It was Dante's fault.
It was all Dante's fault.
The chamber was built to withstand gods, powerful beings like themselves. White stone pulsed with gravity enhancers. Protective technology had been carved into everything: the floor, the walls, the air. Electricity hummed low and constant, stripping their power, thinning breaths. Created to protect the elite from the seven emperors. It was almost ironic, Levi realised, that the suppressants created to protect the emperors were now being used to protect the officials.
Dante sat at the very top. His back was straight, hands folded, crown on his head. His eyes were open but empty, glazed over, unfocused. A swarm of planet One ministers before him. His hands were on a pen, running through document after document.
Signing.
Authorising.
His father stood beside him.
Immaculate. Robes falling to the ground, hands folded behind his back like a teacher. His features were so similar to Dante's and yet so vastly different. Below them, more officials gathered, none that were his, speaking in clipped voices. A swarm of numbers and projections filling the air.
Levi's vision swam red.
The ministers at the top were all from planet One. He growled. When had One obtained full autonomy over the situation? They had an alliance. A fucking alliance, not a dictatorship.
"Dante!" he roared, his voice tearing through the chamber. "We need to talk."
The officials paused. A few turned. None seemed afraid. Dante's gaze drifted down slowly, delayed, almost too mechanical. When it landed on Levi there was no recognition.
Levi stepped forward, a growl low in his throat. The air screamed in warning. An alarm spun. "Don't threaten me," he snarled at the officials. The goddamn officials who'd decided that they had to turn on the suppressants against him. The emperor. "Dante," he repeated, voice shaking now. "Look at me."
Dante's lips parted.
His voice was too smooth and too dead when he finally spoke.
"What is the problem?"
Something inside Levi cracked.
But before he could reach him, Dante's father stepped forward, placing himself between Dante and Levi. "The emperor is occupied," he said mildly. "Planet One is undergoing stabilization of the elite galaxies."
Levi laughed. It was ugly. Broken. "Then tell him his mates are dying."
A ripple passed through the chamber. His father-in-law merely sniffed. "He knows."
His rage flared. "Then he should come down and have a pack meeting with us—"
"It is not appropriate," the old man continued, unbothered, "for you to interfere in a meeting during a crucial phase. I assure you Dante knows and has considered the situation—"
Levi saw red.
"You drugged your own son," he snarled. "Say it. Out loud. Tell the room how you turned him into a fucking corpse. That you have a puppet for an emperor who can't even speak for himself."
Dante's father didn't look at him. Instead, he studied Dante, head tilted slightly, eyes assessing him like a tool to be inspected. He turned to Levi then. "Dante knows to put state affairs first," he said calmly. "The drug helps his destabilization. He listens to his people. As his mate," the man regarded him coldly. "You should understand."
"Destabilization?" Kieran barked out a laugh, finally speaking out from behind him. The lights danced. Levi had forgotten that his lover had followed him into the chamber. "You mean his soulmate."
Levi stepped forward. They'd turn on the gravity, and it was biting hard into his shoulders, forcing him to slow down. But he refused. "Planet One did this. You isolated her. You cut contact." He sneered. "You let Cetus near her knowing that this could happen. You've all fucked up, and you refuse to fix it."
The council shifted. Murmurs broke out. Unease spreading.
But no one denied it.
"It is unfortunate." Dante's father nodded his head. "But we had to attempt the separation; it was necessary. And now, the disease only tells us that we should continue"
Levi went still. "The disease?"
"The soul-bond," the man replied evenly. "Seven emperors tethered to a single human Omega. That, is unusual. Left unchecked, it would have rewritten the Alpha hierarchy." His lips pressed into a thin line. "It cannot happen."
"So you are still trying to kill her," Levi said, voice raw. Kieran gasped.
"No, no. We merely want to apply pressure," the man corrected. "Distance. Isolation. Controlled decay. The bond was meant to starve. It should have wasted away. And it will. We have that under control."
Dante's fingers twitched in his lap.
Barely.
But Levi saw it.
"I assure you the Titans were not part of the projection." His father continued droning on his bullshit to cover his ass. "They breached the containment," Dante's father said coolly. "Cetus became unstable. It is regrettable that we are here now, but we must do what we can. Losses are inevitable. But we will try."
Regrettable.
Losses.
Try.
Levi shook.
"You fuckers," he snarled. "Two emperors. Two mates! Is that not a dire situation to you?"
Dante's father finally looked at him. "Of course it is. We are doing everything we can."
His smile was disgusting.
Politeness concealing coldness.
Dismissive.
He didn't give a fuck.
Kieran shook. "How cruel."
"You are a foreign emperor," the emperor emeritus said with a wave of his gloved hand. "This matter will have to be decided by the people of One. Cetus is our charge. We will make quick work to ensure results."
