Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It starts subtly to those who have no idea what caused it.

A man goes missing for a few days. He is found dead of organ failure.

Another vanishes, and he just. Does not have any organs at all? And no evidence of their removal either?

A third and fourth follow. Disappearance. Found dead in an impossible way.

The fifth appears out of nowhere in front of the police station. All witnesses and the cameras show it appearing out of nowhere.

The pattern continues.

-

Omega-Xis never tells Geo that the Jammer victim was dead the moment the Virus took him.

Viruses consume and break and bend in ways that tend to leave any EM being slaughtering the things.

It's kinder to let the kid believe the guy's okay, than to risk Geo thinking he killed the guy.

When he shows up on the news, Geo doesn't recognize him.

Good.

-

When Bud washes up at home after coming to, covered in the dirt and debris left from his possession, he finds horns.

Nobody mentions that he changed his usual hairdo to better hide it.

Nobody not in the wave world, that is. The waves themselves chatter, not having seen this since a great fall, long ago.

Omega-Xis breathes a sigh of relief that that's all that happened. It won't draw attention anytime soon, as long as the boy tries like he has been.

-

Geo doesn't notice his gradual increase in strength and agility, far faster than any normal human can manage.

The fangs go unremarked on, as merely imagination. Nobody has teeth that sharp, after all.

What Geo does notice is the fact that he startled his mother terribly one night getting a drink. He didn't turn the lights on, and his mother shrieked when she saw the faint glow of his eyes.

Luckily the hall light was on, and everybody believed that. Eyes reflect light, after all.

Geo notices Omega-Xis breathe a sigh of relief.

Geo doesn't ask why. He knows Mega probably won't tell. At least not until they get to be more than battle partners with many secrets. Maybe in a few days.

-

What does get noticed, is when Tom comes out of his possession with tiny, fluffy wings.

In fact, several people notice.

Tom himself screams.

-

“You too?” Is not the first thing anyone expected Bud to shout.

Especially not when both Tom and Aaron are both panicking.

Nobody expects Bud to move his hair and show off horns like a bull.

Unfortunately, this leads to Geo joining the panic.

Fortunately, they manage to hide Tom's new wings with a backpack and Bud's horns with a hat before the police arrive.

In the short time it takes for the questioning to end, Tom is fidgeting in discomfort. Wings are not made to be crammed beneath a backpack.

As they wave the officers away, the group all retreat into the employee only area.

“Hey Mega, what the fuck?” Geo blurts out, the instant that door is shut and locked.

Funnily enough, nobody is startled when an alien appears out of nowhere. Maybe they're too tired. Maybe they're about to pass out.

Geo doesn't even question why he's elected to be on the visible spectrum.

All Geo knows is that he is playing exhaustion roulette, and Tom is shuffling the backpack off awkwardly with Aaron and Bud's help as they all stare the the alien in the room.

“Uhhhhh… some side effects included? Look, Kid, you have some too. My former comrades are just idiots with no sense of subtlety.” Omega-Xis fails to console.

It says a lot about the situation that nobody's commenting on the alien that just appeared in front of them.

“What do you mean? Some side effects included!?! Mega what even causes this? And… What are mine?” Geo's right. The people need to know.

“Relax kid. I'm no idiot. You just have plasma lacing. No way will I let you get hurt on the vast majority of my body. Well. That and the teeth. Something has to be visible and that's easy to hide.” Omega-Xis begins.

“Is plasma dangerous?” Geo yelps out, ignoring the teeth comment.

“Not to you. Let me figure out how to put this next bit…” Omega-Xis mutters, trailing off.

“Should I be worried?” Tom whispered to Aaron.

“I am, and not just for Geo.” Aaron replied, a tad bit louder.

“So when do we get to why?” Bud interrupts, loudly.

“Fine you want the why? I'll give you the why. It's a-” Omega-Xis begins, erupting into static that sounds just like him.

“A-” static.

Geo squints, daringly.

“Crap. Uhh. Closest word humans have that I can think of is… um. Claim? No… pact? No… ah fuck it.” More static erupts from his mouth.

“Watch your language.” Aaron interrupts the static. “I may not understand the words exactly but I know that tone!”

