A few hours before

Akira just wanted to check the Palace before he went back to his new home. Morgana had explained a lot in these two years. And he had managed to get rid of a few small distortions even in his handicapped state.

This was because the Metaverse could be entered wherever. One just needed to walk to the underground in the other world. And since it wasn't like there were any other humans in there, he could walk around just fine. Of course, he had to make sure to go when no one would miss him. Therefore, he kept going at night, while the others were sleeping. No one would disturb him then.

Though, it wasn't like he got any visitors in the daytime either. Because everyone was affected by his Pheromones and he couldn't do anything. No one could, not even the scientists. Eventually everyone gave up and left him alone. And Akira was glad. It could have been worse.

What if they had forced him to take a mate? And they surely would have if he had been of age. The public belief was, that Omegas were to be pitied and were to be bound as soon as possible. That was because after being bonded, the Pheromones stopped so that was a legit option. Mated Omegas usually found even a decent job and took off for their, now more predictable and regular heats. Their Alphas were also legally excused during most of that time and thus no problems arose.

Unbound Omegas instead, had to suffer harsh criticism and prejudices.

They should not be allowed to do anything and kept away, so that they were not disturbing anyone. Because their heats were unpredictable and could force involuntary Alphas to make them their mate through their strong Pheromones.

But what about the Omegas themselves? No one wanted to mate someone they didn't like or even know. They lived in fear of and for themselves, hiding away while in heat and enduring the pain and lust in seclusion. Hoping no Alpha was near and they could life another while being not forced to submit.

And he didn't even begin to describe the male Omegas sufferings.

Suppressants helped of course. But not for all of them. Firstly, they were expensive. Secondly, on some Omegas they didn't have any effect. Thirdly, they didn't actually suppress the heats only the Pheromones. It was possible to suppress whole heat cycles. But it was dangerous because the body suffered several setbacks if it did not go through the natural order. Once or twice was okay but much more than that could be hurtful. So, to keep oneself healthy, the heats were required. Nature wanted to remind them, that not everything could be controlled it seemed.

Akira shuddered. The chief of the children's home would not subject underage children to this. He was at least decent enough to give one freedom until one grew eighteen. But he had done other things.

The raven had managed to find out some secrets the Orphanage tried to keep under radar and it was gruesome. The chief sold the Omegas over eighteen to the highest bidder. Of course, the authorities didn't know this and when one was adopted, he had to let them leave.

But most of the others were forced to bond with Alphaholes. Because who else would think of buying a human being? Who else were in desperate need for an heir?

And even the male Omegas were sold. Not for their non-existent fertility. But because they were much more resilient and, while in heat, quite willing. It was a nice variety to have for fun. Naturally only unbound Alphas or Betas could afford this but since the male Omegas were the rarest of them all, there wasn't a problem in needs. Even though, sometimes the chief would deliberately look for them for special orders.

Akira shook his head and forced himself to stop thinking. His head snapped up at Morgana's questioning expression and looked at the castle in awe. He knew that it sprang from a distorted heart, but it was beautifully built regardless. And it was his first time seeing a real palace too. Because until now they had only encountered people at the beginning of distortions.

"...it's really grand, isn't it?"

"Yeah. The shadows are looking like armours too. But you are ready for this! I'm here too." Morgana had switched to his mascot-like appearance. It amazed Akira every time. But since his smell didn't change, he didn't care. Since the accident the raven focused more on his sense of smell to differentiate people. Because then he could also tell of whom he should be careful of. He nodded.

"We should check in with Soujiro and then come back. I don't wanna worry… my new …" He couldn't say it but Mona didn't need to hear it.

"Yeah, let's go. At least you know now what to expect. We can take our time after all." Mona grinned and jumped back onto Akira's shoulder. It had become one of his favourite places the last two years. Especially in his normal cat form. Too bad that he had to hide while the black-hair was in school. And he would go back into the bag after they left here because he didn't want to cause Akira trouble.

He closed the app and the female voice called out again before they were transported back without delay.

?: Returning to the real world. Welcome back.

While hiding inside Akira's bag, Morgana scanned their surroundings with his eyes. He knew that his companion was afraid of Alphas and the cat could see why.

After being with Akira for almost two years, he had finally given in to the pestering by Morgana and told him what had happened. From this point onward, the cat was much more protective. He had had a feeling that it was something like that but hearing it from the expressionless boy in a scared voice had shocked him. He had thought the raven was a boy who knew who he was, without giving in to others. He only did what he wanted to do and kept his thoughts to himself. He was friendly towards Morgana - his friend. But to others cold and empty.

