Gael

Entry three: Day ten: I had invited Pylos to watch me train again today and while last time he had to get saved by Renallia from a piece of flying bot, this time he wasn’t so lucky. I had to pause my training to check his face, he was hit square in the face by a flying bot arm and it seemed to have broken his nose. It was bleeding quite a lot, but when the medic on board took a look at it, they said it wasn’t broken but definitely badly bruised. They started to chastise me for being so wreckless, but then Pylos shut them down. 

He had growled at them. Genuinely growled at them. I don’t think I have ever heard an alpha so genuinely upset on my behalf. Not like he was at least. It was interesting to see and made something in me feel relieved in an odd way.

I glanced over at Pylos from my stop on my makeshift sleeping area. He was at his desk, reading something over, though I couldn’t make out what it was. I didn’t particularly care either. The bandage covering his nose looked nice on him actually, though I couldn’t pinpoint why it looked nice on him. It’s a symbol that he was so mesmerised by your skills that he didn’t notice or care that a bot’s arm came flying at him. My face burned at that thought and I quickly tried to distract myself with one of the many many new puzzle games Pylos and Renallia added to my tablet.

Entry four: Day fourteen: I was given a week's worth of suppressant doses today. They aren’t the kind that’ll completely stop my heat, but they’re strong enough to lessen the symptoms and weaken my scent, so hopefully it'll work alongside the scent blockers to block out my scent. I didn’t even notice that I was in pre-heat, but the gradual need to make a nest in my window bed and why I’ve felt the need to steal Pylos and Renallia’s clothes anytime I happen to see them started to make more sense once I realized. 

Pylos said that he’ll be sleeping in a different room for now. Apparently his rut is about to start soon too, so he wants to stay separate to protect us both from anything happening. I appreciate that he's being so cautious.

The moment my heat started, I found myself tangled in the sheets I stole from Pylos’s bed, whining into them with every wave of painful need and want. Even with the suppressants, the need to feel pleasure was unbearable. It was something I always hated about experiencing heats.

The earthy floral scent that came off of his clothes and blankets is a bit uncharacteristic for an alpha scent, but fits him perfectly. I hated how much my heat-addled brain demanded to have his scent in my nest, hated how much it both comforted and frustrated me. The omega side of me seemed convinced that I needed the scent straight from the source, I refused to actually request such a thing. 

Entry five: Day twenty: It was a little awkward coming back from my heat, Renallia was the one to check in and give me my meals, so she saw me being so… needy. Thankfully she hasn’t really changed the way she interacts with me, but Pylos seems to be acting a little differently. Rexa too, she seems like she’s trying a little too hard to be closer with me. It’s been weirding me out. Pylos just seems to be staring at me more often than he usually does. He’s been suggesting I read over some of the reports he gets sent to look over too. It was a surprise that he trusted me so much with such sensitive information so soon.

I sigh as I minimize my tablet, tucking the little device into my pocket before focusing on the newest report Pylos asked me to look at earlier. I wasn’t too sure what I was meant to be looking for, but he only told me to look it over and tell him if anything seemed off. It seemed relatively normal to me, but I honestly don’t know what’s considered normal for these reports.

“How is that one looking?” Pylos asks as he steps into the bedroom, looking over to me.

I shrug, looking back down at the report in question. “Nothing seems odd about it, but I also still don’t really know what I would be looking for.” I admit, sighing and handing over the report when he walks up to me and holds his hand out for it.

He glances over it before nodding, “Seems fine to me too. Anything odd you see will likely be more obvious than you think it’d be.” He explains, smiling down at me as he sets it down on his desk. He moved towards my makeshift sleeping area, but hesitates when he’s only a few steps away from me. “May I sit in your… nest?”

“It’s not really a nest.” I mumble, looking down at the very nest-like sleeping area. “You can sit if you want, just don’t mess anything up.” I scoot over so he has room to sit, hating the weird anxiety that starts churning in my belly when he moves to sit down. Damn it, I guess this really is a nest. Damn omega instincts making the executive decision to call this a nest.

“How have you been feeling since your heat?” He asks, his cheeks purpling a little when he looks down at the bedding.

“I’ve been feeling fine.” I furrowed my brows in confusion at that reaction, looking down at my bedding, my own face heating at the realization that I still had one of blankets tucked by where I lay my head when I sleep. “I- um- when I was going through my heat, y-your scent helped me through my heat.” I mumble, now refusing to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry, I can have it washed and given back to you.”

“You don’t have to do that. If you want to keep it, it’s alright.” He says quickly, resting a hand on my knee. The gesture was so gentle that if I were anyone else, I may not have even noticed it. “I’m glad to hear you found comfort in my scent. I… I had found comfort in yours too.”

I was surprised to hear that, then grew confused by how he even managed to get something with my scent. “My scent? How did you even get my scent?”

“As embarrassing as it is to admit, I had taken your towels from the laundry.” He says, sounding genuinely ashamed of the action he took to get my scent, even if he wasn’t fully in the right mind when he had done so. “They were the only things that held your scent, since showering and bathing seems to be the only time you don’t hide your scent.” He mumbles, staring down at his hands when I look over at him.

I wasn’t too sure what to say to that, it felt a little weird to know he’s been sniffing my towels. But I did steal one of his blankets and had it in my nest bed the whole time with me through my heat. “I suppose that's to be expected. I did steal one of your blankets, so I can’t really be mad about that.” I sigh, meeting his eyes that still had shame dancing behind them. “It’s okay, just try to refrain from doing that outside of your rut.” It was the best compromise I could think of.

