Chapter Text
Foolish was right, he needed to work backwards.
Ishan needed to gather the puzzle pieces first before going for the bigger picture, otherwise he’d just end up going in circles and going nowhere. The question wasn’t whether or not they had a head omega, but rather what a head omega was and what their role would be in The North,
From his last interviews, Ishan had gathered that the higher-ranking members all viewed the position differently. From confusion to adamance, it was clear that the household was divided on the issue, meaning that Ishan needed to figure out a different approach. And with his mind drifting to Foolish’s past words, the news reporter mentally planned out his new method. He needed to watch the household more, becoming a passive bystander and documenting the behaviours around him.
It was simple.
And he had the perfect opportunity to put it into practice, with another daily meeting planned for The North curtesy of the Second-in-command Deluxe, Juan.
A few of the members had already started to gather in the meeting room, claiming their favourite spots while idly chatting amongst themselves. Ishan had picked the back corner of the room to give himself the perfect vantage point of seeing everyone in attendance. And with his trusty notebook resting on his lap, the reporter had everything he needed to gather more information on his pressing question: Who was the Head Omega of The North?
“Okay, everyone is here?” Juan’s naturally loud voice echoed throughout the room, bringing everyone’s attention to him while the last members took their seats.
Ishan subconsciously started to draw in his book, lightly sketching out the seating choices and who sat where.
Unsurprisingly, the girls where front and centre, sitting together on the left-hand side with Tina closest to the aisle, Molly in the middle and Alondrissa on the other end. Probably the only three people that would actually pay attention to the meeting. Whereas the more distracted members where on the right side with Pac sitting at the front next to a nervous Gabe and a sleeping Roblies behind them, taking up the middle row.
“Made it!” Senpai’s sudden voice startled Ishan out of his quiet musings, almost dropping his pencil as the well-dressed man appeared next him. Senpai threw an arm around the back of his chair with practiced comfortability, slouching in his own seat with an excited energy buzzing around him.
“Haven’t made a meeting in ages, they aways do it so early.”
“Yeah.” Ishan chuckled softly, “I’m surprised you woke up on time for once.”
“Well, I didn’t want to miss out on seeing your face with that gorgeous morning glow.”
Ishan could feel his face and halo heating up.
“Shut up, we’re indoors that makes no sense.”
He deflected easily, manually turning himself away from Spider’s smug face and facing towards the Second in Command Deluxe. The spider-hybrid snickered to his left, letting the conversation go and sparing Ishan anymore of his little comments; giving him a chance to control the brightness of his halo.
The reporter looked back at his sketching, double-checking everyone’s seating spot before the last person stumbled into the room with confetti and high-pitched laughter announcing their arrival.
The one and only Foolish.
His bright smile and even brighter emerald eyes displayed all the joy that the totem held and was wearing a backpack that had some sort of purple material hanging from the flap of the bag.
“You’re late, idiot!” Juan complained instantly, rolling his eyes from his podium, “But now that we’re all here, let’s start!”
The words washed over Ishan, too busy focusing on everyone’s behaviours and little habits that to fully pay attention to the meeting. His eyes wandered the room while his hands wrote down all that he saw with quiet efficiency.
Tina was taking notes in her book, muttering quiet Spanish phrases that Juan otherwise shouted. Senpai had withdrawn slightly in his seat, idly cleaning his polished netherite sword with an occasional nod that told he was still paying attention. Alondrissa made comments every now and then, adding in her own input to the meeting whereas Molly seemed to be reading over Tina’s notes, much to the other’s embarrassment.
Pac was sitting attentively, snapping his head left and right to catch everything being said while Gabe also looked to be writing things down with the occasionally bubble appearing in his fishtank head. Rublies had yet to wake up, but he looked cosy stretched across the three chairs and had somehow acquired a blanket and pillow for his nap.
And finally, there was Foolish, who chose to sit behind Princess Molly and looked to be working on something that Ishan couldn’t see. He tried to lean more forward, raising his head slightly and narrowing his eyes to figure out what the totem was doing, but it was no use.
Subconsciously, his eyes found themselves drifting off to the hybrid next to him and with a quick breath, he asked his question.
“Senpai?” Ishan whispered quietly, trying not to disturb the meeting, “Can you see-”
“What Foolish is doing? Yeah, he’s sewing things for Molly.”
