Chapter Text
Sykkuno was a pacifist.
People looked at him, and saw the shy, hand-covered smile and his wind-swept hair messy and puffed out, and thought: oh, what a pretty child, and either took every belonging he had or moved the muzzle of their gun to different direction. People looked at him, and heard his soft voice and his stutters, the way he tried to reason with a weapon to his face, and thought: oh, what a naïve child, and stopped and listened to what he said because what could this mess of reddening face and wild hand-gestures could do to them? He gave them food and necessities; held out his hand and asked them to be his friends. They took it and thought, they’ll kill him in his sleep.
The thing was, Sykkuno was aware of each and every thought people had of him and his demeanors. That in itself should have been a pretty alarming clue. But only people who had spent their time close to him, watching his every move and learned that Sykkuno held someone’s gaze when he said something that most people would sneer at. No prey would look into a predator’s eyes head on, but Sykkuno wasn’t a deer in headlights. He was a lighthouse—safety and danger rolled into the mist that people mistakenly called as hope.
He built his base away from conflicts, and invited people who didn’t have any place to call a home to go back to. It was almost mindless, and highly dangerous, to do that in the first place. And people were convinced that there was a fool from J10 that tried to play house with the world. But what they didn’t know was that Sykkuno extend his hand to nearly everyone, but only to a selected few that he grasped them hard and pulled them into the safety in the eye of the storm. Those who weren’t as fortunate were torn to shreds in the violent swirl of the wind.
When his base grew into a small village and his crew started to come together into a tightly woven knit that miraculously still left a room for them to breathe, Sykkuno gallivanted around and it was almost funny how people got roped into playing house with the very same man they sneered at. He struck partnerships and made tentative allies, put his alarmingly gracious offer on supplies and weapons and security, and laughed in the same breathe with people that could have his head snapped off in less than five seconds.
Sykkuno was a pacifist, and that was the reason why nearly everyone let themselves be wrapped around his slender fingers so tightly.
And yet, in the world that dictated them to be alphas of all alphas in order to survive to the very end, in the world that necessitate them to scavenge and scheme and kill, in the world that needed no honest smiles and warm embraces, Sykkuno strived and survived. When Corpse came to this fact, he didn’t know what to do but stay at Sykkuno’s side and watch as the man smiled brightly at him from the safety of their room as the world burned around them; content and safe, even with the fact that Sykkuno might possibly be the driving force behind the continuous war between the clans.
Scarra once gave him a smile, faint and full of danger that Corpse could feel his alpha instincts blared in alarm even if both of Scarra’s hands were on the table. “You know what he’s doing, don’t you?”
He stared at him warily, feeling like they were circling each other in an Alpha Challenge. But Scarra only leaned back on his seat, relaxed and looking almost humored. “Your little, peace-loving sweetheart is feeding both sides of the war, and all because he has a heart.”
Corpse had clues about it from being by Sykkuno’s side for a long time now, but he had always denied himself the conclusion. He refused to acknowledge that his main driving force was the blood-curling fear that would grip his throat if he were to admit that Sykkuno did everything he did with terrifying calculation for the sake of J10 and, above everything, Corpse. It wasn’t fear of Sykkuno, but more of for Sykkuno. Frankly, Corpse didn’t know whether he wouldn’t go on a killing rampage if he let the fear that all those people that Sykkuno had roped into his schemes would come and hunt him down, right after they were tired dancing to the tune of Sykkuno’s carefully woven persuasions. Corpse wouldn’t be able to stop fearing and thinking about the worst things that would happen to Sykkuno, unless he obliterated all sides and left J10 as the last clan standing.
But he couldn’t do that, because Sykkuno had chosen to be a pacifist so he could put everyone as a pawn on the chessboard and be a player instead. So he could plan and calculate the direction of the war, which pawns to pit up against, which big players to involve in systematic battles that would seem scattered to outsiders. Scarra was right: Corpse did know what the pacifist with sweet, sweet smile and warm hands was doing in this war. And he did know, that the reason why Sykkuno didn’t join into the fray was because he had a heart. Because the more he could be in control of the war, the more he could route it away from J10 and all of its inhabitants.
It was a dangerous game that Sykkuno played, and Corpse might wake up one day to see him losing his life because of it, or lost everything and everyone they had from one simple mistake. But right now, all Corpse would do was bare his fangs and stood in Sykkuno’s shadows, ready to cut every throat that came too close.
Sykkuno was a pacifist, and to keep that fact, Corpse was willing to be a pawn that he kept close to his heart.