He immediately nods, “Of course, I would never want to make you uncomfortable like that.”

“Good, I appreciate that.”

Entry six: Day twenty- two: I have caught Pylos staring at me multiple times today and I don’t really know why. I know I don't smell funny, Renallia would have told me if I did. I make sure to still wear scent patches too. 

I caught him staring at me again just a few moments ago, but he looked away the moment I caught him. I want to ask what his deal is, but don't know how to word it properly. It's kind of bothering me, but I don’t really know what to do. 

I jump, instinctively minimizing my tablet and looking up at Pylos after he tapped on the shoulder to get my attention. His eyes widening in surprise at my reaction, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that we have spotted Vishnu. We’re about to challenge them, now-”

“Challenge them? What do you mean you're going to challenge them?” I interrupt him, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck bristling immediately. I didn't want to leap to the worst possibility though. He's made it clear that violence isn't what he wants, so why would he go that route? 

 He seems taken aback by my reaction, “I- what?”

“What do you mean you’re challenging Vishnu?” I growl out, unable to tamp down my irritation.

“Well, I was curious about the group that put my father in such a bad condition.” He speaks slowly, cautious, as if he was walking on egg shells with each word that leaves his mouth. “I simply wish to see how well they truly fight.”

I was standing before I even knew what I was doing, the back of my hand stinging painfully as Pylos held his already bruising cheek. I'm snarling the moment he gives me a confused look, baring my teeth at him, “I can’t fucking believe you. I thought you were after peace, not war!”

“That’s not what I'm doing, Gael-” Pylos tries to defend himself, opting to ignore his now swelling cheek, barely managing to block my next swipe at his face with his arm.

“I don’t care about what you're doing! I can’t fucking believe this! I thought you were different! Stay the hell away from me! I don’t want you anywhere near me!” I scream at him, pushing past the prince and rushing out of the control room and sprinting down the halls of the ship towards our room. Upon entering I start tossing the folded clothing I have in my makeshift bed, throwing them in a pile near the door.

The sound of running footsteps and heavy breathing follow close behind, before Pylos’s panicked pleas break the silence. “Gael, please! I’m not doing this for war! I’m truly not! Please listen to me!” He begs as he rushes up to me, reaching out to grab my wrist, only pausing at the sight of my once small blade awakened into its true form. The once black bladed dagger morphed into a beautiful black dao saber with glowing red vines etched into the edge of the blade. My own tear filled eyes glowing along with it.

“I’m leaving. Get out of my way.” I growl lowly, ignoring the stinging in my eyes. 

“Please hear me out.” Pylos begs softly, raising his hands up in an attempt to show he's not a threat to me.

“I said I’m leaving.” I keep my eyes on him as I pick up one of the only space safe suits I was given. “Don’t you dare try to stop me or I will hurt you.” I step around him, my blade trained on him the whole time.

The moment I've made it into the hall, I turn tail and run. Sprinting straight to the hangar and quickly climbing into one of the escape pods, forcing my way out of the royal warship and into the surrounding nothingness of space. I make sure to disconnect the communicator in the pod before any of them can try contacting me, setting a course to the nearest planet close to a Spirit's base. 

Once the pod’s destination is locked and it starts moving slowly on its way, I finally realize there are tears streaming down my cheeks and my chest tightening. Now that I'm not focusing on running, the realization that he hadn’t run after me starts plaguing my mind. He hasn’t even sent the generals after me, the pod would've detected their approach if he had. He did nothing to stop me. He really just let me leave. I tried so hard to stop the sobs when they started, but soon I just let it all out, pulling my knees to my chest and curl in on myself. 

I couldn’t believe I let him fool me. He was just so convincing and kind and even I couldn't deny that he was handsome… and smelled nice the few times he didn't wear scent patches. But he was still the leader of the Ekati empire with his own plans.

Pylos

I stare down at the rumpled pile of clothing on the floor next to Gael’s makeshift sleeping area, kneeling down next to it and starting to fold everything back up. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I couldn't believe that the one omega that I actually felt something for had looked at me with so much hurt in his eyes, so much betrayal written all over his face. We were making such good progress, he finally started talking to me on a regular basis instead of just ignoring me and would actually invite me to watch him train. Then everything blew up in my face because I didn’t keep him clued in on all of my plans. Everything was going perfectly! But I was so worried he'd be upset being involved, I kept my plans quiet around him. It'll be even harder to win his trust now. 

“Sir! One of the escape pods just activated!” Rexa yells from the hall, pulling me from my stupor.

“What?!” I jumped to my feet and sprinted straight to the hangar, but it was too late. The escape pod was already gone and the exit for it was damaged and leaking out the air in the hangar. I fall to my knees and stare at where the emergency escape pod once sat, eyes wide and stinging with tears. He left. He truly left. I was hoping he was just going to move rooms and ignore me. But when he said he was leaving, he meant leaving completely. He was truly gone.

“Sir?” Rexa murmurs. “Should I set a track to follow the pod? We can get him back immediately.”

I let myself think it over for a moment before reluctantly shaking my head. “No, let him go. He wasn’t happy here and I… I don’t think he ever was going to be.” It hurt to admit, but I knew it was true. He hated being seen as my omega, the only time I ever saw him even remotely happy was when he got to train, whether it was against bots or Renallia didn’t matter. He was a wild animal trapped in a gilded cage living here. A strong soldier that had his freedom stolen from him. Please, I beg of any gods that'll listen, please don’t let any harm come to my Gael on his journey to his true home. I swallow down the lump in my throat, standing back up and straightening myself, “Continue on with following V, we need to see if they're still the same group they claim to be."