This Alphamega thing has been collecting dust in my drafts for a while now, i'm very happy that I finally get to post it today ! They find each other again.
« I see you’ve found your way to this life. »
A clash of gaze. A shift of stance. Facing each other at long last. The unending stream of noises muted, distant. Pain is a footnote in this grand reunion, a weak reminder that the inhabited body is not as permanent as the soul.
A flutter of eyelashes. Recognition.
« We parted angry. I could not bear it. »
Two endless beings, trapped in too tight vessels of skin and bones and muscles, holding onto the hint of familiar eternity in each other’s eyes.
Reality pushes back against the force that made it fade in the background, and soon, there are people, humans, talking, asking, staring. The creature on the altar bristles when he is adressed in a language he knows without having ever used it, when a body wedges itself in the gap between two torn bits of a merged soul. A monstrous mouth opens, a gateway to the fiery pits left behind. Teeth that promise a swift end to this one reckless life.
He doesn’t get to rain blood on the ancient stones. A strong hand discards the offending body before it can be torn to pieces. A creature stitched from fragments of the universe’s very fabric towers over the altar, over the naked body that will now hold the spirit that completes his. He does not flinch away from flames dancing under skin, incandescent coals burning in irises.
No, the creature of stars and raw energy simply reaches out.
A touch like coming home, fingers interlocked, palm against palm, the lines of their fates pressed together, perfectly aligned.
« I hereby declare the successful summoning of a fire ghoul on this day-»
« Alpha. »
The word - the name - cuts through the air, interrupts the old and frail-looking man in red and black robes. All eyes converge toward the altar again. Thick silence, draping over the room like a death shroud.
« Pardon me, Omega ? »
The severity of the tone does not deter him ; does not intimidate Omega. He stands just as tall, offering his shadow for Alpha to comfortably unfurl in, partially shielded from prying looks.
« The successful summoning of Alpha. Not a fire ghoul, Papa. Alpha. »
Whispers, indignation and curiosity buzzing in equal mesure under the low stone roof. Two ghouls and their summoner, locked in a battle of will. Finally, the slightest nod from the later.
« Alpha. »
Omega’s free hand finds its rightful place : the small of Alpha’s back, grounding, supporting. A declaration of loyalty, a claim.
It has been too long, since the fire ghoul hasn’t felt what washes over him then, as he leans into a presence he aches for down to his very core.
Belonging.
Alpha is home. In a strange, new world, where volcanoes are tamer than he ever knew them and life is cut for softer beings, in a basement reeking of human apprehension and botchered magic, Alpha is home.
Home was never, had never been a place to him. It was always the familiar frame next to his, shoulders knocking together, tails tangling. Some of the tension bleeds out of the both of them, the wonders of proximity. In this moment, hope dares to rear its head. Maybe this time they will be afforded the peace they long for. And if they’re not, well, at least they will not wander through this new form of existence alone.
Alpha’s lungs expand around a deep breath. He can make out Omega’s heartbeat above all the ambiant noise, as atuned to him as the first day, awareness sharpened by the simple knowledge that a beloved one - the beloved one - is around.
A shudder echoes against Alpha’s skin. When he looks up, his brimming emotions mirrored in the purple of Omega’s eyes. They need to be alone ; this is not a relief that can be shared. Whatever ceremony those humans have to conduct to close the ritual, the ghouls are already miles away from it, in spirit if not in flesh.
Alpha could laugh at the way these feeble creatures clutch to inversed crosses dangling from beads as if they knew the meaning of devotion. As if they knew of the sacrifices it demands, as if they knew what being consumed by adoration truly feels like. This love of his is as sweet on the tongue as it is corrosive to the flesh, it is laughter collected directly from the beloved lips and blood spilled in the name of those precious moments.
Time is a foreign concept to Alpha, time is nothing in the Pit. But here, and now, he discovers impatience, buzzing in his veins as he sinks the sharp point of a fang in the tender meat of his tongue to prevent his temper from splattering viscera all over the room.
In the end, restraint is rewarded, the two ghouls finally dismissed. The Ministry is an architectural marvel, and impossible blend of styles held together by hope and prayers, yet Alpha does not spare it a glance. All his mind, all his being, is captured by the ordeal of pretending he is not about to fall apart simply for standing next to Omega.
Then fingers brush the back of his hand, skin so much more sensitive than it was down in the Pit, goosebumps scattering. Alpha's breath catches in his lungs ; the air here is too pure, it burns down his throat. Slowly, wary any sudden movement might shatter something, crack open reality and suck this moment into a black hole that will erase it forever, Alpha turns to look at Omega.
The quintessence ghoul takes his mask off, freeing his face, familiar and foreign all at once. In the tumble of his brow, the twist of his mouth, Alpha reads the same pained relief he is experiencing.
Metal clatters to the ground, arms wrap around Alpha, stars bloom to life in his chest. The long-awaited reunion, finally made real, not wishful thinking or a figment of a dream, but a fact.
Alpha and Omega are together at last, and they will fight tooth and nail to stay as such.
