Chapter Text
She swore she was dropped into some new place.
But it literally looked like her old place where she lived with all her acquaintances and friends.
Yet it was very empty here now. She couldn’t see a single soul among the trees. There was no sign of anybody either left behind. It’s like everyone vanished into thin air as soon as she roused from her sleep.
It was very unsettling to Leafy. She was used to being with someone at the very least. She wasn’t very good on her lonesome so she felt that internal panicked urge to seek out some company.
So she did what she could think of; wandering around in the middle of this forest. She wasn’t even certain if this exactly was the middle. It was a wild guess because she had absolutely no clue how she ended up here or why.
She kept reassuring herself that this was a nightmare, most likely tackling her issues of abandonment or something. Was she supposed to learn a life lesson here? God, she hoped not. She was already the nicest object there was. She didn’t need more lessons!
But still, no one was here.
And it kept bothering her.
“Alright. Don’t start freaking out just because you’re alone for a bit,” she muttered to herself. “You’re bound to run into someone eventually. Just stay focused, deep breaths, all that calming stuff.” Leafy wouldn’t get anywhere if the first thing she did was throw a fit after all.
The weather was nothing out of the ordinary. Beyond the tree tops, there were patches of blue skies without a single cloud in few. Sunlight flooded all spaces, illuminating Leafy’s path. There were squirrels that watched her from afar, momentarily curious until scrambling off to care for their own lives. She saw a robin pick at some seeds at the ground, but it flew away as soon as she got too close to it. Birds chirped in the distance, a cicada called, all very normal forest sounds.
There were some bushes that rustled to her side, but Leafy thought it was another larger animal that was moving about. She kept ignoring it but eventually, it started to unnerve her. If it was an animal, once or twice would be passable but it felt like it didn’t go away as if something were following her.
Or stalking her.
She began to hurry along, hoping to outspeedwalk whatever it was. But it still kept up with her pace much to her worries. There was also a tangible aroma lingering in the air, one of warm sweets for some odd reason. Was someone baking out here?
But she didn’t see any signs of smoke or anything among the trees, anything that might signal someone was nearby apart from the rustling that spooked her.
Leafy could climb a tree, but she didn’t know if she had the time to do so with the sound so close by. It felt like it was breathing down her back already. She couldn’t outrun it either as it’d quickly catch up to her in no time. What more could she do?
The leaf stopped and looked in the direction of the sound. “Come out!” she demanded. The last thing she could think of was scaring it away. She braced herself for what could be hiding; a hungry bear? Someone that she didn’t know but still didn’t have good intentions for her? Would she be able to make it out without a scratch?
It was none of those things.
A fire carefully came out of hiding, curious towards her.
“Firey?” exclaimed Leafy immediately. What was he doing hiding from her? “You almost scared me to death! I don’t understand why you had to follow me around like that!”
Finally, it was someone she knew. Relief washed over her, but it was gone in the blink of an eye once she noticed that something was wrong.
“How’d you know my name?” asked Firey. “I’ve never seen you before.”
He didn’t seem to recognize her at all, which further confused Leafy. Wasn’t it just yesterday that they seemed to know each other for all of their lives? “It’s me, Leafy,” she said, watching him approach her, “we were like friends...? Don’t you remember?”
“No...? I don’t know any Leafys except you right now.” The fire grabbed her wrist suddenly with such force that it almost knocked her unsteady. What was even weirder was that he started to sniff her like an animal would to investigate. What was that even about? She was frozen in place and even if she wanted to try to back away, Firey still tightly held her wrist to keep her from moving.
“Did I do something wrong?” squeaked Leafy softly. She hadn’t done anything apart from trying to figure out where she was now, but maybe that wasn’t allowed in wherever this was.
“No, no,” He sounded distracted. By what was something that Leafy didn’t know. Eventually, he let her arm go and awkwardly backed away from her as if he just realized what he was doing. “You smell... nice. Like, very nice actually.”
What an odd way to compliment someone, she supposed.
But hey, at least he wasn’t angry or anything at her. It was better to have a strange encounter but leave unscathed than to face someone itching for a fight. But there was something in Firey’s gaze that told her that he was thinking more than what he had told her.
Maybe she was being silly though. Silly and paranoid.
As much as he looked the part, this wasn’t the Firey she knew. It worried her a little; would things ever get back to normal? Maybe this was a sort of dream that felt far too real and was absolutely bizarre in every way. The only thing she could do was wait until she naturally woke up and then all of this would be over. “I better... get going then,” said Leafy hesitantly. She felt like she was burning under Firey’s gaze. “Sorry for bothering you on accident haha... It won’t happen again, I promise!”
