Chapter Text
"So, you never had your rut before?!"
It was a relatively calm morning. Alhaitham was relaxing on his couch at the living room when Kaveh came home from spending his rut at his lover’s place, much to Haitham’s dismay because he really wanted to finish reading his new book in peace.
Good silence never last long. He grunted.
"Correction, I do have ruts. Though, it’s usually me feeling somewhat lustful for a week. I don't even respond to omega's pheromones if exposed to them, though it does make me feel a bit suffocated if the pheromones are too thick."
Kaveh was giving him the most ridiculous face he’s ever seen and trust him, he’d seen a lot. Kaveh’s facial muscle control is impressive, to say at least.
"NORMAL PEOPLE WON'T EVEN CALL THAT A RUT!" He screamed in disbelief.
Not that it’s a foreign thing for Alhaitham, most of the people that knew about his condition pretty much acted the same way. He got used to it after the first few times.
"While that might be the usual case if you view it through the generalized way. It might be a new type of rut; considering that I’ve been examined by countless doctors across Sumeru and all my results came out as negative. Nothing's wrong with my body nor my alpha instincts."
He said that in a matter-of-fact tone, without any sign of worry about his current condition.
"Huh?” Kaveh blinked. Seemed to have calmed down knowing that his roommate already got himself professionally checked. He should’ve known that Alhaitham won’t just ignore his own health, as carefree as he acted. “Hm, I guess if the doctors said that then that might be the case but still... That's pretty odd, isn’t it?”
Alhaitham shrugged.
“Beats me. Though I do think it's good this way. I can continue living like a beta while having the perks of an alpha, I see it as a win-win situation."
"You insufferable son of a bitch." He leaned down on the sofa, and pouted. There’s something swimming on his mind, Alhaitham could tell. Whether if it’s a good or bad thing, Alhaitham would know after he let Kaveh alone with his mind for a while.
The conversation went quiet for a few moments, which Alhaitham was grateful for. He continued reading his book for a few minutes before hearing a loud gasp from Kaveh. He glanced at his roommate and raised his eyebrows.
“What?” He finally asked when Kaveh just stared at him with that stupid grin on his face.
"Hey! Don't you think it's the special case of THAT?"
"Of what, exactly?"
"Oh, you know, your destined pair!! The way you are right now is because your real rut would only be triggered when you find your mate!! I’m a genius HAHAHAHA!"
Kaveh laughed so hard and grinned so much like he won a Nobel prize for stating something that comes straight from a love sick maiden’s fantasy.
“What do you think about that? I mean, it could be the case, right?” His eyes lit up, “No... it should be the case!”
"If by destined pair you mean the useless myth that restricts people's choice in choosing their life partner by reducing it based on your secondary gender, then I wish for it to never exist to begin with."
Kaveh rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on!” He stood up, all fired up for some reason. “Think about it, an alpha and an omega, destined to fall in love by the strings of fate! Isn't that romantic?" He asked, hoping that Alhaitham would understand where he’s coming from.
"No.” Alhaitham closed his book and he too, stood up to leave the living room. He’d rather spend his time in his room right now because he really wanted to finish this book before dinner.
“I'd prefer if anyone regardless of their secondary gender could choose their own life partner with their own will. Ideally, one should also be able to choose not to have any partners as we have so many other alternatives to handle through ruts or heats with our modern medication."
"HAH! If you have a real rut when you have a whiff of an omega’s pheromones you've never met in your whole life before, I’ll be the one that's going to laugh on your face!" Kaveh huffed and began to stomp away to his own room.
"Rest assured, that'll never happen."
"It will! The universe would prove that I’m right and you're wrong for once!"
"Heh, really? Try me."
Okay, maybe he shouldn't challenge the universe after all. He got too cocky, he admitted.
Now here he was, kneeling on the Akademiya's floor with sweat dripping down his temple. It happened so fast.
Alhaitham was on his way to do his job as a Scribe when he heard people whispering about a certain General Mahamatra. He usually would have his music volume up, drowning his surrounding sounds as it tends to be quite loud in the morning for his liking, but something piqued his interest when he saw lots of matra gathering at the entrance of the Akademiya.
The General Mahamatra almost never showed himself at the Akademiya, or if he did, Alhaitham would be too busy in his work to notice. He only knew from the articles in the Akasha that the new general is one if not the best general the Akademiya ever had since their establishment, so to say that he is good at doing his work is a massive understatement.
Walking past the entrance, it didn't even take him a while for him to see a group of matra forming a little circle around someone that's visibly shorter than Alhaitham, wearing a Jackal headwear, giving him their reports.
He didn't know what's wrong with him today, but he slowed his steps and eventually stopped in his tracks. He stood in the Akademiya's hallway and tried to take a better look at this General Mahamatra, feeling the curiosity bubbling inside him.
