A/N: This chapter is so short. I'm sorry. I'll maybe update twice this week to make up for it.

XXX

Cloud buried his face in Birdy's feathers and hugged her. The smell of chocobo was far better than the ocean. He didn't like the smell or the sounds or the way the floor moved under him. There were so many people on the ship, and the chocobo stalls way down below deck seemed like the one place that wasn't full of activity.

"Are you okay?"

Cloud looked up at the strange voice to see a man with shoulder length black hair and a dark suit. "I—l—"

"Feeling a bit overwhelmed?"

Cloud gave a small nod. The man crouched down, and without thinking, Cloud leaned towards him slightly. He smelled similar to Sephiroth, but something was noticeably different as well. "Are you an alpha?"

"I am." He brushed aside his hair to reveal the scent gland on his neck. It looked like there was a scar in the shape of a bite mark over it.

"Are you mated?"

The man smiled and nodded before letting his hair fall again. "I am. Are you Cloud?"

"Yes. You know Sephiroth?"

"I do. Would you like me to take you to him?"

"No …" Being around Sephiroth had been confusing lately, and he was tired. It made him feel better, but it also made him feel other things. He couldn't always cope with the warmth that would pool in his belly sometimes, making him hard and wet even though he wasn't near his heat. Sephiroth said it wasn't bad, but it was still embarrassing and made him feel dirty.

"Would you like to come sit with me for a while and see if that helps you feel a little less overwhelmed?"

The alpha shifted forwards and held out his hand. When Cloud touched it, it was all he could do to not throw himself into the man's arms. The feeling of comfort was immediate, and it came without the strange feelings of attraction and want. Arms wrapped around him and hoisted him up off the floor of the stall, cradling him close as he was carried somewhere else. There was still so much noise, and he could feel the swaying of the ship, but he was able to tune it out until the alpha sat down in a large room with no one in it and the curtains pulled closed.

"Bit better?"

Cloud nodded as he nuzzled into the alpha's embrace. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. My name is Tseng, and I work for Shinra as well. That's how I know Sephiroth."

"Are you a SOLDIER too?"

"No." Gentle hands rubbed up and down his back and side. "I'm a Turk. Our division looks for omegas like you who are in bad situations and brings them back to Midgar. I'm sorry we never found you, though I'm very glad that Sephiroth did."

"Me too." There was a whole division dedicated to looking for omegas?

"I'll bet it must be pretty confusing, though. Being alone with an unmated alpha for so long when you need to mate is tough at the best of times. Sephiroth said that you've been through a lot and are pretty uncomfortable with your sexuality."

"He told you?"

"No details," Tseng said soothingly and stroked his head. "Just the basics that we need to know so we can make sure you get the right help and don't accidentally hurt you further. Anything else you want to share is at your discretion, and no one you choose to tell will spread it around."

Cloud fell silent, thinking about that and just taking comfort in the alpha's presence.

"Can you vibrate like Sephiroth?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"Sephiroth makes his chest vibrate and makes a strange crooning noise whenever I'm upset. I just wondered if other alphas can do it."

"Oh." A brief rumble emitted from Tseng's chest, then he stopped and ruffled his hair. "How often is whenever you're upset?"

Cloud shrugged. "I dunno. I get scared a lot or get caught up thinking about things I don't want to remember."

Tseng sighed and nodded. "You can tell him to stop. Things like that work well in an emergency, but it's better if you learn to deal with being scared or upset without having someone controlling you."

"Controlling?"

"An alpha's purr and croon basically put a damper on higher brain function. It makes your instincts take over, which is why it works so well when you're upset or panicking. If you're with an alpha, your base instincts will always tell you that he's protecting you and you're therefore safe, which is true for the most part. The more often the same alpha does it, especially one that you trust, the more effective it is. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's important to not just shut down and not deal with the problem. And it's also good to not always associate purring with something bad. It's a great way to bond with your mate or even a potential mate, but if he always does it when you're upset, then it starts to become a not very nice thing."

"I didn't know that."

"That's why I told you. There's nothing wrong with not knowing something. I think that Sephiroth might not know it, either, so I'm going to talk to him. He doesn't actually have much experience with omegas, especially not in a situation like this where he's been the only one caring for you."

"He doesn't?" Sephiroth knew so much, though. And had done so much. Sometimes it felt like he knew everything one could possibly know.

Tseng shook his head. "He's got his instincts, the basic training that all SOLDIERs have, and some knowledge that he's picked up in passing, but that's it. He hasn't wanted to actively seek out a mate yet, so his contact with unmated omegas has been quite limited apart from the occasional flings."

Cloud couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. "So he doesn't want a mate."

Tseng chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not so sure about that. He put in a request to be stationed in Midgar until you're mated. That's pretty much a dead giveaway that he wants to throw his hat in the ring."

"Hat in the ring?" He had never heard that phrase before.

"That he wants to be available to mate with you if you want him."

"Really?"

Tseng shrugged again, but gave him a teasing smile. "So what was the trouble earlier? Can you tell me about it?"

"Nothing was wrong," he explained. "I just … overwhelmed, like you said. Everything's so different and noisy and big. And every time the floor moves, I want to throw up."

"It is pretty overwhelming, isn't it? I can't imagine what it must be like for you, seeing all this for the first time. It will get better, I promise, but it's smart to have some places to go to feel safe when it gets to be too much. Do you like the chocobos?"

Cloud nodded. "They always stayed with me while we were travelling here, and they helped me when I was going into heat and afterwards when I got upset while I was alone."

"Good. I'll tell Sephiroth to make sure you know where to find them when you get to Midgar. And you can come to me as well. Our cabin is right next door to yours while we're on the ship, and I'll show you where I live and work when we meet again. My mate and I have a detour to make before we go back, but I usually stay in Midgar these days, so I'm pretty available."

