Cruel are the Fates

by FrostnippedMushrooms

Summary:

“What the hells do you mean you sent Genesis, who hasn’t had a heat all year, on a mission alone to Wutai?” Angeal snarled, uncharacteristically aggressive. He’d never marked Genesis, honoring his autonomy, but as far as he was concerned, that was his omega, whether he consciously recognized that fact or not.
“Rhapsodos was armed with extra heat suppressant drugs, a fresh scent blocking patch, and passed all appropriate medical exams to qualify for a mission. There was no indication that it would require more than one First Class SOLDIER or equivalent.” Lazard stated the facts of his case with practiced ease. After all, he may be a beta, but the majority of SOLDIER was alphas. He was more than used to dealing with the alphas and knew exactly what tone to take.
“And who authorized the medical records?” Angeal crossed his arms, but didn’t sacrifice posture.
“His usual physician, Dr. August Hollander.” Lazard answered, not even looking up from his computer monitor this time.
“Genesis was due home over a week ago.” Sephiroth chimed in. “He left last Monday, and was due back by Wednesday. It’s now the following Friday.”

--

Sometimes, a hero needs to be rescued. Genesis learned that the hard way.

Notes:

Beta-Read by the wonderful @RottenPumpkin13!

Chapter 1: Chapter One

      Genesis had never had many issues with combat and missions in Wutai. He grew up working the orchards in Banora. But the decision to deploy the mighty Red Mage, The First Class SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos on a mission to Wutai was not an easy one. Dr. Hollander was intimately aware of Genesis's medical limitations and knew that the SOLDIER was unfit for combat. And because of that, he had a lot of documents to forge to prove Genesis could handle being alone in Wutai. It wasn’t a hard mission, really; Go to Wutai’s Da-Chao Statue, locate the cave, bring back treasures after defeating assorted monsters. It was nothing but a political stunt. A Third Class, hell, untrained infantry grunts could handle the mission and come back in one piece. But using the Red Mage? He’d use materia and put on a flashy show, just the reports that Wutai would complain about, perfect for the Shinra section of the Midgar Nightly news. 

     Genesis, however, looked like he’d wanted to bite Hollander as he crawled onto the helicopter. Overseas missions required mandatory patch replacement, unless the world wanted to find out that Shinra had been lying. They claimed their three First Class Trio in the Silver Elites were all alphas. If only they were to find out their precious Genesis Rhapsodos was a lowly omega. Unbonded omegas in society? They were rare anymore. Most were born on farms and sold at auctions to the highest bidder as trophy pets, doomed to spend a life producing puppies and milk for some bastard only interested in their legacy and status.

     True unbonded omegas didn’t exist in society anymore. They were kept in breeding facilities and raised for pups. They’d gone virtually extinct. The ratio of born pups was roughly only about twenty five percent alpha and omega to seventy five percent beta… That was only a measly twelve and a half percent each, and given that only an omega had a chance of producing omega pups, it was perfectly acceptable legally to breed them. Pups typically didn’t present until they were eleven or twelve, so farms kept any pups that tested positive as potential omegas or alphas in nurseries. There, they’d receive care and basic education, though it wouldn’t go too far and advanced concepts wouldn’t even be touched until they were proven alphas or beta. Betas and Alphas were educated longer, being educated with the intention of going into higher education or working the “farm” when they came of age. Omegas were kept as breeding stock. An omega would have their first breeding season around the time they came of age, and were expected to bear one litter per year. The first breeding occurs the year an omega was to turn eighteen in January, and their dry season, or non-productive rest period, was from October to December. During that time, they would be allowed to recover to be bred again the following January. Something about synchronizing heats meant plenty of pups around the same age.

    Genesis had suspicions, since he was an omega, that Shinra had paid for his dam to be bred. Pups were commissioned and sold, it was a huge source of revenue. That and the area between Mideel and Banora? Plenty of lush grass to let the omegas roam. Omegas clustered by nature, so it was best to let them cuddle and play, something fucked up about a youthful nature in omegas drew in bidders. Yes, of course being childlike was sexy and breedable. Alphas were what was wrong with society.

    Genesis felt a chill as he descended further into the cave. It was a welcome relief from the arid climate around him. He stuck a test strip into the water’s edge before filling his canteen. He’d have to find some Wutai sentries if he wanted to cause the show Shinra wanted. But really? There was nothing down here. Not even monsters. Shiva’s tits, this place was barren. Then again, maybe by now they’d learned to keep clear of the area to avoid unnecessary Shinra conflict. His vision began to swim as he descended further. Hadn’t he been drinking water? His head felt light and fuzzy as he reached into his bag to swap a cure materia into his bracer. Where was it? He rummaged through his bag before black spots swam in his vision, occupying his sight.

***

    “Poor thing, who knows what Shinra had him pumped full of.” A wutainese woman tsked as she pulled off her nitrile gloves.

      “What makes you say that, Dr. Qinfei?” Her lab assistant asked, taking her used medical tools into a red bin and replacing the tray with a clean, wrapped pack, with the autoclave tape still unbroken, denoting its sterility.

     “Well, he managed to convincingly play the part of an alpha and fool the entirety of Gaia.” Dr. Qinfei explained. “Zixuan. The collar.”

     “What size, Doctor?” He asked, already having a draw of plastic-wrapped collars in various sizes and colors ready.

     “Probably a medium, might have to size down before we size back up. He’s rather slender.” She brushed some of Genesis’ hair away from his neck. “Skinny, really. He’s still pretty fit, but toned more than anything.”

     “Yes, Doctor.” Zixuan nodded, bringing her a red leather collar.

      She positioned the prongs over his scent gland and adjusted the collar’s tightness before locking it. “Wonderful. Now, the plan.”

      He produced a clipboard. “Which would be?”

     “We are going to keep him off of suppressants, blockers, and chemical means of control. We can place him on hormones or medications after we detox him out, then we can try to re-regulate him and get him back to a functioning omega.” Dr. Qinfei explained, unlocking the wheels on the bed. “Place him on the higher caloric diet and put him in with the other isolation omegas.”

     “Yes, Dr. Qinfei.” He scribbled the plan down in his neat Wutainese handwriting. “So you do plan on breeding him?”

     “Eventually, if Shinra didn’t sterilize him.” She nodded, tidying up her exam room.

     “Surely they’d want to keep him intact. They’d want to breed a valuable asset.” Zixuan chimed.

     “I never said purposeful sterilization. Mako exposure could have by accident.” Dr. Qinfei straightened out the tools before closing her drawer. “We won’t breed him on his first heat after gods know how many years of heavy suppressant use. Now, please go relocate him to the quarentine pen and let him wake up there on his own. I gave him some sedative so he’d be out for his exam, but he should be up for the dinner rotation.”

