Chapter 6 - Omega

Edited: 12/01/2017

Posted: 4/2016

Riyo never remembered much of her time in somnum, even when her mind had been sound.

Now any memories she had of her healing time were like dreams and hallucinations when she woke.

Some pieces were vivid, replayed in excruciating detail. Some memories were cloudy or faded like they happened years ago rather than days or weeks. And some were surreal, drifting away or slipping and sliding around until she couldn't remember what was the truth and what had been imagined in the beast's mind-flashes of emotion to tell the tale. The beast was so driven by instinct it was hard to tell reality from its perception of the world.

So when Riyo came to in a freezing castle and to a familiar aura from the Before, she is confused. Very confused. She had made a solemn promise to herself to never talk to the hag again.

Then the memories started. There were flashes of terrifying images of her pit in the strangest danger from the last few months. Fighting Mihawk, fighting bounty hunters, fighting fishmen, Alpha on an execution platform, fighting a logia marine, Old Omega with a massive whale, killer rabbits, dinosaurs, giants, climbing a vertical mountain…she can't decide what's real or not.

The Grand Line was weird, but that was a little much even for her. If that had all actually happened...well. She could have handled her wake up from somnum better.

A lot better.

She finds Nami first, sleeping in the room next to hers. Riyo is wearing a set of simple white cotton clothes, baggy pants and a long sleeved shirt that someone must have dressed her in. Somehow whoever it was knew not to put socks on her. Overall the outfit was comfortable and functional in the cool air and Riyo wanted to rip it off because only the hag would know all of that.

The stone is cold on her soles as she darts over to Nami's bed, thinking nothing of climbing onto the covers to run hands over Nami's exposed neck and head as the blankets had been pulled almost to her Theta's chin.

She could feel the fading temperature; see it in the cooling sweat on her forehead.

She shoved her face into Nami's neck. Tangy sweat, sweet citrus, salt-kissed wind, and aged paper. She breathed it in deeply. It was already committed to her mind from the beast, she only had to solidify it as Riyo.

Nami almost dying had been real then, which meant Luffy and Sanji were here.

[Omega.]

...and her new Omega? When the hell did that happen?

[Lonely, so lonely and sad and alone. Afraid, but healed us. Little fur hatchling. Our Omega.]

{Smells like prey.}

"Son of a bitch," Riyo hissed out loud. The Other was talking.

Fuck.

The Other was talking.

She realized the lack of incessant scratching. There was no growling or pacing. The Other was calm and attentive-if razorblades and barbed wire decorated with broken glass could be described as calm.

{Stupid human.}

Riyo knew she looked insane as she parked her ass on Nami's bed and froze with her mouth hanging open.

The Other was being civil (for it). It had never bothered to spit more than a few derogatory words at her before. Now it was actually commenting.

What the hell happened? she snapped at the beast.

[Fight. Share. Alpha and Beta for feral. Theta and Omega theirs.]

"Okay," she said out loud. "Okay, I can deal with my alternate personalities splitting my pit for some reason."

Wait, you actually fought the Other? she asked the beast.

Because that was weirder than fishmen in the East Blue, a prehistoric island, and holiday bounty hunters combined.

{Beast stubborn over human. Grew a spine}, the Other answered with barely concealed contempt.

Probably because it lost. She giggled breathlessly to herself.

They were all so screwed

The beast growled at the Other in retaliation, although it lacked any true threat.

"Fuckin' seas," she muttered as she rubbed the heel of her palm into one temple.

"Um...who are you talking to?"

Riyo jumped. She needed to pay more attention. She could deal with the Other and the beast later.

The voice was young, curious, and a little timid.

Her new Omega.

She shaved before the creature could be startled away, disappearing from the bed and appearing behind him. It felt good to be healthy and moving again. She'd need to rebuild some of her muscle tone, she was sluggish and slow, but she had been sleeping, healing, and getting regular meals for the last few weeks.

She had been on a downslide for so many years she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be on the road to healthy again.

She grabbed the deer-tanuki-raccoon-dog up to crush him to her chest like a favorite teddy bear.

[FLUFFY!]

Wow. That was a lot of possessiveness rolling off the beast.

She rubbed her face into the little guy's fur. She totally agreed though. So fluffy!

She jerked as the little guy grew into a 10-foot tall humanoid. She was left blinking at his pink hat where she clung around his neck and down his back like an unwanted leech.

"Get off me! You can't eat me!"

"Fluffy, no!" she yelled.

Did you try to eat him when we were healing? she hissed at the beast at the same time.

[No! He talked when they were Changed, and he understood them without human words! Healed them. Took to cuddle but didn't EAT their Omega!]

"What the-who the hell are you people?"

"Ah! The patient is awake! Doctorine!" Omega's voice was slightly deeper in his larger body as he spoke to Nami.

The navigator did look confused.

And Riyo knew that hag was here.

"We just, want, cuddles!" Riyo shouted as he tried to shake her off his neck.

"Get off of me! I'm a doctor, not a stuffed toy! And I'm not equipped with the proper medical supplies to deal with a rabid psychiatric patient!"

"...Riyo?"

Riyo glanced up as the fluffy tried to reach his arms behind his head to yank her off. She was actually having fun. It was almost like sea king riding in the Calm Belt.

[Fun!]

"Hey, Nami! I hope you're feeling better!"

"Uh, if I'm not hallucinating from the fever again...then sure."

