Chapter Text
Iruma stood up and wiped the dirt off his hands. The school garden was the place he liked to go to relieve stress, or just calm down after a long day. He loved planting flowers and watching them grow. It was relaxing, and the groundskeeper always appreciated the extra help. He had planted several seedlings, and was sweating from all the hard work, and had gotten some dirt on his uniform. He didn't want his grandpa or Opera fussing over him for coming home dirty, so he decided to change into a clean shirt before going home.
The Royal One was empty when he entered. School had ended about 66 minutes ago, and it felt like Iruma was the only one still there, aside from some of the teachers in their workrooms. After much convincing, Azz and Clara went home without him, and the rest of the misfits had hurried off campus as soon as they were allowed. No one else would be coming to the classroom until tomorrow morning, so it would be safe to change there.
He dug through his bag for an extra shirt, quickly changed, and walked back to the Sullivan manor.
~~~~~~
Purson enjoyed playing trumpet while perched on the school roof. It was a nice, quiet place where no one ever bothered him. When school let out, he had stayed so he could play a few songs, just for himself. After a while, he decided it was time to head home.
He had left his stuff in the classroom, so he went to retrieve it. He took his time silently walking back to the Royal One. When he opened the door, he was met with the sight of Iruma, back turned towards the door, mid shirt-change. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except for two tiny details. First, Iruma was human, and as such, had no wings.
Second, his parents made him live alone in the forest between working dozens of dangerous jobs. And he wasn't born with his evasion capabilities.
Purson activated his detection warding, quickly closing the door and hiding before Iruma noticed him. Scars. His entire back was littered with so, so many awful scars. And worse yet, there was one thick, dark, jagged scar running down the middle of his back, right over where his wing root wasn't.
Purson panicked.
His wings. Those scars. Grounding was supposed to be just some scary story you told over a campfire. Just something terrifying you briefly heard about in torture class. It never actually happened, it was outlawed hundreds of years ago for being too brutal of a punishment, for even the worst criminals. Even if you somehow survived the torture itself, living without your wings was...
How had this happened? And to Iruma of all demons?! Iruma was the kindest, most considerate demon he had ever met! He had been the one to convince him to participate in the music festival and interact with the other misfits! And Iruma was the only one patient enough to listen to his rants without complaint. For devi's sake, he even helps the Babyls staff with their duties! Who would ever want to hurt him, especially with the most unspeakable form of torture in the netherworld?! But... not only that. Those scars looked old, and they were all different sizes and shapes. Some of them looked like bite marks, claw marks, burns, and stabs. He had heard of demons who had gone to war and come back in better shape. What had happened to him?
The sound of footsteps and a door quietly opening interrupted Purson's inner turmoil. Purson was still using his bloodline ability. He had no idea how to confront someone about something like being grounded, so he would pretend he hadn't seen anything for now. Purson watched his friend, the shining star of Babyls, walk away, staring sadly at his now-clothed back.
~~~~~~
That night was spent in two very different ways by the two boys. Iruma did homework, most of which had been assigned by Kalego-sensei, then had dinner with his grandpa and Opera, lost a few video games against the security devil, and went to bed as usual.
Purson layed shell-shocked, re-evaluated everything he knew about his friend, the image of scars burned in his mind. It just didn't seem real. Torture class was never that interesting, but all of a sudden Purson wished he had paid way more attention. He had never imagined he would need to know anything about torture, after all, he hadn't planned on torturing anyone. Using that knowledge to understand something someone close to him went through... that never even crossed his mind.
He didn't want to think about how Iruma got those scars. It was all he could think about. There was no way Sullivan would allow anyone to harm his beloved grandson, so how did he get so many scars? Sullivan was one of the most powerful demons in the netherworld, who even could harm his grandson? Why would anyone want to? This was starting to hurt his head. It didn't make any sense...
Purson woke up a few hours later, realizing he had accidentally fallen asleep. Despite still being shocked from yesterday's discovery, he still had school to go to. After getting ready, Purson walked out the door and opened his wings, prepared to fly to Babyls like usual, but...
What was it like to have to walk everywhere?
Purson closed his wings and walked to Babyls. He took the time to think, did anyone else know? Obviously Sullivan had to. Of their classmates, Azz and Clara were probably the most likely to know. Or maybe Lied, considering they were partnered together during the harvest festival. But then again, Iruma seemed to be trying to keep it secret. Maybe he shouldn't give any hints to his classmates, in case they had no idea. So asking them was out of the question. But, was it okay to just ignore it?