The first time Sykkuno hadn’t come back from his loot run longer than he usually did, Corpse started growling under his breath, and Ash smiled and didn’t bat an eyelash to his domineering aura that had brought lesser people to their knees. She wasn’t just anyone, however. She was Sykkuno’s first crew, and Corpse could never shake off the feeling that Ash kept some things deep within her marrow; things about Sykkuno that wasn’t shared for Corpse’s sake. He frowned and nearly challenged her to a fight at first, before remembering that in this compound, his old ways wouldn’t work. An alpha’s challenge didn’t mean a thing unless Sykkuno allowed it, and Ash wasn’t afraid of anything except for not having enough supplies for the winter. Corpse had seen her smile with a sniper laser on her forehead—granted Jack killed the sniper in time, but he couldn’t imagine what she had given and experienced to be able to be so vulnerable and had the nerve of steel at once.
But as time went by, he understood that all she did was protecting him from the shock that wouldn’t bode well with his biological nature. There were too many things that felt like a puzzle in J10, with Sykkuno as the centerpiece of them all.
“He’ll be okay,” she said; confident, endeared. “He’ll be back in no time. So calm your horses, okay?”
“He could be in danger out there,” he cut in coldly. It had been four months since he stayed with them, and he had fumbled to keep his instincts and the tendrils of his past locked inside the chest. Sykkuno had never had any trouble going with the punches, and Corpse had given up trying to understand why he was okay with that instead of freaking out. Ash was a more difficult case. She was a beta, who didn’t bow to Corpse’s stare and didn’t falter when Corpse’s rage wasn’t in check and his aura gushed out like a flood from every pore of his body. An alpha’s aura as strong and malicious as Corpse’s should have been able to bring even other alphas down to their knees, but neither Sykkuno nor Ash showed any sign that they were affected at all. It was both frustrating and relieving at the same time.
“Of course not, silly,” she said, her twang ringing even in the cadence of laughter.
He counted to ten, and peered at her relaxed face. She was sewing what appeared to be blankets. They had enough to keep them warm in the winter, but Ash had an obsession that neither Sykkuno nor Corpse did anything about. So he let her sew another piece of thick blanket, and waited for her to continue with impatience that he tried to keep at bay.
“He always came back, didn’t he? He knows how to handle himself, contrary to popular belief,” she nodded to herself at this, and smiled as if she remembered some jokes Corpse didn’t know about. “Sykkuno might not look it, but he’s a strong alpha too, you know?”
That was the first drop of secrets that Ash kept, and it didn’t feel so much of revelation as it did a long time coming truth that Corpse was too dense to notice. Her tone and choice of words didn’t feel like she was imparting some important information. She talked as if the sky was blue, and the bees would probably rise through the evolution once again.
He kept his mouth shut and leaned back against the stone slab wall. He didn’t say anything until Ash finished the blanket, and she was content in letting him stew in his thoughts.
When she started packing up her sewing kit, however, he started, “He doesn’t have any scent.”
At that, Ash laughed; loud and clear and just a little bit mocking. “Oh,” she crooned. “Oh, Corpse. I was suspicious of this, but it looks like I’m right this time around. About time you realized you’ve literally bathed him in your scent for you to recognize his anymore.”
That was the second drop, and Corpse could feel his stomach plummet along with that. He didn’t say anything afterwards, and she bid him goodnight and disappeared to the small room they had installed last month. Sykkuno kept his bed next to Corpse’s ever since they found him bleeding and on the verge of death four months ago. His alpha healing helped a lot in the process, but Sykkuno took care of him day and night and nursed him back to his feet with soft smiles and gentle touches. He slept next to Corpse and weaved stories long forgotten from Corpse’s memories to lull him to sleep. When Corpse recovered, all Sykkuno did was changed his bed to a new one since the last one had too many bloody patches on them. He didn’t move anywhere, and Corpse found out that he didn’t want him to.
Sykkuno didn’t come back the morning after, and Corpse mined the stones in the wilds nearby harder than necessary. He came back in the afternoon, ate in silence as Ash chattered away, and tended to Sykkuno’s beloved pumpkin patches in the evening. Everything Ash said last night, he turned them round and round in his head until he managed to make even a sliver sense. When Sykkuno found him, he hadn’t hesitated in bringing Corpse in and tended to his wounds. There was no fear or doubt on his perpetually worried face. It puzzled Corpse at first, the way Sykkuno and Ash acted around him, as if his menacing stare and his aura was nothing but thin air. They treated him with kindness, and wariness in Ash’s case. He was pretty sure Sykkuno knew who he was, but he didn’t falter even once and still smiled at Corpse like he was a precious thing.
