Chapter Title: A Familiar Face
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Gavin was straight as they come.
In the Great Galaxy Era, there was hardly any distinction between straight and gay anymore. Bizarre pairings like female Alphas and male Omegas could live perfectly happy lives too. Young people couldn't comprehend why ancient Earth had insisted only men and women could marry, and as for "homosexuality," the concept didn't even exist these days. When archaeologists first dug up the term from Earth ruins, they spent centuries just arguing over what it meant.
But Gavin was straight—impossibly, rigidly straight.
The ironclad rule that "only female Omegas can be mates" was gospel to him, unshakable even if the heavens collapsed and the earth split open.
In his worldview, marrying a Beta woman was tantamount to topping yourself, and an Alpha woman was straight-up sinful. So when he realized he was being pinned down by a pack of male Alphas, his first reaction wasn't humiliation or fear.
It was a total shattering of his entire worldview.
He froze solid for several seconds before clawing back some awareness from his chaotic mind. He immediately drove an elbow backward with brutal force.
"Get off!"
The guy behind him had him locked around the waist. The elbow slammed right below the ribs, drawing an instant muffled grunt as the grip slackened involuntarily.
Gavin lurched to his feet in a stagger, barely made two steps before intense vertigo dropped him to his knees. Then his shoulder was seized.
Gavin whipped his head around and threw a punch, teeth gritted. His fist was caught mid-swing. Blood streamed from his forehead, blurring his vision into a haze. He vaguely saw someone looming over him, hand outstretched like they meant to throttle him—but then that Alpha was yanked back and flipped hard by a companion.
"Are you people even human… Stop it!"
"Pin them down!"
"He's had enough! Go call the school doctor!"
…
Gavin's breaths came in ragged gasps. He seemed to see chaos erupting around him—military academy cadets pulling apart the others, scuffles and shouts breaking out sporadically. Clearly, the former group hadn't been affected. He clocked that much amid the mayhem.
Maybe they had ironclad self-control. Maybe they'd trained against pheromones. It didn't matter.
The gunshot wound on his left shoulder had torn open. Blood poured steadily into the dirt. His right hand was still numb as hell but just barely enough to prop him up. Amid searing agony, he dragged himself backward, trying to stay unnoticed. He didn't get far before he bumped into something solid—and then a pair of arms clamped around his waist like a vise.
In that instant, every hair on Gavin's body stood on end. He spun and rammed backward. Someone took the hit full-force in the chaos.
"—Ah!"
"Damn it, grab him!"
"Where do you think you're going, huh?"
Someone seized his shoulder from behind, yanking him back into their chest. The grip dug straight into the raw, bleeding gunshot wound. Suffocating, razor-sharp pain blanked out Gavin's mind in a heartbeat.
He crumpled almost instantly, collapsing into the guy's arms. The bastard dipped low, lips aiming for his.
By then, Gavin could barely feel it. The agony smeared his vision into swirling patches of red and black.
He shut his eyes on instinct. Right before blacking out completely, a sharp voice barked,
"—Stand down!"
Footsteps scattered in disarray. The woman's voice roared again.
"What the hell are you doing?! Pull them apart! You there—and you—cuff these idiots in electromagnetic restraints! Haul them to solitary!"
"What's wrong with that student? …Gods, put him down!"
Gavin's mind swam in fog. He dimly felt someone take him, steadying his weight. A flashlight beam stabbed his face.
He cracked his eyes. A young woman hurried up. She had soft brown hair and emerald-green eyes, a gentle, beautiful face. For some reason, she looked incredibly familiar at first glance.
Gavin squinted for a better look, but the light pierced too sharply. He turned his head with a tremor—then his shoulder was gripped.
"G-God…"
Her voice quivered. After a long pause, she whispered softly,
"Gav… Gavin…"
Blood clogged one of Gavin's ears. He could hardly hear, just stared numbly. It felt like a century passed—or maybe just seconds—before the woman spun around, hands shaking as she grabbed a student.
"Go to my lab and grab a dose of Omega pheromone suppressant… Hurry! He'll die if he goes into heat like this—go!"
The student bolted. The woman turned back, pale as death, clutching Gavin's chilled body tight. She pressed her face to his blood-smeared cheek.
"You'll be fine. You'll be okay. It'll be over soon—I'm right here…"
Her words tumbled out in a jumble, her emotions fraying under massive stress. But her scent was lovely—warm, fragrant, brimming with care. Even in the chaos, Gavin could tell: she was a rare female Omega.