She was quick to turn away and almost run away. She needed some time to herself and regain her composure.
But someone had other plans. “Wait!” yelped Firey behind her. Leafy could hear him running after her and eventually, she was pulled back by someone grabbing at her arm. It was the fire again, looking very worried. “Waitwaitwait! Running off like that... might not be the best idea.”
“And why not?” She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he wasn’t budging.
“You really don’t know? There’s no way you don’t know why!”
Leafy didn’t understand what he meant. Why couldn’t she go where she liked? What was so dangerous that he was chasing after her to stop? Still, she kept trying to wrestle herself out of his grip like a frustrated child wanting to leave the store already. “No!” she bite back, “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t know what’s happening or if I’m just dreaming! Can you please let me go?”
Her real friend wouldn’t do this to her, but maybe... maybe somewhere in there, he’d feel some pity and let her leave.
But he wasn’t. After more struggling, Leafy realized he had no intentions of letting her go this time around.
“What am I?” asked Firey, shaking her arm to get her attention.
“What kind of question is that?” Leafy thought immediately as she stared nervously at the fire. She looked intensely at him, hoping that he meant that maybe there was like... some kind of name badge he had or something that she didn’t notice before that would totally give her the answer. But there was nothing out of the ordinary, which further tangled her nerves into a panic.
“Go on,” said her captor, “what am I? It’s a very easy question.”
The leaf was shaking as she tried to throw together an answer. What would he do if she got it wrong? Would he hurt her? Holy shit, she did not wake up in this strange place to get her clock punched in already!
She hesitated at first. “You’re... Firey.”
Firey did not look happy with her answer. Concern was the main emotion she got from him instead. “Yes, but that’s not what I was looking for. I thought you were maybe faking the whole confused act before, but... wow... You’re actually unaware.”
Leafy went limp, sitting in the grass defeated that she couldn’t get away. And now her suspicions were also confirmed; she’s somewhere else entirely that worked on a whole different set of principles that she never heard of before. She had also gotten the question wrong and she couldn’t help but worry that this Firey was going to harm her.
She didn’t realize Firey stiffened, sensing her in distress by some unbeknownst force that Leafy could never imagine thus far. He kneeled closer to her level and let her go as he was more focused on wiping away the small tears that was threatening to stream down her face. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re okay,” he cooed, “You’re just a little confused, but I can’t let you go out on your own. It’s too dangerous for you.”
Leafy looked to him and sniffled pathetically. “How come?”
“Others might not be as nice as me towards... um...” Firey awkwardly looked away from her as he tried to come up with the right words. “...someone’s that’s... unclaimed as you are right now.”
That created more questions than provided answered in her head.
But the fire smiled reassuringly to her, quick to change the subject. “But! That’s something we can figure out later! Don’t even worry about it!” he promised her. “You’re lost and probably scared right now so let’s deal with that now! I know a good place where you’ll be much more comfortable.”
She felt like the sudden change in his attitude towards her started when she got more terrified at the possibilities of being harmed. Was he some sort of mind reader then? He didn’t really address anything specifically though for her to be certain. Surely there was something else that he could sense that she couldn’t.
But whatever. He was right. Leafy was awfully confused about her whereabouts and apparently, it was dangerous for her to go out alone. She’d prefer not to play the “fuck around and find out” game and hope that Firey was genuine in his offer of some safety. She wordlessly nodded and the flame helped her stand on her feet. She held his hand as they went further into the expansive forest.
They had done a lot of walking that it was making her legs ache. It felt like he was leading her to nowhere at this rate and all she wanted to do was lay down already. “Can’t we take a break or something?” she whined softly, “my legs are killing me at this point.”
Firey looked back at her in surprise and then embarrassment. “Oh! How could I forget my manners!” he said sheepishly as he picked a purple berry from a nearby bush.
Leafy instantly recognized the fruit. It was a yoyleberry of course! Strange that they were growing in an area like this. She swore the bushes that bore them were restricted to Yoyleland, but it seemed that they were plentiful literally anywhere in this world. As expected, Firey was no longer made out fire; he turned gray with the sunlight glittering his metallic surface.
“Here, I’ll give you a piggyback ride so you don’t have to tire yourself more. I’m sorry for not doing it sooner.”