Levi smiled. "You forget," he said softly, shadows boiling under his skin. "That Two can be just as strong as One."
"You rule through violence," the man replied softly. "That is why your people are not in this room. They are where they need to be, preparing the army. We rule through foresight."
Levi snarled. "Dante?"
Dante's head tilted. "Planet One acted in the interest of survival," He said suddenly, voice flat as if it were all rehearsed. "The bond was a threat. The human was unsustainable for the pack. Our actions followed appropriate plans based on probability. The outcome is unfortunate."
Levi stared at him.
"Say her name," he growled. "Say Rue."
Dante didn't blink.
Silence stretched, suffocating him.
"The variable was to be removed," Dante said. "I was the first to be influenced by her powers, and so I understand the danger." Levi's mind danced to her command, to the words she'd declared to him in her rage.
You won't smell me. You won't hear me. You won't be able to see me. In your eyes, there will be no Rue, but you will feel my absence and you will know my pain.
His jaw clenched tight.
"She was in pain!" Levi snarled. "She only wanted you to acknowledge her. She only wanted her Alpha." Dante remained quiet, and Levi scoffed. "You must feel her pain. Her starvation. Her torture. You must feel it all. And with her strength waning. It must be burning you alive."
Kieran made a sound like something breaking. A choked sob. That had a flicker of something in Dante's eyes. Levi took another step. The floor lit up, suppressors slamming into his spine, forcing him down to one knee. But his eyes never left Dante. He roared.
"Did you take those drugs to mute your pain?"
Dante did not speak.
"That's not him," Levi said hoarsely, weakened by the ordeal. "You fuckers."
"He volunteered for compliance," Dante's father said. "He chose this."
"No," Levi snarled. "You drugged him. You made this happen. You killed them all."
Dante seemed to snap. For a second, electricity sparked weakly across his knuckles before the suppressors crushed it. "I was only doing my duty," Dante said, voice wavering for a fraction before flattening again. "Nothing more. Nothing less."
Levi rose slowly. "I repeat our mates are dying," he said, his voice was too low, shaking with the effort to control his rage. "What is your plan?"
Dante didn't answer.
He sat rigid on the throne, eyes unfocused, breath shallow. The faint tremor in his hands betrayed the storm under his skin, electricity twitching uselessly. Levi's jaw tightened.
"TELL ME NOW," he bellowed, the sound ripping through the chamber, alarms flaring violently. "WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PLAN?"
The council reacted instantly. Shields raised. Guards entering the room. Pressure slammed down hard enough to hurt, forcing Levi to brace himself, teeth clenched. Kieran hissed.
Dante's father didn't even flinch watching them with a smile..
"The plan," he said calmly, "is always containment."
Levi laughed, the sound raw and cracked. "Containment of what? The Titans? The Lonely? Or my mates while you wait for them to die? They're emperors, emperors of seven and four. Your priority should be to save them. And to save them, you have to save Rue." Levi glared now, flames flickering across his skin. "You must destroy Cetus."
Silence.
Dante's fingers twitched in his lap. His jaw clenched once, tight enough that a spark jumped and died at his knuckles.
He said nothing.
"Firstly, the bond cannot be allowed to complete," Dante's father stated, voice even. "Rue's existence destabilized the Seven. The risk curve exceeded tolerance. We simply cannot let her continue this way." He cleared his throat. "And secondly, Cetus is the only reason why the Titan remains on the planet. You see, it is trapped." The old man smiled. "And that itself, is success."
"So you're just letting it be," Levi said, lips parting in horror. "You plan to just let them all die."
"Of course not," the man shook his head. "The moment we have more information, we are severing the connection. The bodies of your mates are here. They will survive with the poseidon's care." The man corrected him as if he were a child. "Her death will hurt, but it will stabilize your pack. Rampage will recede. The Lonely will lose its catalyst. The Titans will lose their edge." He smacked his lips as if it were perfect.
Kieran let out a broken sound, half-sob, half-scream. "You're talking about her like she's a fucking problem to solve."
"She is," the man replied as if he were a child. "Just an Omega."
Levi took a step forward. The system screamed, suppressors slamming into him again and again. His shadows swayed. "You don't get to decide that," he snarled. "You don't get to choose to kill my soulmate."
Dante's head dipped slightly. A delayed motion. Like his body reacted before his mind could stop it. His breathing hitched. Electricity flared weakly along his arms before being crushed back into stillness.
"My dear boy," the man merely smiled at Levi. "She has already compromised two of your mates just as we've predicted, just as the Titans wanted." He nodded his head. "It is no doubt, that she is the enemy. This, is exactly as we feared, and so the outcome will not change. Soulmate or not. Alphas do not mate Omegas."