     Genesis awoke in a room filled with the faint scent of disinfectant and omega. The walls were a soft pink hue, though it seemed faded and may have been brighter in the past. Four beds occupied the space. There were two on either wall of the small room and a door opened to a terrarium of a grassy area. The grass has recently been cut, and the scent still lingered. Two of the beds weren’t made, the blankets having been arranged into lackluster nests from the meager bedding options, also a salmony shade of pink.

     One of the walls, the one directly across from the outside run, Genesis could recognize as one way glass. It was just like the briefing room wall that he’d inevitably be shoved into when they realized he’d failed his mission. He had to stop himself from outwardly showing his frustration. They’d taken his materia, quelling his nasty habit of slashing himself, only to cure himself and hide the wounds immediately after. No one could know that the Silver Elites had anything wrong. 

    “Alright, chow time, pretties.” A Wutainese beta smiled sweetly, pushing a cart with trays on it. “Let’s see, quarantine… Ah. Here we go. Portion of salmon with a side of miso and tofu, mukimame, and collagen jelly. Ooh, they’re being nice to you  three today.”

   She poured each tray a cup of steaming tea and cold water before opening the slit on the window by the counter. The other two omegas had already snuck up behind him and were waiting eagerly at the counter for their meals. He was fairly certain that if they had tails, they’d be wagging expectantly. It was a shame, they were beautiful omegas, reduced to mindless pets that ran to the door when food was offered. One was a pretty male, with dark brown hair and eyes, with a nice tan, indicating he enjoyed sunbathing. The other was most likely a female, though they were androgynous and Genesis could hardly tell. They had long black curls and immaculate cheekbones, grey eyes and a paler complexion, though not as pale as Genesis.

     Genesis absently clawed at his collar. Collar…. Wait, collar? He felt cold panic and dread fill his blood when he’d felt the collar over his scent glands. The collar was made to be hard to break. They were made to be painful if they had to be. They were inhumane and omega rights groups had been fighting to end their use in omega farms. Smaller cuffs were used on omegas’ wrists or ankles right after a litter was born, so the omega could scent their pups, but after that, the omegas wore the collars all year round. 

    The worker walked away, leaving the three omegas to eat. The other two didn’t bat an eye when Genesis examined his meal, hungry as he was. It didn’t smell like poison, and the other two were quite happy, sipping their soup and enjoying the cut of fish. For an omega farm, he had to admit, it was pretty good quality.

    “They’re trying to fatten you up.” The male remarked, though it didn’t seem in bad faith. “You’re new. A lot of newer omegas get put on a more calorically dense diet. I’ll bet they gave you gelatin instead of collagen for dessert today.”

       It was like when he first joined SOLDIER with Angeal. Their commanding officer had noted immediately how little Genesis was. He was fourteen when he and Angeal had enlisted. He’d always been a small boy. It didn’t help when he was eating as much as he could to bulk up, even when Angeal would sneak him parts of his rations, and Angeal was the one who sprouted up like a weed. Angeal was the one who kept outgrowing his uniforms. Meanwhile there was Genesis… in the infirmary every other week for blood transfusions to help his anemia since using materia consumed mana and mana ate away at his blood cells. And of course, no one figured this out until he fainted on Sephiroth. The Sephiroth! So now, Angeal knew he was weak, but so did their damned idol.

    The male omega’s voice drew him back to reality. “I’m Finnegan, Finn or Finny for short.”

     Finn had an Icicle area accent, so he must’ve been from North Gaia. Likely born on a farm. Northern Gaia was full of farms due to the lack of big cities. Lots of open land, so plenty of room to keep omegas. And it wasn’t uncommon to sell omegas between farms, since pedigreed omegas were better than wild-caught.

    “I’m Yuna.” The other smiled sweetly. She was older than Finn, being in her mid twenties while Finn was likely freshly eighteen or nineteen. “You’re Genesis Rhapsodos.”

    “Yes, I am.” He nodded. “How did you know that?”

    It wasn’t like Omegas were uneducated, but it also wasn’t like they had access to newspapers or television. So how would she know about one of the First Classes?

    “Dr. Qinfei mentioned Shinra’s Elite SOLDIERS.” Yuna sipped her soup elegantly. She had a ton of grace. “She sounded like she was planning to purchase some sperm from Midgar.”

      Genesis froze, feeling violated. It wasn’t uncommon for Alphas to send sperm to omega farms to commission litters, but the knowledge that Shinra was plotting to make money off of them in that way… knowing that Angeal and Zack and Sephiroth would have pups running around Gaia, sold to the highest bidders. And they’d never know. Minerva forbid any of those pups came up to be omegas, kept locked in a facility for their whole lives as breeding slaves and nursemaids. Dry omegas, the ones no longer producing, were kept in the nursery wings, raising pups while the omegas were kept for milking and incubating their next litter.

      “I’d eat if I were you,” Finnegan said as he picked up his collagen jelly. “They’ll force you to eat if you don’t.”

      Genesis was unfortunately familiar with the topic. He’d definitely been bratty enough as a third class that he’d had to be tackled and force fed in the infirmary, usually with Angeal being the poor soul sacrificed to hold the fiery omega. He felt like a farm would be worse than the medical wing. Heats weren’t fully mindless horny cycles, but the time around that lovely period of the cycle he had no appetite.

     He could only hope that Angeal actually cared enough to notice he was gone.

Chapter 2: Chapter Two

    “What the hells do you mean you sent Genesis, who hasn’t had a heat all year, on a mission alone to Wutai?” Angeal snarled, uncharacteristically aggressive. He’d never marked Genesis, honoring his autonomy, but as far as he was concerned, that was his omega, whether he consciously recognized that fact or not.

     “Rhapsodos was armed with extra heat suppressant drugs, a fresh scent blocking patch, and passed all appropriate medical exams to qualify for a mission. There was no indication that it would require more than one First Class SOLDIER or equivalent.” Lazard stated the facts of his case with practiced ease. After all, he may be a beta, but the majority of SOLDIER was alphas. He was more than used to dealing with the alphas and knew exactly what tone to take.

     “And who authorized the medical records?” Angeal crossed his arms, but didn’t sacrifice posture.

     “His usual physician, Dr. Eugene Hollander.” Lazard answered, not even looking up from his computer monitor this time. 

     “Genesis was due home over a week ago.” Sephiroth chimed in. “He left last Monday, and was due back by Wednesday. It’s now the following Friday .”

     “Appropriate preparations have been made to recover Rhapsodos, in whatever state he may be in.” Lazard clicked off of the file and collected the paper from his printer. “The Turks are being dispatched to handle the case.”

     “Why the Turks? Genesis is one of our own!” Angeal snarled. 

     Sephiroth placed a hand on his arm and shook his head. “Patience, my friend.”

     “SOLDIER is too recognizable and reckless of a choice for a recon and rescue mission. The Turks are trained in clean up and will find Rhapsodos, dead or alive.” Lazard explained clinically. “Of course, Wutai would probably have boasted by now if they managed to eliminate a First Class SOLDIER.”