Well, that was very nice of him! She expected him to let her rest for a moment, but he was offering to give her a ride instead. It made her feel warm inside as she crawled onto his back like a koala hitching a ride from its mother. The Firey she knew didn’t really do that with her except for situations where she had to cross a pool of lava for some reason.
They kept walking and soon enough, Leafy could hear some rustling from nearby bushes. Was this the dangerous thing that Firey warned her about if she ran off alone? Fuck, what if it was a bear?! She instinctively held tighter to the object that was carrying her, making Firey halt in his tracks.
“Why aren’t you moving?” whispered Leafy to him. Wasn’t he scared?
But Firey didn’t answer her. He remained silent, intently focused on the rustling of the undergrowth. Then he faced towards it; the rustling growing louder that made Leafy feel sick with fear.
“Coiny, stop trying to sneak up on me!” he yelled at the bushes, more annoyed than fearful. “I can smell you a mile away, y’know!”
An orange coin burst out of the bushes on cue considering his cover was literally blown. “Boooo! You’re lying!” complained the coin, equally as bothered. “Just yesterday you screamed like a girl when I crept up on you, don’t try to act tough!”
Leafy could see that he hadn’t noticed her yet. He was more busy trying to blow holes in Firey’s ego, but he abruptly stopped when his eyes rested on her. Firey’s hands that was supporting her legs tightened and he took a step back from Coiny.
“Knock it off, you’re scaring her,” snapped Firey.
He didn’t move when Coiny curiously came closer, his attention focused only on Leafy. It made her feel like some kind of museums exhibit and it was the similar kind of curious look that Firey had when she first encountered him. She knew Coiny, but it seemed in this world this was their first meeting as well. The coin also leaned in slightly, sniffing her quietly and a blush on his cheeks formed.
Coiny stared at Firey in disbelief. “She seriously unclaimed? There’s no way-” he said in a whisper.
“I wouldn’t be bringing her along if she was claimed. Don’t you remember the rule, stupid?” Firey rolled his eyes. “But I think she’s not well right now so don’t try to advance on her.” He pushed aside Coiny and kept on walking, but the coin quickly followed after the pair.
There was a sympathetic look on Coiny’s face too as he watched her. “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he told her. “I only sneak up on Firey, but it’s like a joke thing between us. I wouldn’t ever do it to you.”
Were they... treating her special? Just before Coiny was ready to throw down with Firey, but the moment he noticed her presence, he stopped dead in his tracks and now he was apologizing for acting up in front of her? Leafy only heard bits of pieces of the whispers exchanged between the two males; perhaps Firey told him off about it but it still didn’t explain why they acted differently towards her. She didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
Leafy nervously smiled. “It’s alright,” she replied. “I thought you might have been like a bear or something so it made me worried.”
“I’d never let a bear near you!” exclaimed Coiny abruptly. “I’d totally chase it away! With me around, no bear is ever going to get near you!”
Firey scoffed. “You’re built like a midget. You think a bear is going to be scared of someone as small as you? You’d be lucky to scare off a squirrel.”
“Implying that you’d be any better! You can’t even kill a spider without crying to me about it!”
While they argued about who was capable of fighting a large animal, Leafy realized that they weren’t that different from the selves that she was more familiar with. They still had that rivalry going between them and it was a miracle that they hadn’t gotten physical with each other thus far. Though she had a sneaking feeling it was because she was too close to them.
“Do you guys ever shut up?” snapped another voice, this one more feminine sounding. “You’re giving me a headache with your stupid arguing.”
There was no mistaking the red object that just appeared out of the undergrowth, attracted by the two’s bickering. To Leafy, it just made everything all the much weirder. Here was all her old friends yet they had never met her before in this freaky upside down world.
But she smiled nervously towards Pin and even waved a little at her. “...Hi?"
Pin blinked. “What the fuck?”
“She was out alone when I found her so I, uh, brought her with me,” said Firey timidly.
Leafy watched Pin a little closely. Why did she look nervous right now? Unlike Firey or Coiny, it looked like she didn’t want her to be here. “I was lost,” blurted out the leaf to explain herself. The last thing she needed was to get left out in the cold. “I don’t know where am I am or... where I was going really! I’m not trying to cause trouble. I’m just...” It felt like a frog was sitting in the back of her throat now. “...scared of being alone right now.”
She held on to Firey tightly. If they wanted to get rid of her, they’d have to pry her off of him! Her ride purred reassuringly, making Leafy feel a bit safer though she didn’t understand why.