Over the course, they had had people coming to their small house. Either passing through the area, or to raid them. Every single time, Sykkuno handled them with fluidity that was beautiful and mind-boggling to watch. This far, they have repelled each raid with Sykkuno’s tentative offer of trading resources instead of stealing from them. Each time, those people went back with something the man gave as a ‘souvenir’ for their ‘visits’. And he wondered how he hadn’t notice that Sykkuno was an alpha all this time.
Because not even once had Sykkuno let out an aura, and other alphas that came to their abode had never reacted the way alphas usually acted around unfamiliar alphas. Corpse had always thought he was a beta. His lack of scent was what made Corpse think that, since they usually have faint scents. Sometimes, he even entertained the thought that Sykkuno could be an omega, what with his shy, reserved demeanor. He had never thought that the other man might possibly have issues with his scent glands; that was the only explanation for an alpha to have such absence of scent.
But most of all, Corpse of all people didn’t feel threatened nor challenged by Sykkuno’s presence. In his line of work (old work, he reminded himself), he had to be aware of his surroundings more than other people. He was hypersensitive to other people’s presence, especially alphas. They could jeopardize his missions if he wasn’t careful around them. But Sykkuno didn’t ring any alarm in his head. All he did was make Corpse confused of his kindness and single-minded focus to make allies out of nearly everyone he met.
He thought that Sykkuno was most possibly insane. Because no one in their right mind would do what he did—not in this time, not in this state of the world. He really shouldn’t have made any conclusion without all variables on the table.
Frankly he didn’t know what he would do, what he should think of Sykkuno when he came back. But as it was, he didn’t have to. Because as soon as a familiar mop of floppy hair came into his line of sight two days later, he didn’t have time to think of anything beyond he’s home, he’s safe.
Sykkuno smelled like sweat and dirt, and gunpowder. There was an underlying smell of blood under his clothes, but Corpse ignored it in favor of nosing at the base of his neck, where his scent gland would be. Sometimes, he could smell pines and burnt sugar from Sykkuno, but it didn’t happen often enough for him to take notice. He just thought it came from his time scavenging around the wilds, or from the time he and Ash cooked. Now that he was aware of the issue, coupled with everything Ash said, along with the more than one week long separation, Corpse was painfully aware of the faintest scent coming from Sykkuno, his stuttered breath, and the reddening of his skin that creeped even down to his neck.
“C-corpse?” he asked, tentatively putting his hand on the small of Corpse’s back. “Are—are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” he chuckled against Sykkuno’s skin. “Fuck,” he said, and Sykkuno didn’t say anything afterwards. He let Corpse stayed there for a moment longer, didn’t say anything when he moved to the other side of his neck. He’d have to take a shower, and Corpse would have to get close to scent him again. But by now, as Ash had graciously informed him, he had scented Sykkuno often enough for his scent to stay there. Even now, as he continued his ministration, he could smell his own scent on the man, along with a metallic tang that he was fairly sure didn’t come only from the blood on his skin.
Pines, burnt sugar, and blood; Sykkuno’s basic scent was the most confusing one Corpse had encountered so far. He himself smelled like blood and decaying flesh, but it was mostly because he spent years of his life killing and slaughtering people. Sykkuno baked them pumpkin pies, talked to his plants and read bedtime stories to Corpse; it didn’t make sense. A lot of things about Sykkuno didn’t make sense, and he had a feeling that it would continue to be like that from now on.
“Are you injured anywhere?” he then asked, still holding on to Sykkuno’s waist. He lifted his head finally, and saw that the man was smiling at him. Soft and weary around the edges.
“No,” he said. “Thankfully. But, eh, I feel like I can sleep for a week.”
He laughed and Corpse smiled under his mask. He took the heavy looking bag from Sykkuno’ shoulder, and pulled him back to their home. When he turned, Ash was leaning against the door jamb with a knowing smile on her lips. It didn’t take long before their house was filled with chatters and warmth that seemed to permeate even the stone slabs. Corpse watched Sykkuno under the curl of his fringe the entire dinner, but he didn’t say anything about it. Ash, however, threw him some glances and tapped Sykkuno’s back as she stood.
“I think I’m beat,” she said. “Goodnight Sykkuno, goodnight Corpse. Don’t do anything weird while I’m gone.”
Sykkuno laughed nervously, eyes bewildered even as he bid Ash goodnight back. He turned to Corpse, and tilted his head. “Uh,” he started, “don’t know what that is about. But Corpse—Corpse, let’s rest? I’m pretty exhausted too from the-the week.”
He looked at Sykkuno, and took pity on the awkward stance of his shoulders. He poked around the furnace until it simmered to a light glow. “Ash told me you’re an alpha, and that I was too busy drenching you in my scent to realize that.”