He is... beautiful. Majestic even. He's probably the most attractive person Alhaitham's ever seen in his life and Alhaitham didn't find anyone else attractive before. Kaveh always nagged at him saying that he's too picky in choosing his partner, but no one simply succeeded in making him feel the butterflies in his stomach.
Alhaitham took his sweet time savoring the beauty of the shorter yet strong figure across the hall. Soft, shoulder length white hair that compliments his tanned skin. Striking red-orange irises that's able to lure people in to stare, reminding him of sunset. His bangs covering his left eye and his clothes... if Alhaitham could be so bold, left so little to the imagination.
After a while, Alhaitham felt his heartbeat starting to pick up as his eyes lingered too long on the General Mahamatra's exposed skin. He removed his headphones on his head, starting to feel like everything's too hot.
Is it the air conditioning? Did it stopped working?
He started to feel lightheaded and his breathing was getting heavier and heavier. His clothes felt too hot and clung too tightly on his body. The urge to rip everything off and find release came in big waves and he didn't notice some of the students were calling the matra to help check on him.
And that's when it hit him.
The scent of an omega's pheromones. One that had a scent too divine for Alhaitham's clouded mind. It reminded him of the fresh scent of oasis, the floral scent of a flower native to the desert and a hint of white musk.
His eyes snapped towards the direction of the General Mahamatra and the alpha that's been sleeping for so long inside him was elated when he laid eyes on the figure. Alhaitham could feel himself going insane, there's an uncontrollable joy and happiness rapidly blooming in his heart, yet he could feel his drool pooling in his mouth, some managed to drip out as he snarled.
"MINE!"
His voice didn't even sound like his, his throat felt dry as he continued to growl, eyes turning red as a sign of the alpha inside him taking over and he's acting purely on instincts. Had the matra around him not hold him and stop him, he would surely pound on the calm General Mahamatra that's standing in front of him right now. He didn't even know how he got too close to him.
He screamed and struggled against the strong hold of the matra, desperately trying to move closer towards the man in front of him; there is he, mate, must protect.
So close yet still too far away.
The said General Mahamatra looked at him with soft eyes, which hid behind his bangs, a sad smile on his face as he gently put his cold right hand on Alhaitham's burning cheeks, which Alhaitham blissfully moaned and his eyes locked with his. The taller one's eyes pleading, craving any forms of skin contact with him.
Gentle eyes turned to a stern, serious one as he turned around, hands moving to leave Alhaitham’s skin and his other hand gripped tighter to his polearm.
"Prepare him a suppressant, a strong one. Take him to Tighnari, the Forest Ranger from Avidya Forest, he'll know what to do." he ordered before exiting the building.
When Alhaitham gained back his consciousness, he heard some familiar voices talking around him. But where is he right now? What happened?
"Are you sure that he's not going to die? It was his first real rut, are you sure that it's not too harsh on him right now?"
"He's going to be just fine, are you doubting my skills, Kaveh?"
"What? No! Of course not! My baby's the best, that's why Cyno sent him into your care, right?"
"I would prefer if I don't wake up to you flirting with your boyfriend, Kaveh." Alhaitham's voice was hoarse, his throat felt drier than the desert. He pushed himself up and trying to sit on the bed. He felt like he passed out for way too long.
"WOAH YOU'RE UP??" Kaveh screamed and even his boyfriend next to him looked annoyed.
"Can you please stop screaming into my ears, Kaveh." Tighnari held his ears and walked away to the corner of the room to pour a glass of cold water for Alhaitham. "How are you feeling? Any discomfort?"
Alhaitham gulped down the glass of water, he really needed it.
"Terrible, the alpha in my head won't stop screaming for a while now and I'm not used to it."
"What does he say?"
"Mate. He's searching for his mate."
Tighnari nodded, and he went to grab some new incense and the room was filled with a calming scent.
"Is this a Viparyas incense? I love this scent so much." Kaveh said as he inhaled a deep breath. Acting noticeably calmer and sat quietly at Tighnari's study table.
"Most alphas will enjoy this scent, Viparyas is known to help calm a stressed inner alpha, especially after a strong suppressant shot. Although it's rarely used right now in modern medication, the percentage of losing control to your second gender decreased tremendously after we developed an effective way to manage heats and ruts through the decades."
"This is the first time this happened." Alhaitham was deeply confused. It's the first for him, to not understand anything, to live in the shadows. "I was feeling normal and I was just walking to work and my rut was supposed to be in another two months when suddenly... I just lost control."
Tighnari sat on a chair next to Alhaitham to check on him. "Do you remember what happened before you lost your consciousness? Do you remember the suppressant shot?" He pointed towards a spot on Alhaitham's arms that's slightly swollen from the shot.
Suppressant shot.