He arrived at the Royal One later than usual. Not that anyone would notice, he always blended in, going overlooked. At least, that used to be the case, before the music festival.
"Yo, Purson you're later than usual, what's up with that?" Lied asked, gaining the attention of some of the other misfits.
He should have expected them to notice, they were the misfit class, after all. "I walked to school today. I wasn't planning on it, but it was nice outside, and besides, Iruma walks every day, so I wanted to walk too. But I didn't realize how much longer it would take than flying. Seriously, it took like twice as long, and there's not really a straight marked path on the ground. Someone should do something about that, I had to climb some steep rocks on the way." He rambled without thinking. It really was harder to get around on the ground.
"Huh? You walked? If it took so much longer, then why not just fly?" Jazz expressed the confusion held by most of the class.
"Isn't it obvious? He must be following Iruma-sama's example! Training his legs and endurance!"
"I swear our class has the only idiots in the whole netherworld who walk to school." Agares grumbled between yawns.
"How dare you call Iruma-sama an--"
"SILENCE."
The commanding voice put a halt to Azz's defending Iruma's honor, and to Purson's internal search for a logical explaination that didn't expose what he learned the day before.
Classes started and went on as usual, until Purson had a break period. He may have decided not to ask any of their classmates about it, however, it couldn't hurt for him to learn more about grounding.
Marbas-sensei was in his classroom, grading tests during the break period, until he heard a knock and his door open. He looked up to see one of his students closing the door behind him.
"Marbas-sensei? Could I ask you a question? It's sorta related to last weeks lesson," Purson began, not waiting for a response from the torture arts teacher. "About grounding, you just went over it briefly, that it's painful and illegal now, but is there anything else you know about it? Like, is it possible that it could still happen? Could someone survive it?" Maybe there was hope that Purson misunderstood the situation and there was some other, less traumatic reason for Iruma's scars?
Marbas was now standing in front of his student, surprised at the question. Not many students came to ask him questions after class, and even fewer asked about that. But it was his duty to educate, And it felt kind of nice to have a student expressing interest in his subject. "Well, I of course can't discuss the details of the procedure, but it's the most painful torture method in history. It's possible to survive it, but those who do are forced to live without their wings. Wings will heal from most injuries, as long as the wing root is intact, but grounding removes all traces of the root. Of the demons who lived through the procedure itself, most would commit suicide due to the disability or the lasting health effects. It's incredibly unlikely to happen nowadays, since no demon should have access to the means of grounding someone after it was banned across the entire netherworld."
Unlikely. Not impossible. Also... "Lasting health effects?"
"The wing root is attached to the spine, it can't be removed without causing damage to the rest of the back and surrounding muscles. Old reports indicated that victims had painful muscle spasms, back pain, and sometimes paralysis. There's a good reason it was banned."
Ah. Maybe he shouldn't have asked. Now he was twice as worried. But did Iruma have muscle spasms or back pain? He would probably hide it if he did. Not even to protect himself, he just wouldn't want to worry anyone. Purson still hadn't completely confirmed Iruma was grounded though, "Is there... any other way a demon could lose their wings?"
Now Marbas was starting to suspect there was more than just curiosity or interest behind this conversation. He furrowed his brows and answered, his voice beginning to show concern, "Um, wings could be cut off in battle or in traumatic accidents, but grounding is the only way to remove the wing root completely..."
That confirmed it, there was no denying it after that. Iruma had been grounded. That was the only way he could have lost his wing roots. That was the only thing that could have given him that large scar. Not to mention any of the dozens of other scars. And now he knew there might be lasting pain from it as well. And there was nothing he could do about it.
The torture teacher watched his student for a moment. He asked carefully, "Why the sudden interest in grounding? You don't know someone who was--"
"No! Of course not, like you said it's highly unlikely to happen, it's illegal across the entire netherworld! I was just curious, and wanted to be prepared in case it was on a test later. Thank you, Marbas-sensei, I should head to my next class now." Purson rambled, afraid he had said too much for the second time today. Before anything else could be said between them, the door had opened and shut, leaving the baffled teacher alone again.
