Chapter Text
It's no unusual sight for a slave to flee and even less unusual for an omega to be found running madly in hopes of securing a safe space to wait out their heat, caught unawares out in public.
For an alpha to follow the scent and the sounds of fighting, overpower the competitors, and take off with the omega, that's common enough too.
It's less common for the omega to hold hands with the alpha instead of being carried off over a shoulder or in their arms.
Must be family, passersby would presume.
When the cultivator jumped down from the rooftop, Yue Qi was down to his last brick to throw, chest heaving and head swimming. It was getting difficult to breathe from his own stench. After two days of running and hiding, getting chased the whole while, he smelled worse than he had ever smelled.
The angered scents of these alphas had him fighting down bile, leaving him overstimulated.
Down came the cultivator, his momentum bringing with it wind that cleared the air.
"That-" The cultivator's boot stomped down over one man's head. "Is-" Kick to the face. "A-" Out came the sword. "Child-" Swing. "You deranged demented no ass having bitch ass motherfuckers with shit for brains. Eat shit."
Once the last alpha was down, his attention turned to Yue Qi.
Yue Qi's hand with the brick rose when he registered this was an alpha too, fear kicking in.
The brick left his hand, striking the cultivator in the forehead. Skin split. Blood spilled down from torn skin, dribbling over an eyebrow. Yue Qi distantly heard himself gasp. He could have dodged or struck that down. Why didn't he?
"Your head." An apology remained clogged in his throat, unsaid.
"Young man, we should get you out of the open. It isn't safe." The low purr that accompanied the words and the lack of aggression in his scent was what had Yue Qi following his savior, purring back hesitantly as he let him grab his hand.
Cultivators could take vows of celibacy. This alpha didn't react to the heady stench of his heat in the slightest. Perhaps it was something of that nature.
The dark energy Yue Qi had seen when the man swung his sword... it made him swallow nervously. If he were thinking more clearly, he wouldn't have dared follow the cultivator, even with the calming scent and the fatherly purr that settled his racing heart.
If he wasn't a cultivator of the righteous path, who could say what dastardly plans he had for him?
If an omega in heat wasn't getting bred, the best thing one could do to ease symptoms was feed them, make sure they drank water, and get them the softest comfiest materials you could find for their nest.
Yue Qi refused to entertain the idea of building a nest without his Xiao Jiu, so the man made do with putting him on a bed in a quiet inn and feeding him porridge.
He hadn't eaten this much in a while. The fullness made him sleepy, which in turn made him angrier. He had an important job to do, and he couldn't focus on it. It was intolerable. To be betrayed by his body this way, he hated it. He hated being heat addled.
Xiao Jiu...
"Is there any family this master can contact to come and collect you?" Wu Yanzi startled at the heartwrenching sob that drew from the boy, visibly panicking. "If you do not have family, I apologize for bringing up a sore subject. That was careless of me to say."
He made a tiny gah when the omega latched onto his hands, still crying.
"This one will do anything. Senior Cultivator can do anything he wants to this one if he promises to save Xiao Jiu. No method of payment is too large. This one will do anything. He swears it. Please please please please-"
"No." Yue Qi flinched back. The man continued, gentling the anger out of his voice. Gradually, Yue Qi realized he sounded concerned. He smelled concerned too. "Do not offer these parts of yourself to strange adults, Yue Qi."
"It's my fault. What happened to him." It's all his fault. It was a regret he would never be able to make up for. Even after his promise was fulfilled, he couldn't forgive himself.
"What's your fault?" Wu Yanzi murmured.
Yue Qi told him his story.
The man grew angrier but didn't raise a hand to hit him. He plastered more bloodied talismans on the walls and the back of the door before leaving with an oath on his lips.
A man clad dark in a martial artist's garb sat on the wall, legs swung over the edge. Shen Jiu ignored him and kept moving his chopped wood bundles. This shed wasn't going to fill itself, and he was no snitch. If someone from the jianghu wanted to rob the Qius or commit a crime on their property, go for it.
He couldn't care less. He didn't even get paid by that family.
Is he their guard? No.
Shen Jiu would prefer it if some suffering and chaos was caused.
"Child."
"Fuck off." Shen Jiu hadn't the patience for him. Don't drag him into anything. He had his hands full enough as it was.
A familiar scent wafted over to him on the faint afternoon breeze, causing his head to snap over, turning quick enough to make his neck creak. His nostrils flared, a snarl curling his lips. Why did that bastard have that?
"Are you Xiao Jiu?" The man unrolled a strip of clothing, the same Qi-ge had ripped from Xiao Jiu's sleeve when he was dragged forcefully out of his arms. It hung from his unworthy fingers, taunting the young omega.
Shen Jiu nearly answered, No.
When a man you don't know shows up and asks for you, for any reason, it was the smart thing to deny and deny some more. Deny your identity. Deny the claims set against you. Deny it all. You don't know a thing. Can't help, sorry, mister.
If it weren't for the scrap of cloth in his hand, Shen Jiu would have answered, No.
"Who is asking?" Give that back.
"They call this master Wu Yanzi. Are you Xiao Jiu? Brother to Yue Qi?"
Shen Jiu allowed himself a nod, hot and cold mixing up around in his chest. Sending him away before he got caught up in something stupid was his way of making things right and keeping that fool safe. Sticking around to come up with a plan to free him, that's suicide. All it'd do was get his legs broken. Worse, maybe.
Sending him away should have been the safe option.
"That is my name. What happened to Qi-ge?"
"Follow this master, and he will show you. Yue Qi is somewhere safe."
Shen Jiu would be the judge of that. Alphas and men especially were liars, the lot of them.
The man relinquished the scrap of cloth with Qi-ge's scent and Xiao Jiu's scent mixed up together when the boy stuck out his hand. Shen Jiu stuffed it into his belt and followed the man over the wall, making his own way up and refusing the hand offered down to help him up.
Xiao Jiu was back.
No more distress.
Yue Qi was so happy and relieved he couldn't stop purring, squishing the smaller boy tight to his chest and refusing to let him free. This was where Xiao Jiu needed to be, with him. Xiao Jiu kept growling and glaring at the closed door.
Wu Yanzi was on the other side to offer them privacy. Yue Qi couldn't think of a single bad thing about the alpha right now. He gave him his Xiao Jiu. All was right with the world. His Xiao Jiu was here.
Look at this.
It's his Xiao Jiu.
So perfect.
So lovely.
So Xiao Jiu.
Xiao Jiu's back.
"Xiao Jiu."
"Yes."
"Xiao Jiu."
"Yes."
"Xiao Jiu."
"What?"
"I love you."
Shen Jiu stopped growling long enough to wiggle and gnaw on Qi-ge's cheek. "Yeah yeah. Love you too."
"Xiao Jiu."
"Yes, I know."
"Xiao Jiu."
"Stop that."
"Xiao Jiu."
"What do you want?"
"Do you want to build a nest?"
"...yeah."
Yay. Yue Qi nuzzled his forehead, overjoyed.