The next morning, Damian did not look good.

The bags under his eyes were darker than when he studied all night! It was visible from down the hall where his lackeys called out to him,

"Bossman! You look tired!" Emile gasped, gawking at his classmate.

"You were probably studying late last night, yeah? No doubt about, that's our Bossman!"

But Damian did not look happy to see his friends. Not that they were the problem, he just didn't have the emotional reserves to humor them. He also didn't want to explain that he looked this way because he was crying all night.

"Let's just get to class."

"That's the words of a future Imperial Scholar!"

Entering the room, a shutter ran down Damian's back.

Anya usually sat front and center with Becky, but today, she was far away from the door, and as far from Damian's usual seat as possible.

"There's that pink dummy again. But at least we don't have to walk past her today, right Bossman?" Ewen huffed with a cross of his arms. Opening one of his eyes, he saw Damian halfway across the room approaching Anya. "Wha-?!"

Seeing Damian approach her, she turned her face from him in a huff, confusing Becky.

"I thought you liked him?"

Liked him? Well Anya used to be friends with him, but not anymore, because Sy-on boy is pretty unlikable!

"Not anymore." Sniffed Anya.

"If you stopped liking him, and you two hung out yesterday then… GASP!" Becky stood on the desk, blocking Damian from getting to Anya. "You broke Anya's heart! Stay back!"

Trying to see around Becky, Damian shouted to Anya,

"Anya, I have something to say to you!"

She didn't respond.

"Hey! I need to talk to you!" He yelled again!

Not even an acknowledgement.

"Anya, I—"

The professor came in, giving a side eye to the commotion in their corner.

"Class is about to start." Anya said quietly, still not facing him. "You should sit down, Damian."

Instantly, with a single word, Damian was shattered. He almost fell backwards. She went too far!

"You heard the lady! Sit down!" Becky stuck her tongue out at Damian.

"Blackbell, I ask you refrain from standing on the desks immediately!"

"Ah! Sorry sir!"

"Everyone take your seats. Today we will be going over ethics: a class on how to decide for oneself what is right and what is wrong."

Slowly, Damian backed away to his corner of the classroom, still in shock by what Anya had said.

Damian?

What happened to his stupid nickname?!

That… made him way sadder than he expected.

Softly taking his seat, he felt his arms buckle and his stomach churn. He looked down at Anya and the whole world turned blurry: blurry with dew droplets against his irises.

Oh God, was he going to cry again? No! No! Stop it! Stupid! Stupid!

This time (hearing his inner monologue), Anya turned around with a cautious face to him. Sy-on boy was about to cry? His eyes caught hers. She didn't look angry; she looked like she pitied him.

Why did she do that?! Did she have the room in her heart to feel sad for him when she was distraught herself?! Maybe she knew that being evil was a punishment in itself! Was she that full of kindness?! Was she that good at empathizing?!

His tears were *this* close to breaking surface tension.

No! Stop! Suck it in! Suck it in!

A terrible grimace made its way onto Damian's face as he envisioned his tears soaking back into his eyes.

"Bossman?" Ewen cocked his head at his friend. Damian didn't look too good. He looked kind of sick- probably because of his studying! But knowing Bossman, he would never admit he was sick.

"Professor! I don't feel too good! I need to go to the nurse!" Ewen yelled.

"Ah, me too! I feel super gross!" Emile joined in.

"Sigh… Desmond, can you take these two to the nurses office and come right back?"

Without another second's notice, the three ran out of the classroom, fast walking down the hall. Hearing the doors shut behind themselves, Damian strode behind them slowly.

"Bossman, are you feeling okay?"

"I could tell something was off, you must be sick!"

These guys… they were good friends. Damian was going to miss them once he got expelled. Wait, if he's going to be expelled anyways then he better go make this right before Demetrius even got the chance to call father!

"I have to go!" Damian shouted, running in the opposite direction.

"Bossman! You aren't skipping class, are you?!" Gasped the appalled Ewen!

"I'll explain later! If I ever see you again!"