***

     “Dr. Weilan Qinfei.” A burly alpha began. “Why is the new omega not on the breeding rotation?”

     Dr. Qinfei looked up from her computer. “GR001982? I wanted him to gain a little more weight. He was borderlining on too thin for the breeding program.”

     “Bordering? So he wasn’t in the category yet?” The alpha crossed his arms.

     “Well, no, but—” Dr. Qinfei started. He held a hand up to silence the beta woman.

     “Then put him in the rotation. Induce him and get him bred.” The alpha executive left her office.

     She sighed heavily and picked up the phone on her desk before dialing a number. “Zixuan. Please come to my office. Stop by the pharmacy and pick up IV prenatals and a vial of LH.”

     She hung up on Zixuan and dialed another number. “Jingshu, please collect omega GR001982. That’s G-R-0-0-1-9-8-2. Avoid chemical and excessive restraint if possible. Have him in my procedure room, lithotomy position, within the hour.”

     She pinched her nose bridge and went to get her things. “I swear. He miscarries and I’m going to get so much shit. There’s no way he’s going to carry to term.”

     Dr. Qinfei hunted through her tools and picked out what she needed, silently making a mental reminder to thank Zixuan for keeping her office so nicely organized. “Okay, insemination kit, sterile needles, nesting set, hmmm…”

     She packed up her cart and headed to her exam room. She sighed and mentally prepared for an irate omega on her table. “Boys, is he ready?”

     Zixuan was practically on top of the omega, trying to secure a restraint without getting bitten. The beta was only five eight or so, and it wasn’t common omegas like Genesis were much taller than him. Omegas tended to be fairly diminutive in size, though she wouldn’t have put it past Shinra to have been putting growth hormones and shit in their food without telling them. Steroids and Mako felt like a surefire way to bulk those SOLDIERs up.

     “And you said no chemical restraint why ?” Zixuan hissed at the doctor.

     “Because this will probably be traumatizing enough,” Dr. Qinfei sat down between the omega’s legs, noting the immediate tremble and the sour scent of distress. “You boys are dismissed.”

     “Doctor-” Jingshu began, standing from where Genesis had thrown him to the floor earlier.

     “Out.” Dr. Qinfei commanded with all the authority of a beta woman who hardly stood at five feet tall.

     “Yes, ma’am.” The two beta men scurried out.

     “Alright, let’s get started.” She stood to get a warm bowl of water. “Are you active?”

     Genesis wanted to snarl at her. Sure, he wasn’t a virgin. Not by a long shot. He’d gone out with the other third classes when he’d turned eighteen and rented an omega down in Sector Six. It wasn’t the way he’d envisioned losing his virginity back in Banora, but then again, he didn’t think he’d present as an omega… and asking Angeal to fuck him, no matter how many unspeakable wet dreams he woke up from panting, was not an option.

     “No.” Was all he could choke out. When had his voice gotten so rough? He’d only been shocked once by the damned collar. Last night when he’d apparently gotten too snippy with a farmhand that was locking down for the night.

     “Yes, I suppose your job would take up most of your time, and I imagine you don’t have too much downtime for that sort of thing.” She scooted her stool over to her white counters, pumping hand sanitizer onto her neatly reached up to her glove boxes on the wall, picking out a pair of pink nitrile gloves. She noticed the look on his face. It was one of unfamiliarity. “I prefer not to use white or blue. Psychologically, omegas associate white, blue, or even green gloves with cold medical care. I prefer pink or red myself.”

     Genesis made a little grunt, indicating he heard her, but he was more busy mulling over the potential threat of pregnancy. He’d never worried much about getting pregnant. He hooked up with omega Honeyboys if he was going out with other SOLDIERS. It was a common thing to want to pay extra for omega whores and no one batted an eye. His birth control was also built into his SOLDIER-strength heat suppressants, and he was convinced that they just fried whatever eggs ovulated with how much they made his cycle hell. Omegas still experienced the menstrual part of the cycle, just not the incapacitating heat part. The only downside was that every month he went without a heat due to his meds, the worse the actual heat was when it actually did occur. With Shinra, he just didn’t have time for more than the two heats a year… and that was because medically, non-gravid omegas were at higher risks of diminished fertility if they didn’t have heats once every six months at least. 

     And of course Hollander wanted to preserve his “breeding specimen”. If anything happened to Genesis on the battlefield, he’d still be valuable. Even in a disabled state that left him useless to SOLDIER, he’d still be capable of producing pups for the science department. He’d heard Hojo shoot down his idea of breeding him with Sephiroth, something about the fact that he wouldn’t dare even consider breeding one of Hollander’s flawed pets with his masterpiece. Flawed? Just because he was an omega, he was flawed?

     Dr. Qinfei kicked her stool over and set a bowl of warm water on her mayo stand by her pink exam gloves, its steam rising in the chilly exam room. She hummed a familiar tune to herself as she gently got her speculum unwrapped from its sterile packaging and placed it in the bowl. “Get that warmed up for you.”

     She continued to hum as she sat on her stool and pulled her gloves on. “I’m going to run a quick pelvic exam. Shouldn’t hurt, but you might feel a little pressure.”

     She picked up a single use package of medical lubricant and got it generously and evenly spread onto her right two fingers. Gently, she inserted them where they belonged and brought her other hand up to press down on Genesis’s lower abdomen to palpate the reproductive tract. 

     “Walls are smooth and have no abnormal growth, uterine body and ovaries are within normal size limits…” She mumbled to herself, pulling her fingers out of the vaginal canal to take off her gloves and write that on her chart. 

     She grabbed a second set of gloves from her tray after she disposed of the first pair. She picked up a vial with a drug name Genesis didn’t recognize and drew up what looked to be a clear liquid. “I’m going to perform a paracervical block. Basically it’ll numb your cervix so you won’t have discomfort during the procedure.”

     He didn’t respond, feeling vulnerable and exposed as she dried off and lubricated her plastic speculum. She resumed her humming of the familiar tune. Genesis wasn’t sure if he was going crazy, but he recognized a LOVELESS tune, anywhere. Maybe he was just losing his mind, being strapped to a table and all.

     She gently inserted the bills of her demon duck and patiently screwed it open before locking it into place. “You might feel a little pinch, then pressure, a little heat in your uterus is normal, too.”

     She picked up her syringe and pressed a button on her radio with her knuckle. “Zixuan, I’m almost done with him, make your way back in this direction, please.”

     Genesis felt the promised pinch, which definitely made him squirm. Despite the whole ‘getting inseminated’ debacle, his captor was better than Dr. Hollander. SOLDIERs were capable of getting shot and hopping right back up. He could handle a simple pelvic exam without the whining, even if it usually left him raw and sore. He had a rather vivid memory of a medical appointment that had been scheduled right before an early morning training session. 