*
No matter what they did, they could not stop Levi from travelling through the shadows to find Dante. And at first, he seemed…fine. He found him standing in the middle of his room, hands folded behind his back, spine straight, gaze fixed on the far wall. The lights were dimmed. No stray sparks. No static in the air. No smell of ozone.
Controlled.
Levi had never seen his pack Alpha this weak.
"Dante," Levi said.
The man turned on command. Precise. His eyes tracked Levi's face like he was checking boxes. His gaze meandered then jumped back to the wall. "You are not authorized to be here," Dante said evenly like a robot.. "Leave."
That was when Levi felt it. The wrongness. There was no hum under his skin. No pressure of his mating bond. Dante was like a corpse. "Are you okay?" Levi asked, stepping closer, brows furrowed.
"Yes," Dante replied instantly. Too quickly.
Levi stopped an arm's length away. He waited, his eyes searching his mate's face. "Say her name."
A pause just a fraction too long.
Dante's jaw tightened. A flicker rippled through his pupils. Something seemed to break.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Levi's shadows stirred, low and restless. "Rue," Levi said quietly. "Say Rue."
Dante's lips parted.
Nothing came out.
His fingers twitched behind his back, nails biting into his palms hard enough to draw blood. A faint spark jumped at his wrist and died immediately, crushed back down.
Levi felt a rush of smug hope.
He was in there.
Dante continued. "There is no operational relevance—"
"Our mates are in danger."
A breath stuttered out of Dante's chest, sharp and broken, like something inside him had tripped and stumbled, crashing to the ground. His shoulders jerked once, then stilled again as if dragged back into place by invisible strings.
Levi stepped forward.
"You're drugged. You're not yourself."
"No," Dante said too quickly. "I am."
A shatter.
Sweat beaded on his temples. His eyes were glazed, refocusing, then growing dazed. The air hummed faintly now, electricity pressing against his skin. The familiar buzz of the strongest zeus in the world.
"Where is it?" Levi asked softly.
Dante's gaze flicked down, left, then forcibly back to neutral.
That was all Levi needed.
He moved.
By the time Dante reacted, Levi's fingers were already around the device lodged in his skin, pulling, tugging it free. Blood spilled. The roar tore out of Dante's chest, voice shredding itself raw.
"DON'T," he snarled.
But the capsule was ripped from him. Drug no longer pumping constantly into his veins. Levi threw Dante into the wall. Then crushed the capsule under his boot. Shadows smashing the remains of it into dust.
And this time Dante growled, snarling like a beast.
"Give it back."
Levi didn't hesitate. He fucking drove Dante harder into the goddamn wall, forearm crushing his throat, feeling the crackle of electricity snap again skin. His body convulsed as lightning flared, lights bursting. Levi didn't care. The shadows were his realm, and right now they were deep in darkness.
"Give it back," Dante rasped again, voice shredded, desperate.
His pupils were blown wide, almost all pitch black, sweat slicking his temples. The smell of stimulants and suppressants poured off him in waves. Layers and layers of poison.
It stank.
"Look at you," Levi snarled, shaking him once, twice. He roared. "Look at what you've become."
Dante's hands clawed uselessly at Levi's wrist. Sparks raced across his knuckles, misfiring, uncontrollable. He wasn't even trying to fight, just trying to reach. Always reaching for the crushed device under his foot.
"I need it."
"For what?" Levi screamed. "For your father? For the Council?" His grip tightened. "They turned our mates into corpses. Halcyon. Valentino. Rue—"
Something in Dante cracked. His head slammed back against the wall, a choked sound tearing out of him. "I didn't know," he croaked. "I swear—I didn't—"
"Bullshit! You authorised this. YOU AGREED."
Levi threw him again, hard enough that the wall shattered, debris raining upon him as Dante slid down, barely catching himself on shaking hands. His knees buckled.
"You signed the papers," Levi roared. "You let them take her there. You took the drugs. You allowed them to use Cetus. You gave them fucking clearance!"
Dante laughed then.
It was broken. Wrong. A wet, hiccupping sound.
"You think I had a choice?" Dante said, dragging himself upright. His voice buzzed, layered with static. "You think he lets me choose?"
He twitched violently, teeth chattering as another surge ripped through him.
"They put it in me without my consent," Dante whispered, eyes glassy. "The drug. They turned it all the way up." He pressed a shaking hand to his temple. "But I can't think without it. I can't breathe. You don't understand. I need it." His blue eyes shone with unshed tears. "Please, my love, please."
Levi hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
But Dante seized it. He lunged for the crushed injector on the floor, fingers scraping uselessly against shards for an ounce of the drugs. Levi slammed his boot down again, grinding it all into powder, shadows exploding from him. Dante cried.