Sprinting at top speeds, Damian skidded around corners, not even trying to evade the hall monitors! He needed to call Demetrius! The only place with a phone within this building was the phone operator's room, it would be quicker to get through to him this way anyways.

Skidding around a corner, Damian jogged right up to the phone operator's room and-

What was that sound? It sounded like papers fluttering. Opening up the door, Damian's jaw hung ajar.

Inside was a panicking operator, standing besides a completely smashed in system!

The entire system! Concaved inwards?! Only something freakishly strong could have done something like this!

"Oh dear oh lordie loo~" The older woman fret. "Oh? I'm sorry young man, we're you hoping to call someone? Some prankster bashed in the machine! A-And the records books are… well…" She gestured to the paper shreds around the room. It looked like some wild animal had torn it to shreds.

"Ack! What do I do-?!" Damian pulled on his hair.

Swoosh~

Damian could've sworn he saw a black shadow down the opposite hall. Cautiously, he followed his nose.

"Hello?" He called down the empty hallway, leaving the phone operator's room far behind. With everyone in class, it felt extremely empty…

An open window let in a gust of wind, causing him to shutter. Who left this window open? Slowly walking up to the window, he didn't even think to look up.

Somewhere in the shadows above gleamed two blood-red eyes.

But Damian only saw what was right in front of him: an open window, overlooking the 11th year student's classroom several stories below. And sitting by the window, Damian could see a figure…

It was Demetrius! If he could just get his attention! Leaning as far out the window as far as he could, Damian waved his arms at the upperclassman's lecture hall.

"DEMETRIUS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs! "OVER HERE! OPEN THE WINDOW—"

His foot slipped.

Suddenly the world spun upside down. The wind hit his face, his head and gut felt dizzy, his heart skipped several beats. His foot slipped?

Damian was falling out the window!

"AHHHHHH- OUGH!"

Something caught his ankle! It felt like a hand! Unexpectedly, he was flung into the air, limbs splayed out like a starfish in the sky! What was happening?! Then, before he could scream, a pair of arms caught him, catching him softly.

Landing on the adjacent rooftop below, Damian was set carefully onto the tiles. His eyes kept spinning in his head and his heart attempted to break out of his chest! Two gentle hands grabbed his shoulders as his rescuer kneeled in front of him.

"Little Desmond! Are you okay?!"

"M-Mrs. Forger?!" Damian couldn't believe his eyes! "What- how- huh?"

"You are very lucky I was there to catch you! That fall was at least 35 feet, which would've most certainly killed you!" She hugged the poor boy. "What are you doing out of class?"

"I-I was—" Damian was almost too confused to answer. "I didn't feel very good, and I wanted to make a call but the phones are down— W-What are you doing here?!" He interrogated, straightening his eyesight out.

"I uh, I wanted to plead with the school board about Anya staying enrolled at Eden!" She lied. This boy she saved… was the reason she was inconvenienced in the first place! It would've been so easy to let him fall and then Anya wouldn't be expelled!

No, killing children was something Yor vowed never to do! And that means idly standing by was out of the question, too. Plus… she felt that this boy wasn't 100% evil…

Staring at the woman who saved him, Damian gurgled,

"My stomach hurts…"

"Oh dear! Are you okay? I uh, used my trapeze hobby skills to save you but that must've hurt!"

"No. It's not that." Sighed Damian, hugging his knees. "It hurts every time I think about my fr… classmate. I thought about taking medicine but I doubt that would change anything. Sooooooo I thought I might as well… tell the truth?"

Yor blinked once.

"Little Desmond, do you want to make things right?"

Staring up at Yor, Damian held his composure as best he could. But his eyes looked tired. And… sad.

"Yes."

"…" Looking around herself to make sure no one had spotted them yet, Yor leaned in. "Listen, I'm not supposed to be here. And you aren't supposed to be out of class, are you? So for now, you and I are a team, and we need to get you to a payphone so you can call your father!"

"F-F-Father?!" Gasped Damian! "I-I-I can't! It-It wouldn't be worth the trouble, uh, and if I just explain everything to Demetrius then-then it would be like this never happened!"

