eighteen

"Are you crazy?"

Ivan stood before Tate, seeing him look at him like he was the stupidest person on the planet. He forced a grin to his lips...only for it to drop seconds later.

"Maybe, but I need your help-."

"Why the hell would I help you?" Tate interrupted with a harsh tone. He looked Ivan up and down as he saw he had two book bags with him. "I literally dislike you. I am for you and Jeremiah separating."

"I know." Ivan grins, and Tate immediately started frowning. "That's why I think you can help me the most."

Tate folded his arms, looking around to see if anyone noticed him. Because it's not like Ivan was just any other person. He was the son to the upcoming and preselected choice as the main figurehead, their leader.

"Come in real quick." Tate let Ivan come in, closing his door quickly just to be safe. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to save Jeremiah, and the only way I can do that is if I disappear. I can't go to my parents, they'll instantly give me away. Jeremiah's parents will too. I don't have friends...and not that I'm saying we are friends, but I feel like out of anyone else I know - you'd be for my plan. You love Jeremiah...right?" Ivan found himself asking Tate.

Tate's arms tightened against his chest, looking away from Ivan sharply. "It doesn't matter if I do, or not. He's devoted to you, his whole being is bonded to you. You're...you're a fool for coming here. Jeremiah will find you."

Just from the idea of Jeremiah finding Ivan here scared him to death. He didn't want to see him angry like that ever again. Because such anger resulted in Tate getting hurt.

He was afraid of how badly he'd react finding out he was here.

"No, he won't." Ivan grins, dropping his bags onto the ground even though Tate never said he could stay. "I am in a household that is lived in by just one Omega. Your pheromones are all over the place, they'll dull mine in comparison. Besides, I used all of mine to knock him out...so I can't even release any for quite a bit-."

"You did what?!" Tate cried out.

He was absolutely horrified at how calm Ivan was speaking. He just admitted to knocking Jeremiah out with his pheromones.

"It's okay; he didn't get hurt-."

"It is not okay! And if he wakes up and sees you're gone - what of that? Do you not know how Alphas like him become when the Omega they're bonded to is hurt or disappears?!"

Ivan blew him off, about to turn away until Tate rushed in front of him. He saw how fearful he was as his fingers went within his hair in a panic.

"He'll be a menace upon everyone's lives until you reappear again. The Alpha part of him won't rest until he has his Omega back-."

"We never bonded or mated, just married." Ivan informs him quietly as Tate didn't think it mattered. "He doesn't even understand the Alpha parts of himself anyway."

"That's even worse! That means he won't know how to contain his true feelings - he won't be able to contain anything!" Tate cried out and Ivan just wasn't understanding what the big deal was.

Unaware that in his parents house, Jeremiah was losing his mind.

He was ransacking the whole place just to try and find him. Ivan's father tried to calm him down, but it would only make Jeremiah more angry.

"You know don't you?" Jeremiah got in his face abruptly, startling his father as he saw how deranged he looked. "You have to know! You're his parents! There's no way you didn't help him. Did you send him off somewhere because he thinks he's helping me? Are you two fucking with me-?!"

"Jeremiah, please, calm down-."

"I won't calm down! My Omega is missing! The Omega who wished he had died and wants to divorce me to save me from him! I can't be calm when that's the last thing he was saying to me!" Jeremiah cried out painfully.

Ivan's parents were not fully comprehending how much this was affecting Jeremiah. The part of him that was so protective over Ivan was running rampant. Wanting to see him, to hold him close, to see whisper into his ear that it's all okay.

The only one who wasn't okay was Ivan now.

"Ivan asked for you to divorce him?" His mother asked warily, and Jeremiah's eyes whipped onto her. "Then isn't that...your time to make some serious decisions? No matter your choice, it won't hurt us if you do so-."

Jeremiah turned his back to them both, grinning as he stood in their living room. The living room that was completely ransacked and everything a mess.

He left Luka with his own parents, but he felt like ransacking their place too for Ivan. Not with Luka there...he couldn't let Luka know.

"You two piss me off so much that I don't even know what to say." Jeremiah smiles, looking back at them and how disturbed they looked. "I am here, searching for him, and all you can tell me is to take advantage of this moment? What moment? The moment he's hurting the most and divorce him, take Luka with me? Follow everyone's ridiculous rhetoric as if they truly know me?"

He sniffed the air once more to see if he could get Ivan's scent at all, but still nothing.