     He hadn’t even registered that Dr. Qinfei was done until she was disposing of her equipment. He caught sight of a plastic storage straw that still contained traces of milky fluid, tossed into the biohazard waste bin next to her red sharps bin, where her needles went. She dropped her metal tools in a bin and set them on the edge of the counter to be re-sterlized.

     “Is the white hair new?” She asked, wiping down her mayo trays and the stirrups after she’d gently set Genesis’s legs back down on the table.

     “It’s developed over the last six months.” Genesis stared at the ceiling.

     “Hm.. Zixuan,” She looked at her nurse the second he walked in. “Add a B vitamin complex to his diet plan. Move him to my personal observation room. I’ll keep an eye on him since he doesn’t have an established cluster yet to send him back to. Omegas can be vicious little things.”

Chapter 3: Chapter Three

     Dr. Qinfei’s private office was much nicer than the quarantine room he’d shared with Yuna and Finn. It was a decent sized room, with a low bed frame that had drawers underneath. The drawers were stocked with blankets and towels, and the tile floor was covered by plenty of rugs of varying textures. This woman clearly liked red. The entire room was varying shades of pink and red, like the hearts suite of a deck of cards. A small table sat by the feeding slot, and on the table was, of course, a red velvety tablecloth. It was cheap, obviously, most likely to help keep the room disinfected between omegas, but it added a nice touch. The floor cushions around the table had the same shade of red, with little gold tassels on the corners.

     Her office sat on the other side of the glass on the side wall, with a locked connecting door between the two. The office was more cozy than sterile, and must be her personal office rather than her working one. Her degrees hung up on the wall by the door and behind her ivory leather chair was a painting that Genesis very quickly recognized as being an oil depiction of Alphreid and Rosa, set in warm, almost sepia tones. The leather bound edition of LOVELESS on her shelf didn’t go unnoticed by the redheaded omega, either. The actual shelf, however, was full of case files, trinkets, and photos, more decoration than anything else. 

     She had an admittedly cute haniwa style statue of a cactuar on the shelf. Cute was a relative term. Stylistically? Adorable. But given that haniwa were funerary statues… not so cute. Why would a doctor so focused on force-creating life have funeral statues as decorations in her office. Next to the cactuar was a figurine of a fat chocobo and a plushie of a summons Genesis recognized as Carbuncle. The vulpine summons seemed a little worn. A childhood plushie of the doctor’s? He supposed it could be a nod to how important foxes and foxlike spirits were to Wutainese culture.

     Dr. Qinfei checked in several times in the week. She’d been checking in daily for what he imagined was the first week. There was a nice window over the bed, so he could count the sun’s rise and fall. Zixuan and Jingshu popped in every now and again, and Genesis never missed the subtle way the former’s tranquilizers were always within easy reach on his belt. Jingshu never did say much, mostly just coming to take dirtied linens and leave fresh ones in his place. He tided up around the small room, kept the bathroom clean, attempted to wash Genesis a singular time, though Gen had snipped at him and been shocked by the collar. Dr. Qinfei volunteered her free time to supervise the omegas bath times. It had to say something if your omegas were so mentally stressed that you had to worry about them attempting to drown themselves if left to bathe unsupervised.

     Dr. Qinfei usually had no issues with Genesis’ lengthy bathtimes. She’d generally drop by before heading home and let him simply soak in the hot water. She helped him reach things so he wouldn’t slip and fall, and usually just brought a book or her dinner to finish while he bathed. Other times she’d bring her dinner while he ate his, and oftentimes shared. Her food was nothing like the Wutainese takeout in the city. She often packed homemade meals that made Genesis wonder if she had a mate at home waiting for her. She’d brought him some tonight after the ultrasound, seeming pretty pleased with whatever she saw. He was smart chemically, but he had zero freakin’ clue what she was seeing on that screen.

     So he was really expecting a pup. He figured he’d be more scared, unsure, even upset. But, and maybe it was just his hormones, he felt a sense of intrigue in the life he was growing. Sure, the pup would be ripped from him the moment it was born, just kept with him long enough to get the vital colostrum omegas produced right after delivery… though it wouldn’t surprise him if they milked it out of them and just fed all of the pups in the nursery a stock of ready colostrum. Lactating omegas were milked anyhow. Slick could be sold as some miracle elixir, though the thought alone made Genesis gag. Had he eaten out another omega before? Sure. Did that mean he wanted to take slick like cough syrup? No. Half the time when he rented an omega to sleep with, they’d just play cards or something to keep up an illusion. Maybe cuddle in the nest. He sighed, thinking about cuddling made him miss Angeal and Sephiroth.

***

     Rude glanced at his omega in the copilot seat, where he was humming along to some obnoxious pop music. Reno usually got control over the radio in situations like this, on missions, and the others had stopped fighting him on it. Elena was sitting on the floor of the aircraft, trying to blend an alpha scentpatch together and get it over Reno’s scent glands. The beta was petite and unassuming, so she would be scouting out the facility while the others acted like they were interested in purchasing an omega.

     Reno never really liked things over his scent glands, despite the countless missions requiring patches. He was a marked omega, but he also tended to break a lot of rules. Mated omegas weren’t supposed to act out of turn, and he’s pissed off alphas before for having a temper. Rude didn’t mind. His omega’s feisty spirit was a part of Reno and a part of his omega he loved. And while yes, he had control over Reno’s medical care, autonomy, legal anything, and basically had him chained for life, he really didn’t see divorce in his future. He made sure Reno had a fair say and equal parts in their bond. 

     Occasionally it created an issue, just with there only being five remaining Turks, since if Reno was on heat leave, so was Rude. A bonded pair generally synced, so if Reno was in heat, Rude was in rut. Cissnei was pretty much permanently in Gongaga, so while she hadn’t officially abandoned her pack… well, she was pretty damn near gone. The Turks had always been close, but especially after Veld left with his pup, the remaining Turks all bonded as a pack with Rufus. Elena always felt a bit like an outsider because of it. Reno had Rude, Tseng had Rufus, and then there was her. She’d been in the Turks since she was young, due to her sister’s connections and her own promising potential, but she’d officially been in the pack for four months and still had yet to have sex with any of them. She generally opted to sleep in the same bed as Reno and Rude, as she was convinced she’d simply die if she got to sleep in the same bed as her crush and his unnaturally sexy omega. Really, Shinra Senior had hardly been that attractive, so Rufus’ mother must’ve been a stunner.

     Rufus slept with Tseng, being territorial of his nest. He occasionally shared a nest with Reno if their heats overlapped, but usually he slept in a lavish silk nest with blankets upon blankets and enough pillows to swim in, plus that human sized dog bed he’d gotten just for Darkstar. She was big enough that the XL dog bed was a favorite anyway. Tseng had secured the bed onto Rufus’s king mattress so it wouldn’t slip off the silk sheets.