“Prepare him a suppressant, a strong one. Take him to Tighnari—"
The velvety voice. The soft eyes, the sad smile. His hand caressing his cheek...
"I remembered... General Mahamatra. I felt weird after I had a whiff of his pheromones."
Kaveh and Tighnari looked at each other.
"Cyno? You're saying that you're reacting to Cyno?" Kaveh asked, seemingly to not be able to believe what he just heard.
"Cyno?"
"The General Mahamatra. His name is Cyno. I've known him for ages..." He glanced towards Kaveh and he nodded before continuing, "and the fact that he left you under my care might mean that you're someone… uh— how do I say it— special to him."
"That's ridiculous. This is the first time we've met today." Alhaitham argued but his alpha was feeling content.
Cyno. Mate. Pretty. Must meet him.
Tighnari grabbed Alhaitham's hands that's been clenching too hard and released his tight grip. He looked into Alhaitham's eyes with a serious look and asked, "Look, Alhaitham. Do you believe in a destined pair?"
Alhaitham's speechless. He could expect this kind of question from Kaveh, being the hopeless romantic person he was, but from Tighnari? It felt surreal.
"That's just a myth, isn’t it? Closer to a fairytale that's being told as a bedtime story?"
"That should be the case, but it does happen... or should I say, it did happen? There were records of it happening when Sumeru was still being ruled by King Deshret, Goddess of Flower and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, but after the great war and calamity, the destined pair is a mere myth these days."
"I guess you could interpret it as human's evolution to adapt to the loss of partners in the great war. Many alphas lost their omegas, many omegas went insane from the loss of alphas. The bond between the destined pair was too strong. It's consuming. It's too deep..." Kaveh added, as he walked closer and put his hands on Tighnari's shoulders. He rubbed Tighnari's shoulders with his thumbs and resisted the urge to hug him in front of Alhaitham.
"It was a sad history, so it's better if it remained a fairy tale or a myth. But it'll be unfair to completely erase its existence, especially if your condition might be related to you finding your destined pair. The supposedly extinct alpha and omega bond, lost in time."
It almost felt too much for Alhaitham to digest. Not mentally but emotionally. Him? Having an emotional bond with someone that triggered his rut so bad he lost his control? Did Cyno know about this? How did Cyno feel when they met for the first time?
"It's rare for you to know something that I don't, Kaveh." He joked, sensing that the atmosphere in the room was too heavy.
Kaveh rolled his eyes.
"If you agreed to go into the ruins with me to split the cost then maybe you'll know about these too if you're not so disinterested in the history of alpha and omega's dynamics."
Alhaitham chuckled. "Heh, really?"
Time passed as both Tighnari and Kaveh left to prepare dinner and for Alhaitham to process his emotions.
Approximately a month after the incident, not even once Alhaitham was able to meet Cyno.
He's been keeping an eye on the matra's activities and any useful information about Cyno, but his deductions would be that Cyno was actively trying to avoid meeting him.
He wondered if Cyno knew about their bond, and he's a bit curious if Cyno's able to control his omega instincts as it was quite hard for Alhaitham to control his alpha. There are underlying circumstances in his condition, he's aware of it; but knowing nothing about Cyno made him feel restless.
He needed to see Cyno.
While he was pondering, Alhaitham received a notification from Katheryne through the Akasha, notifying him about Cyno's whereabouts. He applied for a request to get in touch with General Mahamatra for personal reasons and it took faster than he expected for his request to be approved because of his position in Akademia.
He smiled as he read what's written on the system.
CONFIDENTIAL:
[ Request accepted : General Mahamatra location : Aaru Village ]
After an hour, he arrived at his destination. It was a quiet village and the wind blowing on Alhaitham's exposed skin felt nice against the hot weather of the desert. He took a few steps forward before he saw a shadow sprinting between the stone walls and drew his sword, preparing for attacks.
It was faster than lightning. Sword clashed with polearm, the sound of weapons hitting each other ringing on Alhaitham's ears. He kept on dodging and defending against the offensive attacks from his opponent before the last hit made both of them stopped in their tracks.
His opponent raised his head and Alhaitham found who he'd been searching for.
"Cyno."
The other man stood straight and when he saw Alhaitham, he was baffled to see him here.
".. Alhaitham."
There it is. The soothing voice, the beautiful figure that he's starting to miss.
"So you know my name, that makes things a lot easier." Alhaitham walks towards Cyno, closing the distance between them. "It's been a while. How are you faring?"
Cyno stiffened. He stared into Alhaitham's eyes before sighing.
"I know why you're here. I've been hoping for you to just let things go."
"You're telling me to just forget about what happened?" Alhaitham quirked his eyebrows, pretty amused with how the General Mahamatra of the Akademiya handled the unspoken things that happened between them.
"Unfortunately for you, Cyno. I have a very stubborn and curious nature, so we need to talk "