Chapter Text
Genesis had never had many issues with combat and missions in Wutai. He grew up working the orchards in Banora. But the decision to deploy the mighty Red Mage, The First Class SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos on a mission to Wutai was not an easy one. Dr. Hollander was intimately aware of Genesis's medical limitations and knew that the SOLDIER was unfit for combat. And because of that, he had a lot of documents to forge to prove Genesis could handle being alone in Wutai. It wasn’t a hard mission, really; Go to Wutai’s Da-Chao Statue, locate the cave, bring back treasures after defeating assorted monsters. It was nothing but a political stunt. A Third Class, hell, untrained infantry grunts could handle the mission and come back in one piece. But using the Red Mage? He’d use materia and put on a flashy show, just the reports that Wutai would complain about, perfect for the Shinra section of the Midgar Nightly news.
Genesis, however, looked like he’d wanted to bite Hollander as he crawled onto the helicopter. Overseas missions required mandatory patch replacement, unless the world wanted to find out that Shinra had been lying. They claimed their three First Class Trio in the Silver Elites were all alphas. If only they were to find out their precious Genesis Rhapsodos was a lowly omega. Unbonded omegas in society? They were rare anymore. Most were born on farms and sold at auctions to the highest bidder as trophy pets, doomed to spend a life producing puppies and milk for some bastard only interested in their legacy and status.
True unbonded omegas didn’t exist in society anymore. They were kept in breeding facilities and raised for pups. They’d gone virtually extinct. The ratio of born pups was roughly only about twenty five percent alpha and omega to seventy five percent beta… That was only a measly twelve and a half percent each, and given that only an omega had a chance of producing omega pups, it was perfectly acceptable legally to breed them. Pups typically didn’t present until they were eleven or twelve, so farms kept any pups that tested positive as potential omegas or alphas in nurseries. There, they’d receive care and basic education, though it wouldn’t go too far and advanced concepts wouldn’t even be touched until they were proven alphas or beta. Betas and Alphas were educated longer, being educated with the intention of going into higher education or working the “farm” when they came of age. Omegas were kept as breeding stock. An omega would have their first breeding season around the time they came of age, and were expected to bear one litter per year. The first breeding occurs the year an omega was to turn eighteen in January, and their dry season, or non-productive rest period, was from October to December. During that time, they would be allowed to recover to be bred again the following January. Something about synchronizing heats meant plenty of pups around the same age.
Genesis had suspicions, since he was an omega, that Shinra had paid for his dam to be bred. Pups were commissioned and sold, it was a huge source of revenue. That and the area between Mideel and Banora? Plenty of lush grass to let the omegas roam. Omegas clustered by nature, so it was best to let them cuddle and play, something fucked up about a youthful nature in omegas drew in bidders. Yes, of course being childlike was sexy and breedable. Alphas were what was wrong with society.
Genesis felt a chill as he descended further into the cave. It was a welcome relief from the arid climate around him. He stuck a test strip into the water’s edge before filling his canteen. He’d have to find some Wutai sentries if he wanted to cause the show Shinra wanted. But really? There was nothing down here. Not even monsters. Shiva’s tits, this place was barren. Then again, maybe by now they’d learned to keep clear of the area to avoid unnecessary Shinra conflict. His vision began to swim as he descended further. Hadn’t he been drinking water? His head felt light and fuzzy as he reached into his bag to swap a cure materia into his bracer. Where was it? He rummaged through his bag before black spots swam in his vision, occupying his sight.
***
“Poor thing, who knows what Shinra had him pumped full of.” A wutainese woman tsked as she pulled off her nitrile gloves.
“What makes you say that, Dr. Qinfei?” Her lab assistant asked, taking her used medical tools into a red bin and replacing the tray with a clean, wrapped pack, with the autoclave tape still unbroken, denoting its sterility.
“Well, he managed to convincingly play the part of an alpha and fool the entirety of Gaia.” Dr. Qinfei explained. “Zixuan. The collar.”
“What size, Doctor?” He asked, already having a draw of plastic-wrapped collars in various sizes and colors ready.
“Probably a medium, might have to size down before we size back up. He’s rather slender.” She brushed some of Genesis’ hair away from his neck. “Skinny, really. He’s still pretty fit, but toned more than anything.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Zixuan nodded, bringing her a red leather collar.
She positioned the prongs over his scent gland and adjusted the collar’s tightness before locking it. “Wonderful. Now, the plan.”
He produced a clipboard. “Which would be?”
“We are going to keep him off of suppressants, blockers, and chemical means of control. We can place him on hormones or medications after we detox him out, then we can try to re-regulate him and get him back to a functioning omega.” Dr. Qinfei explained, unlocking the wheels on the bed. “Place him on the higher caloric diet and put him in with the other isolation omegas.”
“Yes, Dr. Qinfei.” He scribbled the plan down in his neat Wutainese handwriting. “So you do plan on breeding him?”
“Eventually, if Shinra didn’t sterilize him.” She nodded, tidying up her exam room.
“Surely they’d want to keep him intact. They’d want to breed a valuable asset.” Zixuan chimed.
“I never said purposeful sterilization. Mako exposure could have by accident.” Dr. Qinfei straightened out the tools before closing her drawer. “We won’t breed him on his first heat after gods know how many years of heavy suppressant use. Now, please go relocate him to the quarentine pen and let him wake up there on his own. I gave him some sedative so he’d be out for his exam, but he should be up for the dinner rotation.”