Marbas was suspicious that something was very wrong here. At first, it just seemed like a student taking an interest in torture arts, but the more strange and specific questions he asked, the more unsettling it became. Could Purson know someone who was grounded? Someone he didn't want to ask about it directly? Another student perhaps? Just the thought made his stomach turn. He had never wanted to be wrong about anything more in his life. As nice as it would be to dismiss the idea, he couldn't risk feigning ignorance. If a student really had been tortured, it was the duty of the Babyls staff to take care of it.
~~~~~~
Iruma spent his break period with Azz and Clara as usual. They were a short distance from the school, just far enough away to not bother any of the other students. Clara had started a slimeball fight, and Azz was complaining about how she had ruined yet another of his tailor made uniforms. Iruma was, of course, completely dry of slime.
"Stupid Clara!! Don't you know how expensive these uniforms are?! Can't we play something less mes-!?" A slimeball interrupted Azz and he would have to get slime out of his now bright green hair.
"If you don't wanna get hit then start dodgy-dodging, Azz-Azz! I'll make you a new one later!"
Iruma was having a blast dodging the girl's attacks. This game was practically made for him. After Opera's training, he even managed to catch a couple and throw them back at Clara.
Several minutes later, Purson was walking around the school, lost in thought. He was using his detection warding to avoid running into anyone. He didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. All he could think about was what Marbas-sensei had told him. If everything he said was true, then Iruma...
Then a voice caught his attention, "You better!" Azz was yelling at Clara, picking slime out of his hair and slinging it at her. Now that was an interesting sight.
But even more interesting was Iruma standing next to Azz, laughing and smiling, and throwing a slimeball of his own. Purson watched from a distance as he perfectly dodged three in a row, then ducked to catch a fourth aimed at his leg.
Maybe Purson was worrying over nothing. If this was how Iruma acted without his wings, well. He doesn't seem to be missing them. And he certainly doesn't look depressed or in pain. No one would ever guess he was grounded unless they saw his back. His dodging skills are enough to keep him safe, if the Harvest Festival is anything to go by. Actually... thinking back to the flying race, the Harvest Festival, Walter Park, and when he led them to get the Royal One... he overcame everything without needing to fly. He actually managed to accomplish more than any other demon he knew. Purson was relieved, he really was overreacting. 'That means it's probably okay to just treat him the same as usual.'
Both Purson and Iruma's army were surprised at the scream of the bell, indicating the free period was over. Clara pouted, upset that playtime was over. Azz took a clean uniform from Clara, then the two demons went to change. Iruma was the only one of the group who didn't need a change of outfit, not a single slimeball having hit him. He waited for the two to come back before they all headed to their next class together.
The rest of the school day went on, with Purson being much less worried for his friend than before.
~~~~~~
After school ended, Marbas went to find Kalego. He figured it was the best course of action to talk to him, considering he was Purson's homeroom teacher. He met him in the Royal One, just after all the students went home.
"Kalego-sensei?" He asked poking his head in the room.
"What do you want?" Kalego sounded slightly annoyed.
"I had a talk with one of your students earlier. It was a little... concerning." Kalego raised a brow at him. As far as he was concerned, everything about his students was concerning. They were basically trouble magnets. "He was asking about grounding."
"That seems perfectly normal to me. You are the torture arts teacher. He was probably just trying not to fail a test."
"That's what he told me, but... the way he was asking sounded too detailed and personal. Like he knew someone who had gone through it. Is it possible that any of his classmates..." He didn't want to finish the thought.
"You think one of my students was grounded? Don't you think it would be in their records? Or that I would have noticed during the flying race?" Kalego thought this conversation was pointless. What Marbas was suggesting was impossible.
Marbas had forgotten about the flying race. And there would have been a noticeable difference in behavior if one of them had been grounded recently. That should be a relief, but it just made him confused. Purson seemed troubled during that conversation. Was he really just worried about some upcoming test? But without any real proof of anything wrong...
"I guess you're right. I'm probably overreacting. Purson-kun must have just been nervous about exams. Thank you Kalego-sensei." Marbas left the room, leaving Kalego alone again.
"...Purson?"
Any of the others he would have dismissed without a second thought, but Purson had a habit of learning things about his classmates using his bloodline ability. There was no chance Marbas was right about a student being grounded, but maybe this was something worth looking into.