"No," Levi warned, voice low and lethal. "It's driving you fucking mad—"
Dante screamed.
"You don't understand," he wailed, clawing at his own chest now, electricity ripping through him in violent arcs. The blue sparked and Levi stumbled back. "If it burns out, if I lose control…" His eyes were wild. "I'll go into Rampage. I'll kill everything. I'll kill you. I'll kill everyone. EVERYONE"
"Then fight it," Levi snarled. "All your life you've fought it, all your life you've lived with Rampage. You have always faced it."
"No. I can't," Dante sobbed. "I can't. Not after I've had her, not after I've lost her."
"You don't need her—"
"I do," Dante screamed. "I DO. I DO. I DO. SHE'S MINE. SHE'S MY MATE. MY SOUL."
The words slammed into him, had Levi growing still as he stared at his pack Alpha. Dante looked awful, sweat running down his skin, eyes shaking, lips trembling, hair a mess of curls. The bite wound on his neck was raw, swollen red and hot, dripping with fresh blood.
His nails dug deeper into skin.
Levi watched as blood poured.
"I felt it," Dante whispered, collapsing fully onto the floor. His power flickered weakly now, sparks sputtering and dying. "The moment they took her away. The moment they put her under Cetus. My Alpha—"
He gagged, nails digging into her bite on his neck. Vomit spewed from his lips. His chest was rising and falling so violently he seemed to seize. He was not well, and Levi was frightened by the situation.
"My Alpha screaming." Dante gasped as if drowning. His eyes were blown wide, staring into space. Blue eyes, growing only bluer from unshed tears. "My soul…crying. Crying… I…Levi," his gaze locked with his. And Levi found his terror rising as his mate reached for his hand. "I feel…I feel so weak." A laugh bubbled from him, then he gasped in short, desperate pants. "I've never felt this way before."
"Dante, breathe—"
His body jerked again, a violent seizure ripping through him as electricity burst from his skin, scorching the floor. Levi backed away instinctively, heart pounding. His pack Alpha had pissed himself, urine puddling under him as he stared into space. Behind him, Altair gasped. Levi hadn't noticed that his mates had arrived. That they were all standing behind him watching the aftermath.
The terror stank in the air.
The strongest.
They were the strongest.
Levi felt hollowed.
Seraphim whimpered. "H-He's addicted. It must have only been a week…He's not…He's—" He collapsed to his knees. "He's supposed to be the strongest Esper in our Universe, how could a mere drug—"
"What the fuck is this?" Kieran wept. "What the fuck has the Council done?
And in the darkness, Altair screamed.
*
Levi stood now before the tanks, gaze down. Kieran by his side, silent, tense. The water rippled faintly.
Halcyon floated motionless, his chest rising and falling, black ink like serpentine trails. Every few seconds, he twitched violently, gasping, eyes fluttering open and rolling back in the water. Valentino seemed worse now. His skin was pale, almost grey, veins pulsing black.
Kieran's hand found Levi's shoulder, squeezing. "We'll figure it out."
Levi snorted. Pathetic. Seven pathetic emperors. "Will we?"
Kieran did not reply.
Levi's jaw clenched, teeth grinding. "Fucking hell… this isn't just poison." He pressed a palm against the glass. "It's like… like their souls are being ripped out of them."
"Probably."
"We fucked up," Levi sighed, the ache in his chest was building. His own soul was collapsing. "What can we do now?" he asked. "What the fuck can we do? We're all weakened by the situation."
Kieran pondered emptily. "I guess we'll have to kill it."
"How?" Levi snarled. "We can't even get close. All we can do is blow up the fucking planet or wait and watch as our mates die. It's impossible. It's fucking horrible—"
And then something pulled at him. A sharp, unbearable tug, like a hook sinking into the deepest part of his chest. He staggered back instinctively, a cry lodged in his throat. Kieran caught his arm.
"What the fuck—"
Kieran screamed.
The speed of it was overwhelming.
It was like his own teleportation. The world warped around them. Light fractured into shards. Shadows flared from Levi's skin. His body was stretched beyond time and space. And then he collapsed, traumatised, horrified at the feet of his beloved Rue.
Rue.
Rue with her sweet, sweet apples. Only they were rotten now.
She stared at them, terror laced in her eyes, golden eyes so pale they were almost white, cheeks sunken. And then his gaze darted to Halcyon who stood before her. Halcyon who smiled with too dark eyes, and too sharp teeth. Halcyon who smelt like something wrong. Halcyon who could not be here.
His lips parted in horror.
The Titan.
We have to kill it.
Kill…His eyes rested on the figure before him. Kill Halcyon?
And pain rippled sharp and vibrant through their souls.
A/N- Read 9 chapters ahead on
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