Ishan was pulled up short, mouth gaping and embarrassed at being so easy to read, when Senpai snickered into his hand. “Dude, I can see your writing, you’re not subtle.”
The reporter blanked as he looked at his notebook, feeling himself blush when he realised he had written ‘Foolish’ in capital letters with a big question mark surrounding his seat placement. Ishan silently cursed his hands and himself for his lack of awareness, completely blindsided by his thirst of knowledge and needing to always know more.
He could feel his halo flickering rapidly, worsening the situation as heads started turning towards the two of them.
“Ishan, you okay?” Juan yelled from the front.
Quiet laugher seemed to bubble up throughout the room, everyone drawing their own conclusions as Ishan’s embarrassed blushing worsened. He put his head in his hands, muttering excuses that struggled to escape his throat while Senpai cackled louder.
“He wanted to see what Foolish was doing!”
“Shut up!” Ishan yelled at the spider-hybrid through his hands, sinking further into his seat as the voices around them all increased in volume. The meeting was officially derailed and with it, so to was Ishan’s investigation. So, with a silent curse towards Senpai, Ishan looked towards the ceiling for strength before naturally following the small crowd now surrounding the totem. He tucked his notebook into his hoodie pocket, deigning himself as a passive bystander once more.
“It’s nothing special, so sorry to disappoint.” Foolish waved them away jokingly, one hand holding a sewing needle and the other was holding some sort of purple, satin material. It reminded Ishan of Vegetta and his love for all things purple; tomorrow was ‘Purple Wednesday’ it had to be related to that.
“He’s making my outfit!” Molly tossed her hair dramatically, fluttering her eyelashes with a quick mocking wink towards Juan, “He’s the best at sewing-”
“What!?” Juan leapt for the bait, “I’ve made more outfits than this monster!”
“Ok first of all, not a monster and second of all, I am the best at sewing!” Foolish lifted up the outfit after placing the needle in his mouth.
Gasps and murmurs of shock echoed through the room as everyone took in the handmade purple dress. Ishan couldn’t help but lean forward, his eyes taking in every detail of the sewn outfit, with its off-shoulder sleeves and boned corset that accentuated the free-flowing skirt attached; it was simply beautiful. And what tied it all together were the little purple flowers that were very delicately sewn throughout the piece.
Ishan couldn’t even fathom how one could make such a thing.
“It’s not that impressive.” Juan scoffed, “I made the fucking pattern.”
“Yeah, but I’m the one actually doing it, Mr. Second In Command Deluxe.”
“Shut up, get back to work!”
“That’s clearly what I’m doing right now!”
The two dissolved into their usual argument, bickering back and forth while everyone else gradually left the room – clearly the meeting was over. And Ishan couldn’t help but feel disappointed at his lack of gathering any sort of new knowledge for his investigation.
He left the room sullenly, tucking his hands back into his pockets before wandering the hallways of the mansion. His hands traced over the book in his hoodie’s pocket, idly running over the things he noticed in the meeting and sighing quietly to himself. There just wasn’t anything there, nothing he could recall that stood out to him or even vaguely seeing anyone act like a Head Omega.
And then he stopped, his mind rebooting.
The role of Head Omega.
He needed to know the role, that’s what he was missing and what he kept forgetting.
Spinning on his heel, Ishan headed back down towards the back of the mansion, skipping over rooms until he found the one he wanted.
“Knock, knock?” He politely tapped on Tina’s wooden door, tilting his head to catch the shadows of other people inside the room before the door was opened.
“Oh, hi Ishan!” The right hand of the Generalissimo Tina greeted him warmly, “Did you need anything?”
“I just had a few questions to ask.”
“Yeah sure, come in! If it’s about the meeting, you’re in luck, Alondrissa grabbed the actual notes from the podium. We’re just going over it now.”
She gestured to her living room where paper and pens were scatted over the coffee table with Alondrissa sitting on the carpeted floor and Molly stretched out on the lounge chair.
“Hey Ishan.” Alondrissa waved at him with her eyes still glued onto the paper in front of her.
Molly opened her eyes and lifted her head, smiling at him with mischief written all over her face, “Is this about the status’ again?”
“How’d you know?” Ishan chuckled weakly.