“Look. It's a mark saying you belong to… no not to… with? It's a claim of a kind of combined ownership but as a look this human is mine to adore forever, not as a slave and something to the left of human adoption.” Omega-Xis mutters through, static punctuating every word, as he clearly struggles to get the point across.

Everyone present clearly does not understand what he just said. Omega-Xis included.

“So like those soulmate stories Prez was obsessed with a few months ago?” Bud butts in. “Symbol appears meaning you are destined to love this person, maybe not romantically, but love anyway?”

“Oh that is a way closer explanation that whatever crap just came out of my mouth.” Omega-Xis yips out in glee.

“That still doesn't explain wings!” Tom squeaks out.

Loudly.

“No it does. I'm apparently the smartest EM being around for not wanting the human government to get ideas.” Omega-Xis brags.

And. And Geo lies flat on the floor.

“I'm done. Bedtime.” Geo groans out.

That is when Luna, Zack, and several worried employees manage to get into the room.

And suddenly many people saw many things wrong.

Much screaming was had.

The police were called.

-

(Un)luckily, Copper was the only officer who was willing to believe a man sprouted baby bird wings.

Luckily, Copper did not see anything strange, as per his report.

Who knew he couldn't “see the supernatural weird shit that that kid (Geo) was getting dragged into this time.”

Tom appreciated it.

Copper did not appreciate it, but he also was surrounded by his coworkers who didn't understand why witness protection existed.

Copper misses when all he dealt with was viruses.

(At least Omega-Xis cleared up the mystery of the corpses without cause to him.)

They do get home safely. Eventually.

Chapter Text

Nothing ever really stays easy.

Least of all change.

It takes a few days to notice.

And then it's obvious.

-

“The prophecy must be fulfilled!”

“It's that weird underclassman again… should we listen just to shut him up?”

“Not even with a pencil. He will get worse. Just ignore him.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Rumor has it he started with a different name.”

“Yikes. Ignoring the kid it is. We'll still step up if he gets hurt, right?”

“We're students, not savages!”

-

Nobody noticed at first.

Days fell into a new normal, for Tom.

For Luna and her friends.

For Geo and his partner.

Much like a snowball can escalate into an avalanche given the chance.

Regular visits to AMAKEN, disguised as an internship for the group.

Omega-Xis is an amazing teacher, to tell the truth.

When he has words that match what he means, at least.

Direct transmission is hard to translate.

-

“Has anyone seen that weird kid today?”

“We take part of the same route. The only reason I beat him here is because I roller skate here. I saw him on the way today. I'm worried. He always gets here at the same time.”

“So… what do we do?”

“Let's get Prez and her group. I could show the way to where I last saw him. Do we grab a teacher too?”

“Mr. Shepar would be nice about it if nothing was actually wrong. You grab him and I'll grab Prez.”

“Got it.”

-

Bud can't cover his horns as well, one day.

Tom's wings are more cramped in the backpack he set up to hide them better one day.

The downy fluff falls, feather taking its place. It itches.

Bud's neck aches.

-

“Show the way, please.” Two different voices say, on two different sides of the school.

A group follows a student on a route to where he last saw a young man.

Stau B. Ound.

They find burnt blood, barely noticeable on the side of the road.

They barely spotted it.

Lichtenberg figures stemming from a cauterized stab wound.

It's the only reason he makes it to the hospital. It was cauterized just barely enough that the bleeding was slow.

They barely found him.

The children scream, as their teacher picks their schoolmate up out of the ditch and takes off running to the hospital just a block away.

A trail of blood

Drip

Drip

Drips

From a freshly opened hole in his shoulder.

Stau loses his left arm that day.

Bud only found him because he could smell the blood.

-

“I miss Taurus. Is. Is that bad?” Bud asks, during one of their meetings.

Those there perk up. Including Copper, who swears he will never admit to knowing them.

“Tell me, boy. How do you feel at the thought of him never coming back?” Omega-Xis replies, calm.

Cold.

Bud bursts into tears.

Tom jerks, a keening noise falling from his lips.

“He will come back! He will!” Bud whispers with a whimper.

