damia chose not to post this under her name so i will. this story is also on ao3.

Blood, that's all I see. Blood, then Dolarhyde, the Red fucking Dragon. For all his puffed up ambitions, all he amounted to was a busted up pile of flesh and blood. Fuck, am I shaking? Whose panting breaths are those? God, that was amazing! Where is Hannibal? I'm pretty sure we were fighting together. I slowly stand on wobbly legs and turn from the man we killed.

My god, we fucking killed together! I guess Hannibal finally got what he wanted after all. Well, after the sex of course. Couldn't even enjoy the afterglow before Francis here barges in and goes on about his "becoming" and attacking us. Well, at least he waited for us to get dressed. Still an asshole though.

Still trying to get my breath under control, I look at Hannibal, my new lover and murder accomplice. He just looks at me, covered in blood, looking radiant and just a little smug, the bastard. He's panting as well, but not as much, since I assume he had a little more time to compose himself. I stumble over to him and he catches me, his hands cradling my face like so many times before; my hands gripping his shoulders, trying to stay upright. I close my eyes as he caresses my face then pulls me in, sharing a tired kiss. Both of us exhausted from the fight.

We soon part and then embrace fully, Hannibal rubbing soothing hands down my trembling back and sides, me just clinging to him. I feel a laugh bubbling deep inside my chest, waiting to spill out. I soon hear him murmuring into my ear as he inhales my scent.

"Sweet Will, beautiful Will. You were amazing, you have finally become what you were meant to be."

I just hum as my body finally calms down enough to notice that we are precariously close to the edge of the cliff, the wind blowing strong as a storm threatens to roll in and sweep us away. But I can't move, I don't want to, I want time to stop and live in this moment with him forever. Shit, am I horny again? What the hell, maybe we could fuck on the Dragons' corpse. I've already thrown all my morals out the window anyway; why not throw some kinks into the mix as well?

I pull out of his embrace, Hannibal releasing me only to arms length, hands still fastened to my elbows. We just admire each other, breath finally evening out; just when I find my voice again, Hannibal shouts, having to raise his voice over the rising wind.

"Well, now that the danger has passed, let us go back to the house and get cleaned up. I must say that we have more than earned some rest. We will need to disappear soon though, I doubt Jack will let us be for long."

I tilt my head and smirk at him as he starts tugging us away from the cliff.

"Aw, and here I was hoping to add insult to injury and reaffirm our relationship on his still warm and bleeding corpse."

Still walking, he turns his head towards me and lifts a mordant brow.

"The hazards of fornicating upon the deceased not withstanding, I doubt we will be very comfortable if the weather continues to worsen as it has been over the course of the fight."

"Tight ass."

There is just the slightest upturn to his lips as he turns back to the path before us. Just then, the sky opens up and icy cold rain starts hammering down over us. I grimace and start running towards the light of the house we left earlier. I barely hear Hannibal shout at me as our hands slip apart. I try to stay focused as the rain starts blocking the light out as well as blurring the surroundings together in a dark grey howling mess.

I figure I'm just about there when I feel the ground slip under my right foot, and a freezing hand slips over my left wrist. I think gravity won out in the brief seconds I teetered on the edge, because the next thing I know is a strong gust of wind and I'm tipping to the right completely. As I feel myself falling, I barely register being wrapped in Hannibal's arms as I look up to see crashing waves falling down upon us.

Oh.

Shit.

I jerk and gasp as I struggle in the dark as something suffocates me. After a few moments I manage to kick free of the blankets I was apparently wrapped in. Was it a dream? I don't hurt nearly enough for having fallen off a cliff.

My breathing calms down and I look around, well try to anyway. It appears to be nighttime, and I can't see much apart from a lamp that is perched on the nightstand. I lean over and fumble for the knob before freezing. Either it's way too dark or I'm going crazy, because it looks like my arm is way smaller than it should be. Shaking my head, I turn the lamp on and look around.

I then look around again; because there is no way that I am here, unless someone recreated my childhood home in Louisiana. Maybe I did go crazy. I shake my head then swing my legs over the edge of the bed, freezing again before lurching up and rushing into the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. From what I can see, because my chest is level with the rim of the sink, I am exactly the same age as I was before Dad moved us to New Orleans. I shakily take in the wide blue eyes, pale sickly skin, and badly cut curls that I definitely shouldn't be seeing again. No old faded scars or fresh wounds from a fight I'm sure I just had, just a scrawny pale child who looks absolutely terrified.

Double shit.

I'm sitting on the bed when dawn filters into the filthy trailer window. I blankly stare out at the scenery while still trying to figure out what was going on. It's been a few days since I woke up drenched in my own sweat and, apparently, 28 years younger. The day I woke up was rather uneventful, all things considered. Dad went to work at the shop, like he usually did back then, and I pretty much piddled about the trailer trying to find clues as to what was going on and hoping that it was all a dream. The second day I had to go to school, and I stopped thinking I was just dreaming while everything I knew tilted on its axis.