“She smells clean,” she heard Coiny’s quiet voice. “I can’t smell another alpha on her.”
“What does that even mean?” Leafy couldn’t help but wonder. She peeked up briefly to see the thumbtack mulling over her options with Coiny right by her side now.
“Alright fine,” spoke Pin out loud. “We’ll take her in. If she’s clean, then there shouldn’t be any issues.”
Luckily, Pin seemed to relax soon after and no longer did Leafy feel unwanted by her. In fact, all three seem quite giddy with her presence around for whatever reason. The leaf felt like a prized toy with the way they were careful with her. If she was too tired to walk, one of them eagerly offered to carry her the rest of the way. If she needed water, one would bring it up to her before she had time to stand up. If she was hungry, food was offered to her almost immediately and if there were none on hand, they’d quickly go out and find some. What once started as a nightmare turned into a dream of sorts with her friend group waiting on her every need.
But why?
Despite it being days at this point, no one told her “why” she was getting this treatment. She still recalled when Firey refused to let her adventure by herself, telling her that it was dangerous. Even to this day, she tried yet again on her own only to be tracked down by Coiny this time and quickly turned back to the safety of where they stayed.
And with the food, they never seemed to eat before she did. She thought eating wasn’t that serious of an activity but apparently it was in this new world.
When she flagged down Firey to ask why, he gave her the weirdest answer: omegas get first pick.
“Am I... an omega?” she thought to herself that day. She could remembered slowly munching on a red berry that tasted like a mix between a strawberry and a cherry. “Is there something wrong with me? Are omegas a bad thing? I don’t remember being that before.”
The more it troubled her, the more she noticed that everyone was watching her more closely. It seemed the worse her mood was, the more restless everyone else has gotten.
Today, she felt Coiny was too stressed to leave her alone. He sat by her side and started leaving little reassuring kisses on her arm, purring and snuggling up to her in a way that made her feel something.
No one was so bold to pull something like this in the world she knew, but it was obvious that this place was entirely different on its’ own set of rules. Even in this situation, she would normally feel shock and maybe a little anger at the way he was so close to her in a way only reserved for couples but it had been replaced by an overall warm feeling of being cherished and reassured. Leafy wasn’t interested romantically in him, but she didn’t want him to stop either. She wanted more to soothe her turbulent worries and even his affectionate chirps sounded like honey to her.
Why was this happening? She further continued to worry, trapping her in this merciless cycle.
Soon enough, she curled herself in his arms, subconsciously pursuing the safety he created. But this wouldn’t allow her to escape her troubles.
Leafy only barely heard the return of both Pin and Firey. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel them standing nearby, looking down on her. A cold draft made her shiver and Coiny arms’ tightened his hug on her.
“She’s still been unhappy,” said Coiny softly as to not disturb her. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“You think it’s a preheat starting?” asked Firey next.
A hand touched Leafy above her eyes. It petted her reassuringly, stroking her in a way that she couldn’t help but mewl in response.
The hand left her forehead. “No fever,” said Pin. “She’s might be worried. Or sick. Let her sleep and we’ll see what we can do once she wakes up.”
Leafy didn’t mean to fall asleep. But the way Coiny softly cooed to her soothed her worries long enough to let her consciousness drift off.
When she woke up, Coiny wasn’t there with her, but Pin had taken his place. The leaf was laying across her lap and for a moment, all her troubles vanished. Of course, they’d come back as soon as her grogginess left her.
“Morning, Leafster,” greeted Pin as she stirred. She looked happy to see her awake although Leafy could still pick up on some worried emotions in her gaze. “You slept well enough?”
Leafy rubbed her eyes a bit. “I guess,” she mumbled in reply.
It was nowhere morning. In fact, it was the late afternoon now. Birdsong was beginning to die down as birds began to seek out their nests to slumber for the night. Crickets took their place to fill the air with their own songs while a few fireflies were out and about, blinking their lights towards each other. It made her realize she slept most of the day away much to her dismay.
“We’ve all been a little worried about you.” Pin rubbed Leafy’s arm, holding her close like Coiny did earlier today. “You’ve been a... bit off. Are you sick? Is something bothering you? It’s okay if you don’t want to tell Coiny or Firey anything, but you can always confide in me to handle your worries. I’ll always be here if you need me.”
Was that her troubles was affecting her friends as well? She didn’t feel ill at all, but she couldn’t deny the worries that have been plaguing her for days. But it wouldn’t solve anything if she kept them to herself. It’s just she simply didn’t know how to bring it up. It seemed Pin, Coiny, and Firey knew what was going on; would they laugh at her for being stupid?