The loving aura of one of his own soothed him deeply. He let out a near-silent sigh, eyes drifting shut.
This blackout didn't last long. Maybe half an hour. Maybe less than fifteen minutes.
When awareness returned, he was in the medical bay. Agony devoured his limbs, making it hard to even speak. The cluster of cadets around had cleared out. Only the woman stood by the bed, syringe raised toward him.
Gavin didn't think. He lunged and seized her wrist.
"—Ah!"
She jolted, looking up to meet Gavin's icy stare.
"…It's a synthetic Beta pheromone solution," she panted after a beat, voice trembling.
"This'll make you pass as Beta. No one will know…"
Gavin stared deep into her eyes. After a few seconds, he released her slowly, letting the solution slide into his vein.
The room held just the two of them—eerie quiet, their faint breaths the only sound. Minutes later, the syringe emptied. She eyed the spent tube and murmured,
"What's your name?"
"…Gavin."
His voice scraped out, rough and strained. She gave a brief, bittersweet smile.
"Gavin? What a good name… Do you know what it means in ancient Earth tongue?"
"…"
"White eagle," she said. "A battle god."
She set the syringe aside gently and rose from the bedside. At some point, tears filled her green eyes. Her lips trembled violently, like she was mustering every ounce of strength to hold back immense grief.
Then she smiled through choked sobs.
"Pleased to meet you, Gavin. I'm Edna Consertlin."
2.
Gavin woke again the next night.
Dim light filtered outside the med pod. The brown-haired, green-eyed woman sat slumped in the corner, head lolled against the chair back—asleep, it seemed.
He flexed his fingers. His whole skeleton creaked. The internal injuries from the beating and the shoulder wound were mending, but his head still spun—brain shake or oversleep, hard to say.
The heat had fully ebbed. The deep emptiness and restlessness had settled into calm, leaving him with a lazy comfort.
He reached to shove open the pod's lid. Then a soft knock sounded.
"Dean Edna? —Dean Edna, are you in?"
She snapped awake, rubbing her eyes as she opened the door.
"Ah… What is it?"
Gavin stayed lying down, peering out. A tall cadet stood there, snapping a salute.
"Priority S-level secure comm from the palace, ma'am. They're requesting your immediate response."
Edna paused, then murmured,
"Understood."
The room's air grew heavy. She saw the cadet off, turned back pale-faced. Passing the med pod, she didn't notice Gavin watching her silently. She slipped into the adjoining lab, door half-shut behind her.
Curiosity piqued, Gavin eased out of the pod and padded closer. A stern male voice barked from inside.
"What game are you playing now, Consertlin?!"
—Heinrich!
The Empire's emperor—Heinrich's voice!
Gavin froze two beats, held his breath, nudged the door a crack. Edna stood sideways in the open space. Heinrich's towering holographic projection hovered midair, face twisted in undisguised fury.
He wore a white uniform with gold insignia on the chest—prime of life, features screaming classic Alpha: sharp, chiseled, rugged contours brimming with masculine allure. Enraged, the pressure was overwhelming.
Edna showed no fear.
"I don't know what you mean, Your Majesty."
"Imperial Constitutional Police gunship exploded over the academy at dawn yesterday. Everyone saw the Gryphon storm the research institute—and no one's laid eyes on it since."
The emperor paused, voice icing over.
"Consertlin, you know the only reason I stopped Aaron from killing you back then was to avoid political fallout. Doesn't mean I want you breathing. My tolerance for you is razor-thin."
"…"
"Hand over the Gryphon. And the pilot? He's here at the academy too, right?"
"…He's not," Edna replied after a long silence. "The mech class didn't ID it as the Gryphon. It was too strong—escaped southwest."
Heinrich's face flickered with something indescribable.
"You take me for a three-year-old?!"
"Believe it or not, Your Majesty! I heard about Red Soil Star. Someone who escaped a Bi'an piloting the Gryphon—how's the academy mech squad stopping him?!"
"The Gryphon vanished over the academy. You saying it turned invisible?"
"It escaped southwest. Didn't vanish! Maybe the police missed the trail—do you really trust those Protection Association idiots' report? All they do is profit off stripping Omegas of rights!"
Heinrich's gaze turned glacial. Edna didn't flinch, chin high.
"You can search the academy if you want, Heinrich. I've got the whole institute to vouch the Gryphon's gone. You're just doing this to humiliate me—like you've done for the last fifty years. But it's fine. I don't care."