Here's what I know so far. It's 1990 and I'm 13 again, which means I have puberty to look forward to again. Great. Things don't stop there, oh no; I didn't just go back in time, but it seems that I may in some weird, fucked up alternate reality. I probably wouldn't have thought this except for some gossip I over heard from some teachers that I never found very memorable the first time around.

When my alarm chirps loudly, I sigh and close my eyes to the image of the grimy, rusted trailer that sits outside my window. I open them back up and reach over to turn it off, finally getting up and getting ready for the day. Where is the library again? There is no way I'm going to school while I have no clue what's going on. I need to read up and see what, exactly, is different about this place. Integrating into a new world will be much harder if I don't know things that are supposedly common sense here. The first thing I'm looking into is this alpha, beta, whatever stuff the teachers were talking about, and what presenting has to do with it.

After going through the morning motions, I pick up my small ragged backpack and make sure my notebook and pencils are in it, since I don't want dad thinking something's up and I want to take notes. I then grab my premade sandwich and head out the door. Pausing to get my bearings, I head out of the trailer park and to the road, turning right. I hope this is the right direction, I have to walk everywhere and I never did have the best stamina before I joined the force.

It takes a little over an hour to get to the small, barely maintained building that, from my memory, only housed old newspapers and a small collection of encyclopedias and various worn out novels. Since the Internet is still in it's early stages and a small town like this won't have the money for a computer of any kind, I will have to personally go through as many newspapers as possible as well as skim the encyclopedias. It will take most of the day at minimum, and I may have to come back on the weekend to look at anything I have missed. As long as I get back home at a reasonable hour, dad shouldn't know I skipped and I can go back to school with a better idea of the goings on around here.

I slowly push open the surprisingly well-oiled door and quickly look around. Not seeing anyone, I quickly dart over to where I believe the books are and grab the first three volumes of the partially worn encyclopedias. I then go to a secluded corner I spotted earlier and sit down against the wall to begin reading, starting with the A's. As I open the first book, I skim the pages not finding much different until I come across the word Alpha. And now the words of those women make a whole lot more sense.

From what I overheard, the class clown in trailer 3 just presented as an Alpha even though everyone expected him to be a Beta since both his parents were Betas. At the time, this conversation made no sense because no one in my knowledge are dogs and operate on pack dynamics; and they sure as hell weren't referring to the Greek alphabet. Not only did I time travel, but I also managed to wind up in a world where people had not one, but two genders. I slam the open book against my forehead and groan. Just fuck me sideways why don't you, not only do I have to go through puberty again, I can't even rely on my past experience since I may have to contend with a whole new set of hormones and anatomy.

I shudder and then remove my face from the innocent book, flipping to the entry on Betas and locating the correct tome with the entry on Omegas. Might as well see what I may have to prepare for. After reading everything those books have to offer I can summarize the contents into a rather simple mental list.

One, Alphas make up around 30% of the total world population and are the most aggressive of the genders. They have a very particular scent that is secreted from special glands in the body that help them to intimidate others, soothe and comfort a mate or family members, as well as help attract a mate. The glands at the base of the throat must be bitten to form a bond with their mate, which only works if it is an Omega they are paired with. It seems this bite must be re applied regularly or the bond will fade over time. Alphas can go into something called a rut when their mate is receptive or goes into heat and have something called a knot at the base of their sexual organ to ensure conception after intercourse. They are generally bigger built and the males tend to have more body hair than their Beta counterparts. I know for sure that I am not one of these just by considering my personality alone. I don't even want to know how an Alpha female works.

Up next are the Betas. I personally think that's what I am since they are relatively normal by my old world's standards. They have a very neutral scent compared to the other two genders and are mildly tempered. Not much else to say about them other than they don't have mating glands and make up most of the population. They still have scent glands but the scent tends to be weak and generally unappealing to the other genders.

Last are the Omegas. These seem to be what many would call the "fairer" sex. Physically, they are smaller and weaker than their two counterparts, and over all very feminine, with soft features and very little body hair. This includes the males, who seem to be built for child-rearing like their female counterparts. They have a unique scent like the Alphas, and have glands just like the Alphas as well. They make up less of the population than the Alphas and are the most fertile of the sexes. The thing that struck me the most was that not only females, but the males can also give birth, though there are far more female Omegas than male. Again, I don't really want to know how that works. Other than periodic heats and submissive behaviour, there isn't much else to mention about them.

I heave out a breath and shake my head, my curls bouncing against my skull. When was my hair last cut? Oh well, doesn't really matter. I need to see what time it is before I decide what to read next. I huff my way up form the floor, my legs groaning and seizing from the awful position I was in, and walk over to the clock on the wall. Looks like I barely have enough time to get home just a bit later than normal. I go back and pick up the books I had piled on the floor and place them back in their places before hurrying back home.

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