At first it had been different. He had been open and tried to talk to the rare persons who dared to visit him. But they always had to wear masks and didn't talk much about anything other than how to keep himself in check. To put it another way, they blamed him for his strong and never-ending Pheromones.

Slowly Akira began to withdraw and eventually became like this. He only talked if necessary and it didn't matter to him, what others thought. Because no one cared about him either way.

Morgana thought that it was very lucky indeed, that they had met while he was still in the hospital. Like this he had one friend and had the chance to get more of them eventually. Would've he been alone, who knows what would have happened. Maybe he would refuse to talk altogether. The cat was used to this but others could be put off by his cold behaviour.

When they arrived at LeBlanc Morgana watched the exchange between Soujiro and Akira and smiled inwardly. Finally, the boy had some luck. Boss would treat him right and the black furred cat hoped he could lure him out of his self-made shell.

Because when it came down to it, Akira was a caring and thoughtful person. This he could tell from the first few weeks they knew each other and how he treated his friend.

As soon as Akira closed the door behind him Morgana jumped out of the schoolbag and shook himself.

"Can't you get a bigger one?" He grumbled. It was tight and uncomfortable. He wanted to stroll around normally too. But he knew he couldn't.

Akira, half naked already, looked at him from the cabinet which he used as his wardrobe and shook his head.

"Regulations. Don't need to stand out more than necessary." With that he took out his turtleneck and jeans and placed his glasses on the wardrobe so they wouldn't bother him when changing. Morgana stared at the black collar on the boy's neck. He was lucky that the school uniform kept this thing hidden. A question popped into his mind and he voiced it promptly.

"Why do you wear the collar even though you want to hide your Dynamic?" The boy only took this thing off while showering. Not even in his sleep he let go of it.

Morgana watched as the boy's expression grew dark and saw him murmur something.

Even as a cat, Morgana couldn't hear what he had said.

"What?"

"...last present… from my parents. I have it since before it happened… and I don't …." Morgana froze.

"I'm sorry." But Akira only shook his head and then continued to dress.

That explained at least this little detail. He had wondered for a while now but somehow always missed the opportunity to ask. But now he wished he hadn't.

Akira had been a wrack after the accident. Morgana had found him shortly after. But nobody had helped the boy to cope. If he had been an Alpha or even a Beta he wouldn't have received such treatment. After he had pulled himself back, Akira swore to change this unjust outlook from most of the population. Morgana was inspired by this and stuck with him.

Since the boy was the only one who could understand him, he would have stayed anyway. But he didn't need to tell the raven this.

When his companion was ready, he jumped onto his shoulder and they went on their way back to the school. Morgana could tell that Akira enjoyed the possibility to walk around leisurely in the town with no need to worry because of his Pheromones.

On their way his doctor came across them and checked in with the boy shortly. But she had to go to a girl called Miwa-chan and therefore said her goodbyes. After that, nothing happened until they got back to the palace. Today would only serve to explore and find out the layout of the palace. When they actually took on the enemies they had to stock up on their weapons. But Morgana wanted to set both their minds at ease first so they went in immediately.

x

The palace was an interesting place. A whole lot of loot and the shadows lurked everywhere. But it would not be easy to find Kamoshida. Even after hours of searching the place, they did not meet the guy. But they found a first map and a secure way into it, so it was a win regardless. The cat was satisfied.

Maybe this was better as they could get used to the situation.

"Good job Joker. Let's keep the pace up." Morgana said while stretching. As they needed to crouch down a lot in order to hide, both their muscles were sore.

They left the Metaverse and made their way back. It was already dark, that said, they maybe had exaggerated their first visit. The mascot scolded himself. He should have noticed that it was this late already. Akira should not be on his way alone at this time. Yes, his Pheromones were now in check. And he trained and was stronger than many Betas and even some Alphas. But he was an Omega nonetheless. He could go into heat and then even the medicine wouldn't work. Should it follow his rhythm, he shouldn't have one until the next month. But with unbounded Omega's no one could say for sure.

"Hurry up, Akira. I'm hungry." The cat wanted to distract the boy from the fact that they were almost alone on the road. But his stomach growled just then and he laughed embarrassed. Akira's lips twitched too.