     She glanced out at the darkening sky. They were due to land in Wutai soon enough, though Elena feared where they were going. They’d managed to gather enough data and information to make a safe bet that a rural Wutainese omega farm held Rhapsodos. The facility itself looked nice on the website, likely to draw potential buyers in. The poster omega was what Elena assumed was a male, dressed in a lacy blue lingerie ensemble coordinated from the lacey hair accessories to the slutty thigh highs that left attached to the garters just below his crotch. He was sprawled backwards on a rather luxurious bed with satiny white sheets. His slender legs were kicked up and he had a blissfully peaceful expression on his face that was just a little too innocent. Below him were his statistics:

MQ001231 - “Meiling”

1987

Average Litter Size: 3

Success Rate: 83%

Litters: 4

     Elena cringed. 1987? He was a mere two years older than her and had already produced four litters of pups. If the average litter was three, and he had a success rate of eighty three percent, that meant two of the pups were failures, so that likely meant stillborn or deceased shortly after delivery. He still had a cute and youthful glow, surely kept that way to attract the perverted desires of alphas. Why an ancient alpha would want his dick in the youngest omega available was beyond the beta. After all, it was several thousand Gil extra to bed a facility omega. She imagined it was a liability. She’d heard live cover omegas were muzzled anyways.

     “Elena,” Tseng began as the helicopter touched the ground. “Let’s move.”

Chapter 4: Chapter Four

     Elena’s eyes scanned the many pens of omegas. It was almost set up like an animal shelter, with glass doors on the rooms. Most omegas lived in clusters of four, with the beds close to share linens to form nests. The rooms were all soft colors. Shades of pink, blue, purple, even a few greens, created a nursery-like vibe that made Elena feel uneasy. Certainly infantilizing the omegas and marketing them as young was disgusting to her as a beta, but some sick alphas were into it, she supposed. Omegas retained a younger appearance more times than not, looking so feminine and often having a little pudge like a little puppy. Of course, she recalled reviewing Commander Rhapsodos’s file and seeing his physique. Not many omegas could hope to keep up with an alpha’s workout routine, let alone excel at it. 

     Her pumps’ chunky heels clicked on the tile floor as she walked. She had yet to see Rhapsodos, as she doubted they’d have such a high value omega on the auction floor. Her fingers habitually brushed against the concealed carry holster in her safety shorts, under her dress. Ideally, she preferred to have her bigger gun on her, maybe a couple grenades while she was at it, but her usual gun was too bulky to hide under the thinner dress. Emma would have probably ridiculed her for her bedazzled pink Mauser, but she’d loved the gun, even after she’d dropped firearms and switched to martial arts to try and differentiate herself from her sister. Their father, an instructor at Shinra’s Military Academy, had gotten the gun for her not long after she’d been taken hostage when she was fifteen. He said she had enough proficiency with weaponry to be trusted with a semi-automatic pistol like her C96. It was an older gun, but still, she couldn’t force herself to part with it, even after she swore she’d never be Emma’s shadow. She was certain Veld would have a heart attack if he were around to see her carrying around the bedazzled gun with her uniform. 

     The man had always been strict, which worked perfectly for Emma’s approach to… everything. Emma was the sister who kept a detailed schedule of her days. Who always woke up on the dot, at the same time, every day, without a snooze button. She had binders and folders of data and notes before every mission and operation. Had she not been so proficient in weaponry… Elena would have thought she was more suited to the life of a lawyer or doctor. Their parents wouldn’t have had much to complain about, that’s for sure. Turks lived on borrowed time. They’d at least have one daughter that they weren’t worried about coming home in a casket. 

***

     Tseng, on the other hand, scanned the auction floor. There wasn’t a sign of Rhapsodos anywhere, although Reno seemed to have found a cute omega to mess with. The omega was a petite blonde with the biggest blue eyes that could possibly be on a living creature. His hair was even messier than that infantryman who Fair had constantly been hitting on for the last several months. 

     “Ah, I see you’ve met Ventus. He’s a cute little thing, isn’t he?” An alpha salesperson reeking of cologne reached down over the fencing and ruffled Ventus’s messy hair. “See? Such a sweet thing. Very affectionate.”

     “Yes, I see that.” Reno watched the omega flatten into his lackluster nest as the omega tried to shrink away. Said nest was a few scraggly towels that he’d probably managed to acquire. He was younger and littler than the others, and given how vicious omegas could be when placed into a near feral state… they could be rather territorial of their bedding. He glanced at his file.

VR000074 - “Ventus”

1989

Average Litter Size: -

Success Rate: -

Litters: 0

     1989… poor kid. He was the same age as Elena, and given his age, this was probably his first year on the auction floor. He was small enough that he attracted all the wrong kinds of attention from alphas. He dropped his forced smile the moment the salesman walked away. He considered a quiet apology to Ventus, but if he was being realistic with himself, that omega wouldn’t listen to a thing he had to say. In that particular moment, his brain was focused on survival. So Reno walked away.

     “Reno, Rude,” Tseng started, his eyes meeting something across the way that the two of them didn’t see. “You two stay on the auction floors and search. I have something I need to handle.”

***

     Genesis stirred awake to Dr. Qinfei’s door locking behind her. He looked up to see the doctor’s usual dark ponytail knocked loose and the early shadows of bruises were visible on the skin her red scrubs and lab coat didn’t cover. Her white lab coat was stained by blood and reeked of pheromones. He could barely discern much more than pissed alpha and panicked omega. She dropped a bin on her desk and rifled through her desk.

     She threw the door open to his little room and threw herself on her knees in front of him. “I need you to hold still. No matter what, hold still .”

     Genesis didn’t have time to question her before he felt cold metal against his neck. “D-Doctor, now let’s be reasonable here-”

     Dr. Qinfei’s knife pulled away from his neck, slicing through the leather of his collar. The collar fell to the ground as his omega pheromones filled the air around them. She brought her warm hands to his neck before he felt the cold sensation and piercing smell of isopropyl alcohol hit him. She slapped a fresh scent patch over him before bringing him the bin. 

     “Get dressed. You need to get out of here.” Dr. Qinfei’s frantic motions nearly masked how badly she was shaking.

     “What happened?” Genesis said, pulling the familiar fabric of his first class uniform over himself. The material was a welcoming familiarity compared to the scratchy cotton gowns of the facility. 

     “Just a little security breach.” He heard the familiar click of loading a gun, causing him to look over to the doctor, who seemed less and less sane by the minute.

     “What little security breach warrants loading a gun?” Genesis pulled on his bracer, the materia still loaded and untouched. 

     “Oh this? This is for my ex.” She replied nonchalantly as she tucked the handgun into a holster under her ruined lab coat. Genesis didn’t exactly feel comforted by that. “You need to get out of here.”