Genesis awoke in a room filled with the faint scent of disinfectant and omega. The walls were a soft pink hue, though it seemed faded and may have been brighter in the past. Four beds occupied the space. There were two on either wall of the small room and a door opened to a terrarium of a grassy area. The grass has recently been cut, and the scent still lingered. Two of the beds weren’t made, the blankets having been arranged into lackluster nests from the meager bedding options, also a salmony shade of pink.
One of the walls, the one directly across from the outside run, Genesis could recognize as one way glass. It was just like the briefing room wall that he’d inevitably be shoved into when they realized he’d failed his mission. He had to stop himself from outwardly showing his frustration. They’d taken his materia, quelling his nasty habit of slashing himself, only to cure himself and hide the wounds immediately after. No one could know that the Silver Elites had anything wrong.
“Alright, chow time, pretties.” A Wutainese beta smiled sweetly, pushing a cart with trays on it. “Let’s see, quarantine… Ah. Here we go. Portion of salmon with a side of miso and tofu, mukimame, and collagen jelly. Ooh, they’re being nice to you three today.”
She poured each tray a cup of steaming tea and cold water before opening the slit on the window by the counter. The other two omegas had already snuck up behind him and were waiting eagerly at the counter for their meals. He was fairly certain that if they had tails, they’d be wagging expectantly. It was a shame, they were beautiful omegas, reduced to mindless pets that ran to the door when food was offered. One was a pretty male, with dark brown hair and eyes, with a nice tan, indicating he enjoyed sunbathing. The other was most likely a female, though they were androgynous and Genesis could hardly tell. They had long black curls and immaculate cheekbones, grey eyes and a paler complexion, though not as pale as Genesis.
Genesis absently clawed at his collar. Collar…. Wait, collar? He felt cold panic and dread fill his blood when he’d felt the collar over his scent glands. The collar was made to be hard to break. They were made to be painful if they had to be. They were inhumane and omega rights groups had been fighting to end their use in omega farms. Smaller cuffs were used on omegas’ wrists or ankles right after a litter was born, so the omega could scent their pups, but after that, the omegas wore the collars all year round.
The worker walked away, leaving the three omegas to eat. The other two didn’t bat an eye when Genesis examined his meal, hungry as he was. It didn’t smell like poison, and the other two were quite happy, sipping their soup and enjoying the cut of fish. For an omega farm, he had to admit, it was pretty good quality.
“They’re trying to fatten you up.” The male remarked, though it didn’t seem in bad faith. “You’re new. A lot of newer omegas get put on a more calorically dense diet. I’ll bet they gave you gelatin instead of collagen for dessert today.”
It was like when he first joined SOLDIER with Angeal. Their commanding officer had noted immediately how little Genesis was. He was fourteen when he and Angeal had enlisted. He’d always been a small boy. It didn’t help when he was eating as much as he could to bulk up, even when Angeal would sneak him parts of his rations, and Angeal was the one who sprouted up like a weed. Angeal was the one who kept outgrowing his uniforms. Meanwhile there was Genesis… in the infirmary every other week for blood transfusions to help his anemia since using materia consumed mana and mana ate away at his blood cells. And of course, no one figured this out until he fainted on Sephiroth. The Sephiroth! So now, Angeal knew he was weak, but so did their damned idol.
The male omega’s voice drew him back to reality. “I’m Finnegan, Finn or Finny for short.”
Finn had an Icicle area accent, so he must’ve been from North Gaia. Likely born on a farm. Northern Gaia was full of farms due to the lack of big cities. Lots of open land, so plenty of room to keep omegas. And it wasn’t uncommon to sell omegas between farms, since pedigreed omegas were better than wild-caught.
“I’m Yuna.” The other smiled sweetly. She was older than Finn, being in her mid twenties while Finn was likely freshly eighteen or nineteen. “You’re Genesis Rhapsodos.”
“Yes, I am.” He nodded. “How did you know that?”
It wasn’t like Omegas were uneducated, but it also wasn’t like they had access to newspapers or television. So how would she know about one of the First Classes?
“Dr. Qinfei mentioned Shinra’s Elite SOLDIERS.” Yuna sipped her soup elegantly. She had a ton of grace. “She sounded like she was planning to purchase some sperm from Midgar.”
Genesis froze, feeling violated. It wasn’t uncommon for Alphas to send sperm to omega farms to commission litters, but the knowledge that Shinra was plotting to make money off of them in that way… knowing that Angeal and Zack and Sephiroth would have pups running around Gaia, sold to the highest bidders. And they’d never know. Minerva forbid any of those pups came up to be omegas, kept locked in a facility for their whole lives as breeding slaves and nursemaids. Dry omegas, the ones no longer producing, were kept in the nursery wings, raising pups while the omegas were kept for milking and incubating their next litter.
“I’d eat if I were you,” Finnegan said as he picked up his collagen jelly. “They’ll force you to eat if you don’t.”
Genesis was unfortunately familiar with the topic. He’d definitely been bratty enough as a third class that he’d had to be tackled and force fed in the infirmary, usually with Angeal being the poor soul sacrificed to hold the fiery omega. He felt like a farm would be worse than the medical wing. Heats weren’t fully mindless horny cycles, but the time around that lovely period of the cycle he had no appetite.
He could only hope that Angeal actually cared enough to notice he was gone.