"You were just a subordinate by Celia's side. Everything you have came from betraying him. I call you 'Majesty,' but I don't mean it—not really. Even if you killed me, I wouldn't acknowledge you as emperor!"
Heinrich narrowed his eyes, surprisingly not exploding. After a beat, he sneered.
"Please. Only Celia gets to say that in this galaxy. Who the hell are you?"
If the start was a threat, this was outright humiliation. Edna's face finally drained.
"…How far do you want to humiliate me, Heinrich?! Aren't you afraid I'll broadcast how General Aaron got beaten by an Omega and lost the Gryphon?"
"Whatever. Go ahead." The emperor shrugged lazily. "Like you broadcasted Marshal Celia being a Beta right in the thick of war all those years ago."
Edna went sheet-white, like she'd been slapped.
The emperor shrugged again, cutting the link.
His hologram winked out. Edna stayed rooted, back turned, fingers clenched white on the lab bench. Her whole body quivered faintly.
She looked fragile beyond words—enough to soften even a heart of stone.
Gavin watched with some pity, easing the door shut to slip back—then her choked voice came.
"You… heard it all, didn't you?"
Gavin halted.
"It's fine. I'm… used to it."
Edna turned. Her eyes gleamed like clear emeralds through tears. She forced a shaky smile.
"Feeling better? Sorry—I found you too late. Those young Alphas don't have much self-control. I'll have them locked in solitary till the impulse fades… I gave you the suppressant, but next heat might hit harder as payback. How're you feeling? Hungry?"
Gavin studied her quietly, then asked after a moment,
"Why not turn me in?"
Edna stiffened.
"You want the Gryphon?"
"No—"
"I've got nothing to offer you. Helping me brings no gain—just the emperor's suspicion."
"No…"
"I can leave right now," Gavin said. "No trouble for you."
They stood at opposite ends of the empty lab. Moonlight spilled through the window, pooling on the cold metal floor. Edna gazed at him deeply, as if ages passed before she whispered,
"It's not like that. I just want to help… See, I'm an Omega too."
She crossed the lab slowly, stopping before him. Her hand brushed his cheek.
"You look just like a friend of mine. We grew up together—most important person in each other's lives. Then he left for somewhere far away. I know he'll never come back, but before that… I even thought of marrying him."
She sounded so wistful. After a beat, she shook her head with a smile.
"Sorry to dump that on you. Did I scare you?"
"…No. Not at all."
"It's just… been so long since I saw someone who looks so much like him. Got emotional…"
"It's fine," Gavin cut in earnestly. "You're beautiful. Anyone you love should count themselves lucky."
Tears welled fast in Edna's eyes. She spun away in a fluster, scrubbing at them haphazardly.
It was undignified, but on her, it held a fragile beauty. Gavin stared, struck by an eerie familiarity—like this woman, this scene, had happened years ago.
But no memory surfaced. Like a link was just… gone.
"Thank you, but I can't… can't let you just leave," Edna's sobs eased after ages. She looked up at Gavin, serious.
"Heinrich's people are watching the academy perimeter since daylight. No one's getting out now. And even if you did, you couldn't take the suppressant. It needs a specific fungal environment—degrades in hours outside the lab. This heat was just suppressed. Next one'll rebound worse. You can't survive solo without it."
"I'll talk to Dean Caroline. You'll pose as a Beta academy student till Heinrich's goons pull out. After that, you're free to go wherever. Out of respect for beating General Aaron, the school and I won't interfere with your choice."
Gavin frowned slightly. The deal felt too generous, but nothing suspicious stuck out.
"Please let me help," Edna said sincerely. "Not everyone can take down that cold-blooded, arrogant killer."
Leaving the academy now was impossible anyway—Heinrich would have the gates locked tight. And the suppressant was a real, urgent need. Gavin mulled it over, no alternatives. Finally, he nodded.
"Thank you."
Edna lit up. "Wonderful!"
She fished a tiny gold ear cuff from her lab coat pocket, hurried over, and clipped it behind Gavin's left ear. Softly,
"I figured this was yours. Fell off during treatment. In exchange for protection, promise me one thing? Never take it off. Keep it on you always."
It was the Gryphon in disguise—they both knew. Gavin wondered why, but Edna shushed him with a finger to her lips. Don't ask.
"The smart mech picks the form most useful to it. You'll see."
"You've got a lot to learn about mechs, but it's okay—trust me. The Royal Military Academy will teach you everything."