"Hmm, I see…" Cooed Yor, putting a hand to her chin. "You and Demetrius must be close as siblings! He must listen to you then!"

Damian winced.

"Y…Yeah."

Suddenly, the class dismissal bell rang! How come class felt much longer when he was attending it? A large crowd began to form in the courtyard of every class and age, going to their next destination.

"Then we must get you to him! But I can't be seen!"

"A-And I can't be seen by my class!"

"Don't worry, little Desmond. I have an idea…" Yor's eyes squinted into slits. Gulping, Damian decided to trust her. How come he felt like her idea was dangerous?

Demetrius walked down a cobble path, with students parting ways from him. As an Imperial Scholar, this was only expected. Keeping his pace underneath the covered walkway, Demetrius was suddenly stopped by a face! A face?!

"GYAH?! What the- Damian?!"

Damian's eyes were at his level, but his face was upside-down? No wait, he was hanging from the ceiling?! Some strange black fabric dangled him by his ankles.

"Damian, what on earth is this?!"

"I need to talk to you Demetrius! The Forgers! They're not at fault!"

"Damian, why are you hanging from the ceiling?! Get down-!"

"I lied! Anya invited me over and I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd—" Damian was interrupted by the sound of a class filtering outside. His class! Demetrius turned around to see what he was shocked by and—

Swifter than a blink, Yor tugged on the fabric, zipping Damian into the darkness where they hid.

Turning back, Demetrius was faced by nothing.

"…Damian?"

Professor Henderson walked past Demetrius with his line of children.

"Damian skipped class today." The Professor sighed, fixing his monocle. "I am unsure why I was tasked with teaching the delinquent class…"

"Skipped?"

Letting the kids meander to the other side, Demetrius looked up at the ceiling.

"Damian-?"

A little boy appeared behind him out of nowhere!

"GYAH! Stop that! How are you doing that?!"

"That doesn't matter! I need you to get me in trouble, not Anya or her family!"

"…Are you saying that you lied about Mr. Forger lying?"

"Yes! I didn't want to ask your permission to go because I knew you'd say no!" Damian was right, he would have said no. Still didn't make lying right. "Please, don't get Anya expelled! G-Get me expelled! She's nice and I'm not!"

The pure dedication to make things right was so strong even Demetrius felt moved. Kneeling down to Damian's level, the elder brother looked dead set into his eyes and sighed,

"Telling the truth was the right thing to do, even if it won't change much now."

"…What do you mean?"

"I called Jeeves last night. He's going to tell father when he comes home from work this afternoon."

In two sentences, Damian and the hidden Yor were shattered.

This was all in vain?! No- there was still time yet!

Running off towards the outer gate, Demetrius looked on in confusion. What had gotten into his baby brother?!

"You can't skip class! You'll receive a Tonitrus Bolt!" Shouted the elder brother as his kin dashed away.

"Who cares!"

Screamed Damian, making his mad dad for the exit.

Standing there in awe, Demetrius never knew his baby brother had this in him. So much disobedience! Too much care for the commoners. He was going to get in so much trouble for all of this.

And yet… a part of him awed at the sight. He wasn't the boy their father wanted. He wasn't a second Demetrius. He took after their mother, but he wasn't like her either.

Damian was becoming his own person. He wasn't a small baby anymore.

And he could handle the consequences of his actions on his own.

Running out of campus, Damian cornered the path, only to run into a pair of legs as dense as stone!

"Oof!"

"Damian! Thank you for trying your best!" Yor squeezed him in a caring embrace! Why did he ribs feel like they were about to burst?! "But what are your plans now?!"

Catching his breath, Damian coughed,

"I'm going home. I'm going to stop Jeeves from ever telling father."

A pair of kind eyes smiled at him, as Anya's stepmom sat on her knees in front of him.

"Little Desmond, thank you. I know this will get you in a lot of trouble. Just know that whether Anya gets to stay in Eden or not, that I am very proud of you."

She put a hand on his head.

"…"

Proud?

Feeling his lip curl, Damian sucked in a shark inhale and furrowed his brows! He was going to keep Anya in school, no matter what!

Even if father is disappointed in him forever.