     “Where would I even go? I’m stranded here, regardless of whatever’s happened here.” Genesis followed her around the office as she took the LOVELESS book from her shelf and threw it into the lit fireplace across from her desk. That hurt his soul to watch, but as he watched the pages curl and fall apart, he saw additional documents fall into the flames, combusting on contact. She was destroying the evidence of something… but what?

     The door unlocked from the outside, as if someone had picked the lock. He caught a whiff of alpha pheromones, and immediately knew who it was before the door swung open. A scent of gingko trees, fresh springwater, and a touch of insufferably clean papers. 

     “Qinfei.”

     “Tseng.”

Chapter 5: Chapter Five

     “Well. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Tseng had the ghost of a smirk on his perfectly controlled poker face. 

     Dr. Qinfei was always a perpetually sunny individual to Genesis, but in the presence of Tseng? Something was wrong. Very wrong. “You know exactly why I left.”

     “Do you really want to do this right here?” Tseng made no moves, but Genesis could tell he was in easy reach of his gun. Whether or not he knew Dr. Qinfei had a concealed weapon on her, he’d find out sooner rather than later.

     “No, really I don’t want to talk about this at all.” She snarled, revealing fangs. It hit Genesis like cold water. Those distressed pheromones earlier… Those weren’t from omegas on the farm, they were hers .

     Omegas and Alphas were fanged, and while ideally they’d only come out for mating bites… the reality wasn’t that optimistic. Alphas attacked to send a message. Omegas attacked to kill . They had to. They had helpless little pups depending on them. Genesis was far from defenseless, and that little omega instinct had served him well in SOLDIER.

     Of course, omegas were useful to SOLDIER, just not in the way he was. They were a luxury that could be used to control Alphas. A mated alpha could be tethered to their helpless, innocent omega mate who couldn’t do anything to protect themselves should they opt to desert. Technically SOLDIERs weren’t supposed to have pups without company permission-

     His thoughts went to his own pup. He couldn’t move to set a hand on his abdomen, lest Tseng catch on about the pup, though the moment those blocker patches were off, the charade was over. What would Shinra do? A pup was prime real estate for the Science department. He fought a visible snarl. No way in Ifrits Balls was he letting the scientists cut his pup apart to see what made them tick. 

     He’d heard enough from Sephiroth to have made that call already. the horrors never seemed to end. Breaking his bones to see how quickly they healed, vivisections without anesthetics, locking him in the training simulator until he broke his previous records, it was like a new nightmare came up every time the labs ended up being a topic. They avoided the topic if they could. Sephiroth had moved into the SOLDIER dormitories the second he joined. He was thirteen, and had barely moved in before Shinra shipped him off to Wutai, anyhow.

     “What do you want, Tseng? You left long ago.” Qinfei hissed.

     “Believe me, I’m not here to win you back.” Tseng deadpanned.

     Qinfei scoffed and crossed her arms. “Then why are you here?”

     Tseng shot her a look, then looked behind her at Genesis. “Are you that dense?”

***

     Reno saw the salesmen rush to each other. They spoke in hushed tones and he could only hear when they approached the alpha who’d tried to sell him Ventus, as he was still nearby.

     “Dr. Weilan Qinfei has gone rogue. Detain her by any means necessary, lethal force included.” The alpha, dressed suspiciously like a security guard, hissed before rushing off to the next alpha.

     Reno noted two betas dashing across the floor, both dressed in blue medical scrubs. He shot a glance to Rude as if to say “let’s follow them”. Rude nodded and followed Reno after shooting Elena a shorthand text message to trace their location and regroup with Tseng. They’d meet her later. Reno and Rude stalked behind the two medical betas, who seemed in a rush to get to a specific location, but where? It could be an omega in medical distress, but given the security? It was a safe gamble to say they were going after the doctor. 

     “Wonder what a trusted doctor here did to warrant her execution.” Reno mused to his partner.

     “Breaking facility rules, I imagine.” Rude looked around the corner to ensure the coast was clear before they kept going.

     “A doctor actually caring about an omega?” Reno scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Cute.”     

     “Is that Tseng?” Rude ducked down out of sight, grabbing his husband before he could rush ahead.

     The two betas stood before Tseng with their hands up, so clearly Tseng had his gun in their line of sight.

     “Doctor, what did you do?” Jingshu breathed, stiffly staring at the handgun.

     “A little homicide, nothing unwarranted.” Qinfei didn’t sound too remorseful. 

     Jingshu didn’t miss the subtle widening of Genesis’s eyes. Zixuan wasn’t too surprised. He’d been Dr. Qinfei’s nurse since day one. He knew full well his boss’s past was far from clean and that she was fully capable of murder, and recent murder, if her scrubs and lab coat were anything to go off of. There had been a fight, and clearly his boss won.

     “Feifei, you need to get out of here.” Zixuan didn’t often use affectionate nicknames, but he hoped just this once, she’d listen to him. “They’ve authorized your capture. They’ll kill you if you resist. Please, you need to get out of here, out of Wutai, if you can.”

     “Weilan Qinfei, you’re under arrest.” Tseng moved his gun from its aim on the betas to the doctor.

     “For what?” Qinfei narrowed her eyes, but something in her scent told Genesis this was, at least partially, an act. An act of what? She was being held at gunpoint, for Minerva’s sake! Was she just testing danger? Was she pretending to be afraid? Ifrit’s Balls, she could get herself killed!

     “Theft of Shinra Property.” Tseng glanced at Genesis, who was about two seconds from casting firaga on the next available target. “Now, if you’ll come with me, you too, Rhapsodos.”

     Zixuan and Jingshu made no moves to leave, though Reno and Rude’s presence backing up Tseng caused Jingshu to falter. Reno pointed his rod at Zixuan. 

     “We’ll let you two go if you leave now .” Rude stood behind his omega, his posture warning the betas to heed Reno’s warning.

***

     “Welcome back to Midgar. Rhapsodos, go to Lazard.” Tseng ordered, grabbing Qinfei’s wrists. “You, I’m going to go officially fire you so I can successfully get rid of you.”

     “Veld didn’t fire me?” Qinfei tilted her head.

     “Unfortunately.” Tseng groaned, dragging her to the elevator to go to the Turks’ floors.

     “Wait wait, back up. She was a Turk?” Elena stared at the omega.

     “She completed the training, but never saw field time.” Tseng sounded unimpressed as he dragged the omega to the office. 

     “I really thought Veld took me out of the system when I went to medical school. I was clear that I didn't plan on returning to Shinra.” Qinfei shrugged.

     “Well, with the whole Avalanche incident and Tseng taking over while you were gone, it might’ve gotten lost in translation.” Reno shrugged.

     “So why don’t we just keep her?” Elena pondered out loud.

***

     “Genesis! You’re back!”

