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I.
There is a rumour about a new omega catching the emperor’s fancy.
Eva knows it now; Infact, she may have been one of the first ten people to know. The palace may be shielded from any assassins, but words slip in through, spilling through the ragged cracks and crevices of the mirror spring palace. Anything about the emperor spread faster than the electric fire on a mecha.
The new omega would arrive in the capital at the crack of dawn—carted from a distant star system whose name Eva hadn’t bothered to remember. Maybe she should have, considering that the emperor had requested them to accompany and guide the greenhorn for the stay in the palace. She was curious, yes, but not enough to sacrifice her sleep. The severely injured omega was pretty much dead to the world in the healing pod, with the estimated recuperation time to be till their landing; she did not fool herself into believing that she could even catch a glimpse, even if she wanted to.
Contrastingly and despitedly, Mimir was bouncing off the walls of their shared room in the ship. Even the enforced bunker was creaking with his shuffling.
Eva held his arm down. “Mimir, you’ll break the bed.”
Not that he could, but Eva didn’t like the creaky noises. Surfaced some unsavoury memories.
“Huh?” Mimir replied, very intelligently. He stopped, and the room was shrouded in silence. “Oh, sorry.”
Mimir sat very still for a moment, but flopped like a soggy tuna on the mattress the next.
“I heard that the omega is really pretty,” He whispered, a strange look crossing his face. “Do you think he caught the emperor's fancy?”
And didn’t that sound familiar? The first time Eva knew of such a rumour was when she had arrived in the Mirror Spring Palace—a malevolent whisper that the beautiful omega the emperor had once fancied had fallen out of favour because of her noble lineage and looks.
It made her think—would they believe that she had fallen out of the imperial grace next? The very thought made her hide a snort under her hand.
“Hardly. I bet he’s like me.”
Mimir shrugged, but didn’t ask any further.
Eva, though, had a lot more questions. Attribute it to her past, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something she didn’t understand.
“I think it’s strange.”
“What is?”
“That both of us were called.”
Mimir was gentle, understanding and had a good repertoire with the emperor. Eva couldn’t be any more different.
The omega would surely be unstable if he was put out of the healing pod any earlier than landing.
Unstable, and lost.
Mimir was a good option as a companion to a person in that situation. Eva, however…
It’s a praiseworthy quality to be apathetic in the Heidrich family. It’s drilled in their brains with an intensity no less than what one would find in combat training. They were taught to be strong, resilient, and decisive. To be the drivers of such thoughts that ensured decisive victory. To be the pillars of their family, their empire.
They were not taught kindness, compassion or pity. It’s wrenched out of their minds, for such things become your weaknesses. The tales from ancient Earth were recited as a warning, even as their hands were whipped, even when blood mingled with sweat.
It’s a little different for Eva. The silence of her rooms screamed and tried to dull all her thoughts to a silence. A slender existence that had been carefully concealed from the world. Until that careful apathy shattered like fragile glass when she was taken away with her brother.
Those shards stung her heart. Every corner in that fortress was a dangerous one for a girl. Much more for an omega—the skin where her gland once was still bore some scars from her decisiveness.
It seemed like it was a part of their DNA.
Eva didn’t know how to comfort, comfort people who she had never met before much less.
“Maybe that omega is like you?”
Mimir’s words sent a jolt of strange anger through her.
“Like me?”
“An omega like me wouldn’t be able to help much.” Mimir smiled wryly, tapping his chin. “I wouldn’t truly understand what he has gone through.”
The mere suggestion bewildered Eva to no end. But she kept her thoughts to herself.
II.
The medical wing was abuzz with frantic orders. The ECG monitor next to a health pod showed a dropping number in the QRS complexes with each passing second.
“—defibrillator—“
The lights of the pod, in which a man was sleeping, flickered. Gradually, even the radiator stuttered in its process. Another technician paled at the sight.
“Lower the energy, he’ll—“
The radiator slowed to a stop. On a live scan, the tissue of the near punctured intestine was seen closing up and regenerating abnormally fast, reacting to the radiation therapy for the recent heterotrophic bone formation. In tandem, the man twitched, and the lights flickered. Almost like he was drawing energy from the electricity like some insane copy of Max Dillion.
“—what the hell?”A younger technician couldn’t help but curse, more because he was in charge of slowing the voltage flow in the pod. The organ cells aren’t even supposed to be reacting to this frequency! “What is he?”
“That strange site—“ The senior technician pointed out. Everyone’s sight went to the live abdominal scan. Sure enough, that area of strange flickering electro-chemical activity was gradually stabilising to a very high state, alongside his increasing heart rate.
“—put the defibrillators on standby! Call His Majesty—”
In this period, the pod opened slowly. The man’s eyelids opened to reveal a clear violet iris and a sickening dark pit, and he slowly sat straight. Under the unfiltered light of the wing, the faint criss-cross of scars on his body became apparent. His black hair was long and unkempt, falling shaggy on his stiff shoulders.
“…” He lifted his arm, watching the awkward limb.
