be hard. It was already tough for the teacher to invade Iruma’s privacy, Momonoki couldn’t imagine how tough it was for Iruma.
With slow fingers, she reached for the zip at the back of the compressor, it was styled differently than others. Most had a lower back to them, built for accessibility to let wings out freely. The one Iruma wore was higher at the back, altered for him specifically.
The zip let out a quiet sound as she pulled it down, low enough to pull back slightly to view the scar hidden underneath it, but still zipped enough to keep a sense of dignity.
The scar continued down the spine, no sign of a wing base. The healed skin was the only evidence that there ever was a demon’s most important limb.
The scar was too straight to rule out no wings at birth, too precise. If Momonokie looked closely, she could see the incision marks at the edges of the scar, where the stitches used to be.
She carefully zipped the compressor back up, dropping Iruma's black shirt down to hide the map of scars that littered his back.
“Stay here please, you’re not in trouble.” She got up after speaking with the boy, walking back to the two worried teachers that were standing far away from where Iruma was still seated.
“So?” Robin spoke first when she reached them.
“It’s bad, the boy doesn’t have wings. The scar is large enough to estimate when they were taken, but it’s very clear that he did have wings at some point in his life.” The words broke Momonoki, the scar lining his spine wasn’t the only one. If she hadn’t had the decency to give Iruma that small bit of privacy, she would have asked to look at the front part of his torso.
“What do we do?” Robin spoke again, a look of horror on his face. It was understandable that he didn’t know what to do in a situation such as this, he was a rookie.
“We inform Marbas and Kalego, we should also inform the chair demon as well, but considering that he’s Iruma’s guardian, we’ll have to wait until we do so.” Balam said with a grim expression, all the teachers were trained for a situation such as this, but they never thought they would have to use such training.
“And also Murmur, I noticed some scars along Iruma’s side. They didn’t look accidental.” Momonoki looked down at the floor of the teachers lounge, feeling for the boy sitting on the couches away from them.
“I’ll get Murmur and Marbas, could you get Kalego?” Robin asked the gargoyle, Kalego and Balam had a close relationship. Robin and Kalego didn’t.
“Yeah, you’ll stay with him until we get back?” Balam nodded his head before redirecting his attention to Momonoki.
“Of course I will, remember to tell them it’s a code six-six-six.” Code six-six-six was the code for a student in trouble, more precisely a student who’s been grounded.
The two teachers nodded before leaving the room, leaving Momonoki and the boy alone once again.