“Okay, this won’t make sense but... I don’t know what an omega is.” With how long it’s been since she was found all on her lonesome, her theory of this being a dream shrank and shrank. It felt like this would be her new reality and she had to rebuild relationships with people she used to know. “It’s really hard to explain but I just randomly woke up one day and here I was and no one’s really been explaining anything to me so all this time I’ve been worried that maybe I’m actually a bad thing or something?”
She couldn’t help but word vomit.
But Pin listened and waited until she was done. Leafy saw no judgment from her, only reassurance. “That is quite the tale,” she said. “But the omega thing, it’s no bad thing. In fact, it’s very good. You’re a special type, Leafy. It’s why we work so hard to keep you happy and safe. If you’re happy, we’re happy. If you aren’t, we aren’t.”
The thumbtack planted a kiss above her eyes. It instantly made Leafy gooey with comfort on the inside.
“I might not be able to take you back to where you came from, but I can at least make you comfortable while you’re here.” Pin purred so warmly that Leafy couldn’t help but snuggle up to her. The thumbtack smelled so... nice to her, so comforting and relaxing that she didn’t want to be let go of.
“If I’m a good thing, why can’t I go out alone then?” asked Leafy softly, eager to have all of her questions answered.
There was a look of worry in Pin’s face. “I’ll give it to you straight; not everyone is so kind with an omega. So that’s why either me or the other two keep an eye on you. You wouldn’t want someone else walking up to you and forcing you to do something you don’t want to, right?”
The leaf shook her head.
The thumbtack then smiled. “Good. That’s why we keep tabs on where you go; we both don’t want anything bad happening after all.”
It felt nice having someone looking after her. After all, she was freaking out about having no one when she first ended up here. If she had ignored Firey, she could have ended up in who knows where. She was glad she hadn’t been so stubborn back then because now she had three friends fretting over her at all hours of the day!
But that left the whole unmarked thing. She still hadn’t forgotten how they had to make sure she didn’t belong to anybody else before keeping her. It seemed to bother Pin the most back then so surely she must know the intricacies about it. “Do you think I’m still unmarked?”
The question alone made Pin’s cheeks turn a shade of rose. “Guess that’s an intimate sort of question,” she thought to herself.
“I don’t think so,” answered Pin, still keeping her composure, “I know so. You don’t smell like you belong to anybody yet-”
Leafy interrupted her with another question. “Okay, so how do I do that? Belonging to someone?”
The thumbtack was growing increasingly flustered. Green beads of sweat formed on her brow as she nervously laughed. “You’re really pulling my leg,” she said jokingly. “Okay. When an alpha and omega love each other very much, they... uh... er... y’know... things happen...” She was really struggling for words and it made Leafy so ashamed of putting her in such a tough spot. “...Whatever, the point being is that the omega is no longer free to other alphas or kinds in general. They just stayed paired with the alpha that... damn it... originally... oh my god... mates with them. There, make sense? Because I am not going to struggle through that again.”
That... was not the answer she was expecting.
There was a brief moment of silence between them. Leafy was mostly just processing the information and she was pretty sure Pin as quiet out of sheer embarrassment at what she explained. But it really helped put things in perspective.
“Pin?” she said softly.
“... Yes, Leafy?”
“Are you three all alphas?”
“Not exactly,” sighed Pin. “Firey and Coiny, there’s like deltas or whatever. They’re ‘alpha lite’ as I like to call 'em.”
Leafy shifted, looking up at the object that held her. Pin was unable to meet her gaze anymore. “What about you?”
The thumbtack was still dead silent. Leafy could feel that she was antsy. She let her instincts guide her in snuggling up against her. Why exactly was this first thing she came up with, she didn’t know. It must be an omega thing now.
It broke her. “Yeah, yeah, I’m an alpha. But I’m not trying to... take advantage of you or anything. It seriously hurts us to see a type like yours in any kind of distress so it’s best that I and those other two take care of you.” Pin shifted, her hand rubbing softly across Leafy’s back. “Claiming or no claiming, I’m going to look after you regardless. I’m serious.”
She wondered if she could be certain about them keeping their distance from her. They still had been kind towards her, being there when she needed them to be. Even being held by Coiny or Pin made her feel so safe with an inner voice urging her to simply let them have her. But Leafy still needed some time to think about all this before jumping into a large commitment such as this.
The leaf was trusting that they’d understand.