Someone helped him sit properly, disconnecting his lower body from the pod. His eye wandered towards the window, staring at the scenery of stars and blazing nebulas.
The moment he turned back, he was met with the impassive gaze of a young boy with a slender figure, accompanied by strange warriors with wolf eared helmets. His silver hair gleamed beautifully, even under the white lights, framing a face which held a boyish charm. His eyes were a shade of red Yudrein remembered on the Orr imperial royals.
“You’re awake.”
Yudrein’s honed instincts told him that this boy was not an easy enemy.
He bowed his head. A slow motion neither too slow nor too quick.
“Thank you.”
“It is my duty.”
Duty? What duty?
A strange scent of cool roses wafted under his nose that moment, and he knew why this man felt a formidable opponent. His ability to sense mana may have been impaired, but his nose still picked up the scent with practiced ease. His face scrunched lightly.
“You are…an awakener?”
“Awakener?” The boy raised an eyebrow. The confusion was genuine, and the boy waited patiently for Yuder to speak further.
But Yudrein did not speak any further, and that boy left it at that with a sigh.
“Greetings, your majesty.”
The oldest technician greeted, kissing the rose ring on the boy’s hand.
“I hope you have a good explanation for the blackout.”
“There were some complications regarding the case…”
The boy, the ruler, walked away from the clinic, leaving Yudrein in the stifling silence again. He curled his fingers, and as natural as a limb, a little spark ignited in his palm.
Someone gently laid him back into the pod, muttering reassurances. The touch was far too gentle.
For the first time in many, many years, Yudrein felt utterly lost.
III.
There was an unseen detour.
Eva had to repress a scoff of amusement when the news came.
Well, there was nothing ‘unseen’. Not when she and Mimir were here to accompany the omega just in case he woke up earlier than they landed.
‘Just in case’ indeed. The omega was up at the initial ETA, but the aircraft wasn’t back home because of this ‘unseen detour’. They both stood in front of the room where the omega was still resting, and they both watched the metallic shutter with a quietness that caught them an odd look from the wolf knight stationed in front of it.
“I guess we’ll be the first ones from the palace to meet him?” Mimir laughed nervously, raising his finger towards the button before he pulled it an inch away.
This was the second time Mimir was told to be a little cautious. The last time that happened was when he met Eva. Cornered creatures, no matter the specifics, are always the most dangerous.
Standing outside this door reminded him of a particularly wild face of Eva he hadn’t seen after a talk with His Majesty.
Eva raised an eyebrow.
“…what are we waiting for?”
“We aren’t waiting. It’s just that… never mind.”
The door opened, and they all froze.
The tall, scarred man—was he the omega?— stared down at them. Nothing delicate and pretty one would expect, but beautiful nonetheless. His apathetic gaze swept over them, and Eva had a feeling that this man assessed their worths in that one gaze.
“Who are you?”
Eva bristled at the suspicious tone, her face scrunching up. It was this guy who looked like a criminal, not them—especially with that eyepatch.
“You—“
Mimir held her back, smiling sweetly at the man. He raised a packet he had been carrying.
“We have some cake for you.”
Like that would help—
“I see. Please come in.”
Eva stared.
IV.
This guy really liked his sweets.
This must’ve been the fifth time she reached this conclusion—third if you count since their arrival to the Mirror Spring Palace a couple of days ago. Eva watched as he demolished the sizable pastry Mimir had made within a couple of minutes.
It was…surprisingly endearing.
“So…” Mimir pushed another pastry towards him. “We didn’t catch your name.”
Right, they never asked, did they?
“Yudrein Aile.”
Eva blinked. That last name wasn’t familiar. “You have a last name?”
That guy—Yudrein stiffened.
“Amazing!”
Most would be beaming in pride.
Most.
Yudrein remained quiet, munching on the pastry in another bout of silence Eva couldn’t quite understand. It gave Eva an opportunity to finally look over at his battered figure.
There was a thin line of difference in the scars of a soldier and a torture victim. There were callouses, then there were chunks of skin deliberately incised—one was ragged, one was clean.
Yudrein was using this line like a fucking skipping rope. Eva gave up on identifying the differences.
“Do you know how to fight?”
“…if his majesty requires me.”
Well didn’t that sting.
Eva could recognise the anguished, angry eyes and jittering body of a victim far too well. She’d see it whenever she saw the mirror.
But she could also recognise the hollow eyes of the warriors, grown like lab rats for war, sent to slaughter. Yes, this was more familiar than anything else. She’d see it whenever she saw her brother, and she saw him more than she saw herself. Cracked, like peering through a broken glass—was it really broken, you’d wonder.
Naturally, she could only reply with four honest words.
“You can rest now.”
These three words were the words she had always wanted to hear.
Fate wasn’t kind to the Heidrich family. Being jealous of this peace would mean she had bowed her head to the role that should’ve been reserved for her—an entanglement she had abhorred since she was locked in that tower.
Eva hated being indebted and Nero rarely asked her for help, even if it was this indirectly.
She’ll be the kinder one this time, even if it was for a selfish reason.
Yes, she’ll show this guy that there wasn’t anything to fight now.