“You have that look in your eyes.” She explained simply with a shrug of her shoulders, before fully sitting up and gesturing for him to come over, “Sit, sit, ask your questions.”
Ishan followed the princess’ word, gently plopping himself down next to Molly and making sure his legs didn’t accidentally Alondrissa who only slightly shuffled forward to make space for him. Tina soon joined them in the lounge with her own notebook in her lap and began idly tapping the armrest of her chair with her pen.
The environment was a lot less quiet compared to the meeting and calmer for Ishan’s brain to gather all the thoughts that he needed. If anyone knew about the role of the Head Omega, it would be the women that worked alongside Vegetta most often. With Alondrissa seeing him during the mornings, Tina working under Aldo – who frequently got in touch with the king – and of course, the princess herself who was the adopted offspring of the leader.
All three of them would have an insight that the reporter wouldn’t be able to gather from anyone else, it was the perfect opportunity.
“Do any of you mind if I write down your answers?” Ishan double-checked, “It won’t go to anyone, I promise.”
“That’s fine.” Molly nudged him teasingly.
Tina nodded in agreement and Alondrissa also gave a silent nod in acknowledgement.
“Okay, for the record and if it’s okay, could you all state who you are, name, statuses and species?”
Molly hummed, “I’m Molly, daughter of Vegetta and Princess of The North. I’m half-dragon,” She gestures to her horns and lack of tail, “And I’m an Omega.”
“Alondrissa, I live in The North, I’m an investigator, I’m a human, and I’m a Beta.”
Ishan wrote down their answers, pausing to check on Tina who looked nervous.
“My turn?”
He nodded encouragingly, about to remind her that she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t feel comfortable, but she shook her head quickly.
“Right, my turn! I’m Tina and I’m a cat-hybrid; my role is the Generalissimo’s right-hand women and I’m an Alpha.” Ishan took note of how the soldier glanced up at her horns when she mentioned her species, but he didn’t question it. It wasn’t his place and he also didn’t care.
“Woo, Tina!” Molly cheered to a furiously blushing Tina.
“Thanks for that everyone, I only ask that question because it’ll help me narrow down my investigation further down the line. So, my next one is this – Do you think we have a Head Omega in the North and if we do, what do you think their role is?”
There was pause.
“I still don’t think we have one.” Tina answered slowly, stretching out her words while her face tilted up to look at the ceiling in contemplation, “Vegetta is the King which pretty much announces him as the Head Alpha, so I think the Head Omega would’ve done the same thing.”
She shrugged, “But they didn’t, so I don’t think we have one.”
“Yeah, I agree with that.” Alondrissa added from her spot on the floor, now turned around to create a mini circle between the four of them, “Head Omega is something that needs to be announced; if no one knows who it is, then what’s the point?”
Ishan nodded along to their reasonings, quickly writing them down in his notebook as Molly soon added in her opinion into the fray.
“Yes, but the Head Omega is supposed to be with the Head Alpha, so maybe they don’t have to announce it?”
“Why wouldn’t they announce it!?” Alondrissa argued, disbelief colouring her tone.
“I don’t know, they just match with the Alpha.” Molly shrugged, “And a Head Alpha is never alone.”
That drew Ishan’s interest, “Never alone?”
“Yes, they’re always together; they balance everything out.”
“So, you’re saying then, that the role of Head Omega is to do the things that the Head Alpha can’t?”
Molly nodded her head rapidly, slightly bouncing on the couch as her eyes lit up with excitement, “Exactly! They complete each other-”
“Sounds like gross romance.” Muttered Alondirssa mockingly, rolling her eyes at the princess’s offended gasp and turning back around to read over the paper from before.
“Oh no.” Tina mumbled quietly and that was all the warning Ishan had before the once quiet room dissolved into a combination of loud yelling and cursing in a language, he had yet to understand. Taking the cue, Ishan swiftly slipped out of the room with a hurried thanks and polite goodbye to Tina before teleporting to his room.
He immediately beelined it to his chests and found the one dedicated to his new investigation. It didn’t look very interesting with its lack of materials, but something told Ishan that he was making progress, as slow and steady as it was. However, thanks to the trio, he did finally have an inkling of who to look for next in his investigation.
Someone who technically does ‘fill in’ the gaps when Vegetta is away.
He needed to see Juan.