"You stay in Midgar? I thought you'd have to travel around if you look for omegas."

"I'm in charge of coordinating rescues and auctions, and facilitating settling new omegas in Midgar. My mate's job requires him to be in Midgar most of the time, so I have to stay as well. It's not very often that he lets my leash slip a bit."

Cloud frowned in confusion. First omegas with jobs, and now omegas with jobs that had priority over their alphas'?

"Discussing how you'll coordinate your lives is an extremely important part of choosing a mate," Tseng said. "When I was courting my mate, he made it clear that I had to be willing to change the way I worked if we were going to be together. I wasn't sure at first, but when this position opened up, I decided to go for it. I knew I'd still be doing valuable work in Midgar, and I love him enough that giving up fieldwork was worth it. I know you've got such a short time to choose and you probably don't have any idea yet of what you might like to do, but it's important to keep your individual future and lifestyle preferences in mind as you're exploring your options. You deserve to be happy and fulfilled."

They had been sitting quietly for a while longer when the door opened. Cloud looked up to see Sephiroth and a blond stranger in a white suit.

"See? I told you that nobody gets lost on Tseng's watch," the stranger said. "He's been having fucking fits. And no, it's fine, don't get off my mate."

"I was just worried!" Sephiroth snapped. "That's not unreasonable!"

Cloud tried to scramble up. He'd managed to make both Sephiroth and Tseng's mate angry. Strong arms pulled him back down and pinned him to Tseng's chest as he let out a loud, threatening growl.

"Both of you, drop it. Sephiroth, he doesn't need your permission every time he leaves your sight, and Rufus, you know damn well he's no threat to you, so don't even fake being jealous."

"I'm sorry," Cloud whispered, but Tseng just stroked his hair.

"No apologies from you. I, for one, have had a very pleasant time cuddling with someone who doesn't bitch constantly about the colour of the baseboards."

"They are going to have to be redone," the blond man said with a huff as he poured a drink and sat down. "I can't live like that. And why are we sitting in the dark? Am I allowed to open the curtains in my own cabin?"

"Is it okay to let a little bit of light in?" Tseng asked. At Cloud's nod, the blond man went over to the windows and threw open the curtains, flooding the room with the afternoon sunlight. They both blinked in the sudden brightness.

"Rufus, President and CEO of the Neo Shinra Electric Power Company." A fancy card was shoved under Cloud's nose. It had a pretty gold design in the corner, and he ran his fingers over it, liking the texture of it. What the omega had said slowly dawned on him and he looked up in awe.

"P—president?"

"And CEO." Rufus sat down again and crossed his foot over his knee. "Welcome aboard, Cloud. Anyone hurts you again, tell me and I'll have someone fuck them up. You're safe now."

Tseng smiled at his dumbfounded expression. "Do you want to go sit with Sephiroth? I think he might need a hug."

Cloud looked towards Sephiroth apologetically. The alpha had taken a seat further away from them and was looking uncharacteristically chagrined. He slipped out of Tseng's lap when Sephiroth held out his hand.

"He needs some dramamine from the dispensary," Tseng said casually as he was enveloped in Sephiroth's embrace.

"Seasickness?"

"Mmm hmm. And I need to talk to you in private at some point soon."

Sephiroth stroked his hair gently. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I wouldn't be letting him near you if you had. Just some things you need to be aware of."

"Okay, I'll go get him the medicine now. Maybe we can talk after dinner?"

Tseng nodded, so Sephiroth took him by the hand and led him out of the room.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out as soon as the door shut behind them.

"No, Cloud, you didn't do anything wrong. I would have liked to have known where you were, but I knew you'd be safe on the ship. I didn't need to get upset like I did."

"I just went down to see the chocobos. That's where Tseng found me."

Sephiroth chuckled and nodded. "I clearly checked there too late, then. I'm glad he found you, and I'm sorry I didn't notice that you weren't feeling good." He paused for a moment. "You don't need my permission to do what you like, but until we get you settled in Midgar, do you think you could let me know when you're going to disappear? Just so I don't worry?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't mean … and Tseng got mad at you …"

"He did, didn't he?" Sephiroth laughed loudly and squeezed Cloud's hand. "I've never been scolded like that before. Looks like we both get to have some new experiences."

Cloud looked up in shock as Sephiroth continued to laugh.

"Sorry, it's not that I think what he was mad about is anything to laugh at. It was just really shocking for me." When that failed to clear up his confusion, he explained further. "I'm the highest ranked SOLDIER. People don't tell me off. They just don't. They follow my orders. But SOLDIER rank doesn't mean anything when it comes to behaviour around omegas. As a mated alpha, and as head of the Turks with lots of experience working with rescued omegas, Tseng has significant rank over me, a lowly unmated alpha who doesn't really know what he's doing. And so now I have the experience of being both scolded and growled at. It probably won't be the last time, either. At least he didn't bite me. That would have been embarrassing."

They entered a small room with a padded table and a bunch of drawers full of bottles. Sephiroth spent a couple minutes looking, then read the instructions on one of them before handing over a pill and a cup of water. He poured a bunch more of the pills into a smaller bottle and put it in his pocket. "That should help with your seasickness, and I'll give you more as you need them. Do you want to go rest in our cabin until you're feeling better?"

"Yeah."

Sephiroth led him back to where they had come from, but opened the door next to the one he had been in with Tseng. He could hear noises from beyond the other door, and he blushed as he realized what they were. It hadn't seemed like Rufus was going into heat when they met, but it certainly sounded he was in the middle of it now.

"The president of Shinra is really an omega?"

Sephiroth nodded. "He certainly is. And his half-brother, the director of SOLDIER, is as well. Being an omega doesn't have to stop you from doing anything you want."