He heard Sykkuno’s soft gasp, but didn’t turn around.
“Y-yeah,” Sykkuno said. “Uh, I didn’t mean to—I mean, I wasn’t sure whether you know or not but—uh, that’s…”
He went silent for a moment, before Corpse heard him getting up and he felt his heat next to him. “I didn’t mean to hide it from you, Corpse,” he said. He sounded calm now, no longer flustered and stuttering. He figured Sykkuno must have come to a decision, and have chosen his words carefully. He always did, and he could do it fast, even under pressure. “You have probably, uh, put two and two together. But—yeah, my- my scent gland is not working right since the start. Most people still can recognize I’m an alpha but—but you didn’t, or you just didn’t show it, and—Corpse, listen. I’m glad you didn’t react the way people usually did, okay?”
He put down the iron poker, and stood up, Sykkuno followed suit in almost the same tandem. “How do they usually react?”
Sykkuno bit his lip, harder and harder as he arranged his explanation. Corpse unthinkingly swept his thumb on it, and the smaller man let it go immediately. He took a deep breath, still awkward and nervous, but he wasn’t shying away. Corpse figured that to other people this might not seem like a big deal, just a testament to Corpse’s intelligence. But the implication of this was bigger than what they were probably ready for.
For an alpha to act around another alpha the way corpse did, to be so completely immersed in marking Sykkuno to the point of not reacting and realizing that he was an alpha—especially someone of Corpse’s caliber, who would cut someone in half if they even breathed wrong.
“Do you—do you remember how people were always surprised at us?” he started slowly, softly. Corpse nodded, even if in his head he started to make the connection. “My scent is faint but they knew I’m an alpha, and—and you’re an alpha too, but I act the way I do and—and apparently that is not common for alphas? And, uh, how do I say this—uh. It’s just, um, you—you—“
“Act the way I do around you?” he finished, and Sykkuno smiled weakly at him. “Yeah, it’s pretty weird to other people, I can see that. I still don’t know why I didn’t realize sooner, though.”
At that, Sykkuno’s smiled a little wider and peeked at him from his long fringe. “Maybe because your alpha is cool with me?”
It was more than that, of course. Corpse was on the verge of death when they met, and it could be that his alpha unconsciously latched onto Sykkuno in his teetered state. Sykkuno was right, though, if it went this far, it meant that Corpse’s alpha had recognized Sykkuno as—as what? He didn’t think he was ready for that thought tonight.
“I can’t exactly blame it, then,” he replied easily, and something in Sykkuno eased up at his tone.
“How do you feel about this, Corpse?” he asked, and Corpse looked at him. The soft shadow casted on his face from the dim light of the furnace, his messy hair, the small scar on his jaw from that one time he fell from the horse. The set of his small shoulders, and faint scent of blood that Corpse noticed clung to him if he focused his senses hard enough; the way he braced himself for something. Anything.
“About what?” he said, because he had made up his mind.
“Uh,” Sykkuno faltered, and looked at the floor uncertainly. “About—about, you know. This,” he gesticulated with his hand, trying to encompass the space between them with a big circle that seemed to represent their current predicament.
Corpse took his hand, and rubbed on the back of his hand to calm his nerve. He pulled Sykkuno to where their beds were pressed together on the corner of the room, and smiled to himself when he followed without question.
“I’m upset,” he said, and tightened his hold when Sykkuno reflexively tried to pull back his hand. “I’m upset that you were gone for so long, and I can’t do anything but wait. I’m upset that you weren’t here and I wasn’t out there with you.”
He pushed Sykkuno to lie down on his bed, and went to lie down on his afterwards. “If my alpha knew something about you that I didn’t, then I have no problem staying close until I figured it out myself. Or until someone else pointed it out to me like Ash did. That’s pretty useful, too.”
Sykkuno’s shoulders trembled as he tried to hold down his laughter. Corpse scooted closer than he usually did, and reveled in how the other man didn’t say anything and pressed back instead. Slowly, carefully, he put his hand to the base of his neck, and spread his fingers when Sykkuno just closed his eyes instead of flinching away. Corpse slept better than he did for more than a week, and didn’t say anything when Ash commented about how Sykkuno smelled even more like him now that he actively did it intentionally.
There were still a lot of things that he didn’t know about Sykkuno, and he still had an abundance of self-preservation to know that not all of it would be good for his survivability. He might be pulled into a harsh current and he didn’t have any way to know whether he would be ready or not. But then again, Corpse trusted his instincts more than anything, as it had helped him through multiple crises in his life, and if his alpha felt that they should stay right here, in this small house with a Beta with no fear and an alpha with soft smiles, then Corpse would. For the better or worse, he would stay.