The navigator did look confused. Riyo could understand how this might seem a bit surreal.

Riyo tensed when she felt the presence looming behind her and the fluffy. She dropped from the tanuki and spun in the air to face the threat as she landed on her feet. Her body naturally took an aggressive stance as she saw the face of Kureha.

"I'm here, Chopper. Glad to see the patient isn't dead. And hello, ungrateful snake."

Riyo snarled and punched the crazy witch bitch in her damn hook nose.

The cheap shot laid the old hag out on the stone floor for all of two seconds.

A scalpel whistled past Riyo's ear and cut off a hunk of her hair. Kureha was grinning at her madly from the floor.

"Doctorine!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

Yeah. Her wake up could have gone better.

Chopper wasn't sure what was going on. Doctorine had locked herself in her office with the crazy lizard woman that she told Chopper was a sea queen.

A sea queen! A sea queen that Doctorine somehow knew and that had attacked her.

What was Doctorine thinking?

The other humans had gone outside to fight, and Chopper really needed to join them soon, but he wanted to know what was happening with the sea queen, Riyo. She had some sort of unhealthy obsession with him for some reason.

His ears twitched as he heard fighting start outside the castle, but he focused on the conversation in the room.

"Listen here, snake. I don't care what you think; there was no saving him. I couldn't have done anything! Crocus consulted me, we agreed there was no cure. His choices were his own. That is something you're more than old enough to know; you should respect his decision!"

There was an animalistic snarl, something no human could possibly make. It made Chopper's every instinct flare to life with 'predator, run!' He caught himself backing up before he froze again as the heated conversation turned to shouting.

"There was no logic to it! For all his temper our Alpha always had a plan, even one as simple as 'kick their ass.' We understand our Omega did all he could, Alpha was dying. But for Alpha to choose something so public-"

Chopper jumped as Riyo's voice cut off and there was the loud crack of wood splitting and shattering. The only wood in there was the heavy desk and a side table...

"Shut up, I know it's Old Alpha-and Old Omega. Goddammit-no, I don't care! Enough you two!"

"-makes no sense! I know you know why. Tell me!"

Chopper blinked. It was like there were two different conversations going on. He had suspected she had some sort of psychiatric issue but something as debilitating as multiple personalities?

It had definitely been her voice, but more hushed and hissed, like she meant to be speaking to herself. Then she went back to shouting at Doctorine as if the break in the conversation hadn't happened at all.

As if she didn't realize she had spoken aloud in the middle of the argument.

"It is not my place to say," Kureha replied evenly. "If you do not know then he did not wish you to-precisely for this reason. Your mind is not sound. He knew what would happen if you survived the breaking of the bonds as he asked you to." There was silence after the words. Then quieter, so quiet Chopper had to take a few steps closer. "You spoke out loud to them, just now. Did you even realize it?"

There was a tense moment before Chopper heard Riyo curse quietly in response.

"How many pieces did you have to rip out and stitch together to survive his death? How many more are buried in the dark waiting to be free? You don't need more on your shoulders. You've carried too much for too long and you've got so long to go. You're still Unsettled."

"You have no right to say that." The sound of wood clattering and splintering against the stone wall made Chopper flinch. "I've survived more in three and a half centuries, watching Sigmas come and go, than you can wrap your human mind around," she snarled.

Tense silence filled the room. Chopper knew he could be naive, but even he could sense the unspoken history. Riyo and Doctorine must have known each other for a long time. Doctorine obviously knew more about Riyo than she was saying.

Someone sighed. "The past is the past now, for all the grudges I still rightfully hold. And as much as I carry-I deserve it, Kureha.

"I was not a nice being once I was freed. Everyone else broke, in one way or another. We...we never broke. We never submitted. So many died rather than bow."

Riyo's voice was small and haunted with something Chopper could not place. Something he didn't want to face, not when it brought that tone and bitter scent.

"I took out that concentrated hatred and rage on innocents. I have to accept those choices. Choosing to sail with Roger when he found me was a new start. I deserve every second of pain for what I've done and for stealing time that wasn't supposed to be mine. I had every intention of dying, and instead Luffy found me and refused to let me go. Now I have a complete pit again. I don't deserve them. I don't deserve a second chance, but I have it nonetheless."

Chopper could hear pacing, claws clicking on stone. Riyo must have changed to some degree from the high emotion. It happened to him sometimes.

"And if Old Alpha kept his silence for the reason I think...if it's what I can't help but hope-please. I'm selfish, possessive, jealous, greedy, and I have dubious morals. I know this. But I'm asking you with all of my heart...Tell me. I want every piece of light I can have in this life. All of it. And this time I'm not letting it go. I don't care if my Alpha demands it."

Chopper knew what the answer would be as soon as Riyo finished. Once Doctorine made a promise, she never broke it. No matter what.

Chopper felt bad for Riyo, but he knew she wouldn't get what she needed here. He backed away from the door.

He needed to help fight. As he turned to rush away he caught Kureha's words.

"You may have made poor choices, but I can't say I blame you after what you went through. What all of you went through. But I can't tell you how to live and I simply can't tell you. I made a promise. I'm sorry."

The invisible wave of pure anguish-rage-loneliness-alone that swept out from the room and stirred the snow in the hallway made Chopper's mind blank and his body flash into his natural reindeer form.

He wouldn't consciously remember bolting down the stairs. But he would always remember for the rest of his life that moment that was without words.

A second of endless, aching sorrow from one monster to another.