"I think I'm beginning to understand." Jeremiah became overwhelmed again as he had no idea where to search next.

His hands began to tremble, his whole body becoming hot as the need to see Ivan intensified. Whatever he was feeling, he liked it.

"Understand what?"

"This is what it feels like to be an Alpha," He tells him, nodding as he pushed past the both of them, "I will and would do anything for Ivan, my Omega. To protect him from all things ugly, even if it's family."

Jeremiah left their house as they were now left with a home that was completely torn apart.

Ivan's father was pissed as he rushed to his phone and past the mess. He instantly tried calling Ivan to solve this ridiculousness, but he didn't answer.

As Ivan looked his phone, he let it ring as his father continued to call. While Tate watched on in terror and every time Ivan would look over at him, it amused him every time.

"You have nothing to be worried about. No one would ever think I'd come here to you. The last time we spoke, you were talking your shit to me. Why would anyone think that I would come to the one person who not only is in love with my husband, but hates me?" Ivan raises his eyebrow and saw Tate begin to take those facts into consideration. "It's okay. You'll be okay, and I'll make sure that you don't get in trouble."

"How am supposed to believe that?" Tate questioned him sharply.

"You're just going to have to, you now have no choice. I've already been here for some time and I know Jeremiah is looking for me now. He'd never think to come here, but if I walk out of here and my pheromones happen to linger out just a little - he'll be here. And if he sees I'm not here and the last scent picked up of me was at your house?" Ivan looked at Tate with a raised eyebrow, chuckling as he already knew that he could do deductive reasoning.

"You're still fucking with me, aren't you?"

"Nope." Ivan looks away, exposing his palms to Tate as he grins solemnly. "I am showing you my most vulnerable side. I am asking for your help and the reward, you can have him."

"This is ridiculous. He doesn't want me," Tate sneered sharply as he looked at Ivan like he was truly stupid now, "His everything is yours. Even the part of himself that he doesn't understand; the part that makes him an Alpha. Even if he doesn't understand it, it will come out. He can only suppress his Alpha nature for so long. It'll definitely come out from you doing this."

Ivan let Tate shove his way past him as he rushed away. He stood still, aware that despite Tate's words, he wasn't going to say anything.

It was now complicated, much more complicated than it needed to be. He could've taken Jeremiah's word for it.

To divorce and then just marry again. To end this one and start "anew". He just wanted Jeremiah overall, not within anything else involving him.

Ivan didn't think he deserved it.

"You don't."

He remained silent when he heard the Luna's voice behind him. Taking himself into one of the rooms, he locked the door as he turned around and saw her.

Saw the look that was full of disgust and ridicule. He almost wondered why she was even here in the first place. This had nothing to do with her now because he wasn't trying to help Jeremiah.

"What do you want?"

"That's how you speak to me?"

"Yes," Ivan locked the door to be safe, "I'm away from Jeremiah so that he can realize that I'm horrible for him. I'm helping...and you're here once again, looking at me like I'm some nuisance, a monster even. What more do you want from me?"

"You weren't supposed to run away."

Ivan didn't understand why she cared so much. She could hear his thoughts and hearing him question why angered her greatly.

Her hands reaching forward as they were inches from his face. Ivan not even flinching, for certain in his choice. He truly felt like he was helping, no matter how Jeremiah was behaving.

"I will not do things your way. He doesn't need-."

He gasped when he suddenly could see the Luna so clearly before his eyes. As she was now physically before him and no longer a spirit. Her eyes glaring up into his...her bright green eyes that he hadn't noticed before that blazed into him.

Raising his hands up in defense, he backed up, "No matter what I do, I'm always wrong in someone's eyes. Even if I'm protecting the two people I love most-."

"You are still making choices for everyone else." She interrupts him sharply.

The Luna watched him look away, and could hear his thoughts. Thoughts that wished for this conversation to be over and to no longer speak to her.

But she wasn't going anywhere, not this time.

"In every reality, I see every part of you both. In every single one of them, you have died because of the choices you've made." The Luna tells him, watching Ivan still avoid looking at her. "And in every one of them, Jeremiah died soon after. You both still...are cursed by your choices."

Ivan looked back at her, seeing how angry she was. Except he was angry now because for her to say Jeremiah would die too was infuriating.