"Yeah, me too." And he began to jog. They had to get the train and that was one of the worst things on his way. The tight space paired with this much humans and scents was almost too much for the contact deprived black-hair. And it was exhausting for Morgana too. He had to keep himself from wriggling while being squished by bodies. Luckily it was already late and the train wasn't as packed as usual. They even got a seat and got to Jongen-Jaya without any trouble.

They quickly made their way out of the station and Morgana swiftly climbed onto Akira's shoulder. Now that they were almost home, he thought it would be okay and Akira ruffled his head affectionately.

"Do you think your new guardian is still at Leblanc?" Mona asked while looking at the second-hand shop. They should check it out soon too. It could have unexpected and useful treasures among the junk.

The boy shook his head and turned onto the designated alley. The shop was now in sight and the cat could feel the exhaustion creeping into his tired muscles. All he wanted now was a good and long rest. After seeing the sign showing "Closed" the cat knew that his companion was right. Soujiro would not be here anymore.

The juvenile took out the keys and opened the door carefully then made one step and suddenly froze on the spot. At first Morgana was confused until he realized there was another person in the room. He observed him carefully but the blonde didn't do anything alarming. It looked like he knew the black-hair.

"You know him?" Asked Mona while jumping onto the nearest stool. He didn't receive an answer but it seemed that something had clicked in his friend in a positive way. So, he stayed and watched. Of course, he would protect the boy if necessary. But for now, he would wait and see.

Akira enjoyed their exploration of the palace. But after he realized how late it was, his mood worsened. Now he had to walk back in the darkness. But it was like this already, so he had to endure it. The boy would just try to get home as fast as possible. Next time he needed to pay more attention to the time. It seemed that Morgana too noticed his blunder and tried to keep him busy until they reached home. Soon they took their leave from the train station. Away from the many scents and bodies.

They quarrelled a bit about what they should eat while walking towards Leblanc but Akira only wanted to go to bed already. He was dead tired after the exhausting trial and error in the palace. They had wanted to find the ideal way inside, without getting caught and only after a few bad entrances they had found one. It connected to an unused room so it was perfect.

He sighed tired, took his key and opened the door. He took a step forward and then an unknown smell reached him. The boy immediately stopped in his tracks and stared at the blonde stranger. Fear welled up inside of him. But the other boy didn't move an inch and Akira searched for a weapon or something on the other juvenile. His scent was fantastic too. And somehow nostalgic. Like ramen and sunshine. The raven couldn't find anything dangerous, he was empty handed. After a short while, the blonde relaxed a bit and stepped into the light with a crooked smile. He never let his gaze waver away from Akira's eyes.

"Hey Akira, long time no see." Now he could see the others face and something in the black-hair stirred. He had the feeling, that he knew this boy. He concentrated hard on that far away feeling and furrowed his brows in confusion. He never had experienced such a familiar feeling in the last two years. And the scent made him shudder so familiar it seemed to be.

He was so deep in thoughts, that he didn't even realize that Morgana wasn't on his shoulder anymore.

They stared into each other's eyes and after a while something came up from the depths of his consciousness and showed him a dazzling smile while rice stuck onto his cheeks. Then another picture formed in his mind, this boy concentrating on questions from school while the black-hair helped him. Both of them playing at the climbing frame on the playground. Eating curry together. The scent was the same. Comforting. Protective.

More and more memories like this filled the ravens mind. More unknown people popping up in his thoughts. Among them this Ann person he had met earlier. With them was another girl, a brunette with short hair. They ate ramen together and laughed because of the bickering between the brunet and the blonde. Then another memory with them talking about a trip. Who was going? He couldn't grasp it. Soujiro and Tae were in there too, as was a silver haired woman - the sister of the brunet.

And even a strange, blue haired boy. He had… stalked this girl called Ann. But why remember him? It confused him at this moment. It was only a fleeting thing between all the fun he had with these three people, but he remembered the earnest smell of this blue-hair.

Akira wasn't sure that he got all this right. Didn't want these memories to be false but could he trust them? Could he trust the fragments that popped up? He wasn't sure.

His body began to shake from all the excitement and stress the new memories caused. He didn't realize that Morgana called out to him in a desperate, worrying voice nor that he almost jumped at the stranger.

He also didn't notice that the blonde slowly crept closer. Or that his glasses almost slid down his nose. All he had before his eyes were memories. And then something more.

"Ryu…ji?" He asked. And then another flood of memories overwhelmed him.

His vision turned black. The last thing he heard was the concerned voice of his friend, calling out his name.

Then the darkness consumed him.