“The whole thing is two ways. He feels the same way about you. You're supposed to miss the other half of you.

My people say that you can't be born if your perfect wave change partner won't exist. If they die before you meet, it happens. But for one half to exist, the other half is promised to as well.

There's stories of exceptions, but. That's another day's chat. Other cultures may think differently. Can't say for sure. But the fact that your horns are still growing. Heck, the sad guy's lost feather dissolving into waves and beta-keratin mush after falling off supports it.

They got hurt. They ran off to lick their wounds so you wouldn't be hurt too. They'll be back when they can keep you safe.

I'd do the same for Geo. He's mine. You're theirs.”

Bud sniffles.

Aaron wipes tears Tom didn't seem to realise he shed.

“That's.. Sweet, Mega. Thank you.” Geo whispers to his partner.

“I'm not sweet!” Omega-Xis shouts.

The moment is broken.

Luna and Zack smile at each other. This is really good for everyone here, it seems.

Geo's socializing.

They can make sure Bud's okay.

Whatever is up with that Copper guy.

Tom and Aaron friendshipping it up.

Yeah this needs to continue.

Even if Geo should still come back to school.

-

“I'm glad he's alive, but…”

“The prophecy came true! I no longer need to fear it for it has occurred!”

“Hey. He's not asking us to stab him anymore.”

“True, did you hear about his parents?”

“You mean the fact that he was begging his classmates to fulfill the prophecy, and probably got stabbed by some guy who got fed up?

I hear they were horrified. Didn't realise that their son thought it was a prophecy. Just liked Stau and his middle name is because of his grandfather who died before they met. He never met his grandpa Ben.”

“Those poor parents… I'd be horrified too.”

“At least Stau seems happy. Even if he is avoiding Pat like the plague.”

“Pat was at school when he got stabbed. Lookalike maybe?”

“Would you kids like to make a statement about that at the station for me?” A police officer asks.

The gossiping children screech, because nobody's used to the new safety measure yet.

Nobody glances their way, already used to the officer startling kids who say anything that might be relevant.

The officer is rather mean, taking joy from spooking anyone and everyone, after all.

-

“Why did you do it? You really shouldn't have.”

“He was making you uncomfortable.”

“You could have killed him.”

“I used our powers specifically to avoid that though.”

“If he had a heart condition… if he hadn't been found…”

“But he didn't. And he was. You worry too much. Our parent will protect us if things go bad.”

“Your parent. Mine are dead.”

“Whatever you say. Twinsie.”

“We aren't twins. Technically you don't exist.”

“So what?”

“If you want to keep it that way, stop pretending to be me. Just because you have a body now doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.”

“Aw come on. This world sucks and you know it.”

“I don't blame the people who can't possibly have any fault. I can't. The world can't handle two of you.”

-

Geo fights Gemini Thunder, is beat, and falls.

Falls

Fa

ll

Tom catches him.

Wings growing every beat.

Faint glow like the waves they're partially made of.

It's lucky.

Nobody saw.

That's how.

-

“You said we wouldn't know who you two become!

That you fight viruses!

You're Megaman!” Aaron yells out.

“I mean. They didn't lie. At the time, we had no clue who Megaman was. All we knew was that a blue wave change pair beat Cygnus Wing back.” Tom adds.

Aaron groans.

Omega-Xis preens. Take that Cygnus. He's teaching your human how wave beings work.

“Can I go home now? It's almost my curfew.” Geo questions, lightly.

Uncaring because Aaron isn't his dad. He can't ground him.

“I see that broken arm from when Tom caught you. No.” Aaron states, sharp.

“I bleed plasma. That can hurt people. No. No hospital. I just need to…” Geo gestures, unbothered.

Omega-Xis yanks, firmly.

A sickening crack that makes Aaron gag.

And then Geo eats a large energy. Essentially a portable battery for a transer.

His arm isn't really describable for a moment. And then its as if it was never injured.

“Tada!” Geo sings out.

“Geo those are poisonous!” Aaron yelps out.

“No, I've eaten those too!” Tom shouts.

Aaron screams, for he is outnumbered.

Outnumbered by people who are now immune to that specific horror.

Just.

Don't tell them that it should melt your insides.