Notes:

I am... slowly finishing this. I started back to uni so updates will come slowly. A huge thanks to RottenPumpkin13 for being my awesome beta reader and her incredible patience with me and my messy brain. Thank you to everyone who has shown their support so far! <3

Chapter 6: Chapter Six

     Genesis turned to see Angeal’s puppy running over. He dodged just in time to watch Zack tumble to the metal floors with an audible thud. 

     “Gen! You’re alive! You’re okay!” Zack leapt right back up, rushing in for a tight hug.

     And for once, Genesis let him. It had to be the hormones, or at least he told himself. “Yes, Pup. I’m back.”

     “Angeal’s going to be stoked!” Zack grinned all too widely. “He’s been running us ragged in training!”

     “Has he now?” Genesis felt an uneasy amusement. Sure, Angeal normally ran SOLDIERs hard, but was he really running them that hard?

     “I’ll go get him!” Zack ran off down the hall before Genesis could even open his mouth. 

     Genesis continued on, however, trying to ignore the way the second and third classes scrambled back to work. He even recognized a few helmet ID numbers, mainly due to recognizing them as his last few months worth of firaga targets when they’d made the mistake of invoking his rage. Genesis was supposed to be in charge of training, as they all were, but he had a bit of a reputation for being “too” harsh and expecting “too” much. He always shook off the negative complaints and reviews. It wasn’t like he was getting fired over being a bad teacher. It wasn’t his fault if they were all incompetent, despite what Angeal warned him about it reflecting back on him as an instructor. 

     Lazard had just quietly moved him to primarily training more advanced members of SOLDIER and limiting the interaction between him and recruits, since technically , until you had your first mako infusion, you were still allowed to quit. You legally weren’t bound to SOLDIER until after that first lab appointment. After that first treatment though… you were conscripted and bound to SOLDIER for life. He didn’t need Genesis scaring off potential recruits by cremating their PT uniform on day one.

     “Genesis, welcome back.” Lazard greeted in his usual practiced tone. It was just warm and friendly enough to seem like Genesis wasn't about to get buried in paperwork for his “extended” mission. How long had he been gone? He hadn’t had a chance to charge his very dead PHS and it was a lost cause to ask Tseng for his.

     “It’s good to be back.” Genesis answered in their usual rehearsed script. It was always like this after missions. “What extra paperwork do I need to complete in my report?”

     “Genesis, you need to understand. You were gone for nearly six weeks. The other Firsts are a thread away from snapping and tearing Gaia apart to find you themselves. The media is asking where you’ve been.” Lazard pressed a gloved hand to the bridge of his nose. “You aren’t just going to be able to write this off in a report. You were a prisoner of war. Wutai is going to have extra strain on them, despite all of the progress we’ve made towards a truce. And then… we’ll need to address the rumors .”

     Genesis cringed. He knew the rumors. About his health. He’d always been smaller than the other Firsts. He wasn’t a textbook omega like Qinfei, delicate and petite, so no one had really gone down that route. But when he’d gotten that damned shoulder injury… it became public knowledge when it hadn’t been healing very well. Sure, they didn’t know the extent, but he could only hide the bandaging so long with his coat and uniform. The Red Leathers wouldn’t take long to catch on that his health was worse than he let on. He’d seen a few emails from Zack, who had joined all four of the fanclubs, because why wouldn’t he? The Red Leather and Study Group’s members had started commenting on his sudden change in health after he’d fainted at a public meeting and crashed onto Sephiroth, who of course, for publicity reasons couldn’t catch him. Hojo would have punished Sephiroth had he shown a public emotional tie, even if it meant letting one of his best friends tumble to the floor like a tree cut from its stump.

     “You are to report to medical. We can figure out paperwork and a public statement after you get everything cleaned up.” Lazard gestured to the door behind him. 

     “Yes, Director, sir.” Genesis nodded and walked out. 

***

     Dr. Hollander tossed his blue nitrile gloves into a waste bin as he boredly turned to a nurse. “Put in an order for a D and C.”

     “No.” Genesis defiantly snarled.

     “You cannot continue in SOLDIER in your condition,” Hollander grumbled. “You will be put on the schedule for the procedure.”

     “No. No I will not.” Genesis declared. 

     Hollander began with a sneer. “You’re not at liberty to make that decision.”

     “Oh, but I am.” He snarled, his fangs peeking out from his upper lip. “I am not bonded. I have no mate to make choices for me. And if that isn’t enough, I will go directly to Lazard about this violation of bodily autonomy.”

     Hollander stepped back as the temperature in the room rose quickly. He quickly muttered to the nurse to cancel the procedure, his eyes never leaving the fiery gaze of the very irritated omega. Upsetting a pregnant omega was already a poor life choice, but one with an exceptional control over his mana and adept materia proficiency? Well, Hollander preferred not to be roasted alive. Literally or figuratively- Genesis' tongue was just as dangerous as his cast.

     Genesis was already fixing his belt and heading out the door of the medical bay, leaving a shaken Hollander and a fainted nurse in his wake. He tied his boots as he walked back to the elevator. He wanted nothing more than his stale, abandoned nest, the one he’d built in Angeal’s apartment. He wondered if Angeal had dismantled it. He’d always liked his bed made and his apartment in tip-top, perfect cleanliness. He had his potted plants ordered by their needs, be that sunlight, water intake, or simply by their pot size. His kitchen was orderly and everything had a place. The pots and pans were hung on metal hooks and the spices were all individually labeled in Angeal’s perfectly imperfect handwriting. 

     Angeal had always had a messy scrawl, and he’d hated it. He’d always had a quiet envy of Genesis’ perfect script, curling and decorating the paper as his quill drank up the ink in his well. He’d spent years trying to fix his impoverished farmboy penmanship. He’d sharpened a stick that had fallen from the wealthy man’s tree and found a secluded area to practice his writing in the dirt, copying his lackluster, out of date textbooks into the earth below him.

     Genesis came to the door of Angeal’s apartment. Would Angeal want to see him? What if he wouldn’t want anything to do with him after finding out about the little one? Omegas were never supposed to have pups out of a bond. Banoran omegas were shunned for it. Gillian, bless her soul, lived alone for many years before she remarried. She and her husband and Angeal lived nearly ignored by the entire village. No one wanted anything to do with the Shinra reject and her bastard pup.

     Genesis sighed, holding his arm close to himself as he realized he was trembling. He scolded himself. He’d known Angeal since they were pups. Gillian raised him with more love than his own mother had ever had for him. He shakily raised his fist to knock on the door.

     “Genesis?”

Notes:

Hi! Nonexistent Author here. I try to avoid notes in my works as I ramble. Anyways, as y'all might've noticed, this was originally only five chapters, then seven. Now the short answer is... I don't know. I have a solid end arc, just don't know how long it'll take to get there. I also got into Kingdom Hearts in the middle of this, so any new "OC" role will be given to a KH character.
As always, a huge thanks to my beta reader, RottenPumpkin13. She reads through these chapters to make sure I'm coherent before I post them and I love every second of her commentary and input. One of her comments for this particular chapter actually made me wheeze so hard that my (off duty) service dog got up and came over to check on my like "Mom? You okay?"
Anyhow, lots of gratitude to the lovely individuals who have left comments and kudos and support!

Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

     Angeal stood at the end of the hallway, frozen in shock. He wasn’t in his SOLDIER uniform, he was dressed as if he were headed home from the gym a few floors down. Was it really that early, Genesis supposed he didn’t have a chance to just stop and check, but the orangey hues of the corridor reminded him that it was indeed the ungodly early hours Angeal often chose to work out in. 

     “Gen… Is it really you?” Angeal breathed, as if his eyes didn’t believe what he was seeing before him. He looked rough, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well.

      Genesis approached him, hesitantly reaching out to touch his face. Angeal leaned into his touch, his own hand reaching up to cup Gen’s. “I am home.”

     Angeal’s arms wrapped around Genesis, holding his head against his chest. “I thought we’d lost you…”

     Genesis melted into his hold, unable to even mumble an apology. He softly purred, taking in Angeal’s familiar and comforting scent. Even under the sweat of a rigorous workout he smelled of a Dumbapple tree. Not the perfumy, floral scent he always told Genesis he had, but a hardy, woody scent of Dumbapple tree bark and sap. He smelled like the wet dirt after rain, and the muddy hills they’d rolled down as children. But even with the beautiful scents of Banora, the scent of mako lingered. The metallic scent tangled with the others, never overpowering them, just… lurking and threatening to corrupt the others scents. 

     Angeal just held him, subtly rocking on the balls of his feet as if Genesis weren’t real. He held him like he would when they were kids. Like when Genesis had still been a wee child, afraid of lightning, when Genesis would hide in the Hewley’s home from his own family. His parents never raised a finger to hurt him, at least not physically. But Genesis learned quickly that if he wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t to be seen. He didn’t smile in childhood photos. Not because he was unhappy, but because he was missing his baby teeth, and his mother deemed it a horrid sight that shouldn’t be documented. He wore long sleeves and pants, even in summer pictures, to avoid visually seeing his bruises and scrapes from where he’d fallen out of trees and the evidence that he’d been playing like any normal child. His chocobo, who he loved for her unique feathers, had been dyed on multiple occasions, simply so she looked more “clean” in a show ring.

     “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up. Have you eaten?” Angeal ushered him into the apartment. 

     Genesis paused. When had he last eaten? Qinfei hadn’t brought dinner that night, not that he blamed her. He supposed she was probably a little preoccupied after murdering her boss and screwing over the entire facility, and then running away. He shook his head. “No, I guess I haven’t.”

     “You suppose?” Angeal sounded concerned as he was already fishing ingredients out of his cupboards. 

     “Well, the last several hours have been a right wreck.” He sat at the counter, leaning forward enough to rest his head on his arms. 

     Just being in Angeal’s presence let enough of his guard down to show him just how freaked out he’d been the last several weeks. It didn’t even settle in until he’d been in that helicopter before he realized the extent of the mess he’d just escaped. How was he even supposed to explain that to Lazard? Obviously it would look questionable as hell on the report when asked what happened. He cringed internally. ‘Oh yeah, just passed out because Hollander committed medical fraud, sent me on a mission I never should have been on, got kidnapped and kept at a breeding farm and now I’m knocked up. Oh and I’m keeping it.’ Yeah. Lazard would take that without issue. Definitely.

     Genesis flinched when he felt Angeal’s fingers brush against his neck. “Sorry, I just wanted to take your patch off. You know I hate when they make you cover your scent.”

     “Geal, wait,” Genesis froze. “I… I need you to take a deep breath and promise me you won’t be upset.”

     “Gen, what happened?” Angeal’s own scent had begun to sour, indicating his worry and protective nature. 

     Genesis slowly peeled off the scent patch. He knew for a fact his scent would be sweet, almost sickly so. He could see Angeal’s eyes widen as he processed what it meant.

     “Gen… you’re not serious.” Angeal was breathless as his hand set on top of Genesis’s, rubbing his knuckles as he exhaled a shaky breath. “Are you…”

     “Yeah, already threatened Hollander over keeping it.” Genesis shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. 

     “I am here. For anything.” He hugged Genesis, resting his head on his shoulder. “For everything.”

     Angeal never knew who his biological father was. Gillian had been the borderline definition of a feral omega when she had Angeal. Hollander wasn’t good to her in the slightest. She’d had plans from the moment she realized she was pregnant. Maybe not fully formed, but she knew she had to get away. She wouldn’t let him near her pup. Hollander would never touch Angeal. Not as long as she was still breathing. That didn’t ring true. 

     A pregnant omega is a skittish omega, but fear shows in different ways. Gillian was a scientist. She was methodical, calculating, intelligent. She had always tracked her cycles, she knew when something was wrong. She’d never necessarily planned to have pups, even though she knew deep down that she wouldn’t get rid of one if she happened to fall pregnant. Then it had hit her; she wanted pups, but absolutely not with Hollander. Gillian had her plans. Save up enough Gil to get her own place, divorce Hollander, keep him the heck away from her pup, and bite him if he tried to challenge her… maybe not in that order.

     Angeal was born in Mideel, where Gillian had been staying while she worked. It wasn’t her lab job, but it was enough. A pregnant omega wasn’t exactly welcome in a lab anyhow. It was just far too many pathogens and hazards. She was at least able to do some work with data analysis, and then and when she finally did feel safe enough to go back to Banora, she found peace as she rebuilt her life from the ground up in the plastic town, created by Shinra to watch her and her failures. 

     Angeal wasn’t a dull boy. He was sharp- and when he presented as an alpha, he knew his father wasn’t his biological one… though he promised his mother he wouldn’t go looking for his biological father. The fear he could smell off of Gillian warned him that this was deeper than she’d ever admit to. His stepfather was a beta. For an alpha to be born, at least one parent had to be an alpha… and given that Gillian was an omega, his stepfather was not his sire. It didn’t really matter to Angeal. He was always there for Angeal, always there for Gillian, and always there when it mattered. 

     Gillian’s husband had passed away years ago. Angeal was thirteen, and had just had his SOLDIER application approved. He’d always been a chronically ill beta, and legally disabled, but they were all happy. Gillian’s meager pay as with odd jobs, such as tailoring and selling what little food their garden produced, was hardly enough to keep them going. They’d always struggled, given her husband’s lack of an ability to work, Angeal being a mere child, and Gillian’s depressing paycheck from what they could manage to bring in. But they were loved, and they had a roof over their heads. A roof that leaked when it rained, but a roof nonetheless. Angeal knew that his family had his back just as he had theirs, and that was good enough for him. 

     And he’d be damned if he let Genesis suffer alone.