"I am saving him from me! You all repeatedly have told me - to my face - how he deserves better than me! That he doesn't deserve to have to put up with me! And now that I'm finally accepting that truth, you all want me to go back?! So that I can hear you all say the same thing all over again? When I was trying?!" Ivan shouted in her face.

"So this is trying?" The Luna mocks him. "You running away instead of facing your problems? This doesn't look like trying to me at all. Still being selfish, as always."

He felt his face get hot as she scoffed, looking away from him now. Just to watch her look at him in wait to counter her, but the longer he stayed silent, the more she became irritated.

"I'm curious. Aren't you the Luna to all?" Ivan questions her sharply, watching as she looked him up in down. "Because you've been sticking your nose all in my business - no one else's. Not to mention you're constantly around and here for us; but why doesn't anyone else bring up your help? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you like Jeremiah."

When he says that, the Luna immediately bursted out laughing.

Ivan looked at her calmly despite how awkward he felt on the inside. It would've been a big confidence boost if that was the case, but it wasn't.

"If I had feelings for someone in the physical realm then I can't consider myself your Luna," She states, shaking her head at him in disbelief, "I wondered when you'd ask that question. As to why I answer and aid to you both so easily, though it's not surprising you question my motives. All of your memories have been erased of your previous origins by me."

At her words, he looked at her as if he heard incorrectly. His eyes settling on her heavily to make sure she didn't make a mistake herself. Except when she didn't budge, he inhaled deeply.

"What do you mean by that? My 'previous origins'-?"

"Do you really think this is my first time dealing with you?" She interrupts him, Ivan staying silent because she was clearly upset.

The way her eyes would stare him down, only to look away abruptly as if he offended her. He thought this was about Jeremiah for her, but now he didn't understand.

"Dealing with me? I thought this was about how I am with Jeremiah-?"

"Oh, it still is. It always has been; but it's not just about him. It's about the both of you and what I've been trying to do to save the both of you, but you...every single time, have kept this curse from ending. I should've just..." Ivan watched the Luna sit on the bed, her hands going over her face in frustration.

He didn't understand what she was so frustrated for. He heard what she said, but it still wasn't making sense.

"What curse?" Ivan asked quietly, his hand going over his chest nervously. "I thought I was blessed?"

"You were never blessed, you both were always cursed. The blessing was a disguise that hid what it truly was, a curse." The Luna sneered at him.

Ivan now felt like he was looking at an imposter. Was this really their Luna?

So if what she was saying was true, that meant that the 'blessing' removed from Jeremiah was truly a curse. He just didn't know where it truly ended...

Did it end with him? He didn't know what he needed to do anymore.

"Blessing Jeremiah to you in every life you are reborn into, is a curse for him. He immediately loses his identity of being an Alpha and himself, by forever loving you despite your character. While you being blessed with him, is your curse because once you realize your misdeeds, you die. The continuing cycle that never ends because you won't stop making decisions for everyone else!" She raised her voice at him, standing up as he suddenly watched her become taller than him. Her finger pointing in his face, "Even after thousands of years and being reborn almost a million times...you continued to do the same thing-."

"I don't understand!" Ivan cried out, backing away from her as his back suddenly slammed against the dresser. Having to collect himself, he could hear his panicked breathing from all she was saying. "This is too much. I just wanted to the one I love! I thought...I thought this was... Wait!"

Ivan had to control his breathing as he sat on his legs. Hearing the words that he had been reborn so many times and has continued the same cycle...with failure each time? It almost drove him mad as his hands went into his hair.

The Luna crouched before him, staring down at the panicked person before her. The panic that wasn't anything new, but this was a new scenario. One where she gave away things early.

Because so far, Ivan was already setting the course for the same end result.

"Ivan, let me tell you a story-."

"Don't speak anymore...p-please-!"

"There were three of us: Omega, Beta, and Alpha. Those were the Luna types, and us three had denominations on this planet that worshipped us. As the Luna, it comes with responsibilities and you can't act selfishly. Everyone on this planet comes before us, we live to keep the balance.

"You were the second Luna who was in charge of all the Omegas. Omegas prayed to you for better lives, healthy pregnancies, to find their True Mate. Jeremiah was the first Luna who was in charge of all Alphas. He was one of the most headstrong and powerful heads who wanted all Alphas to be like him. Giving in to all their blessings for power, wealth, Mates, dominance. That was a problem, but that is why Alphas are so much more ahead than the rest."

The Luna stopped, looking back at Ivan as he still looked afraid. Except she didn't care, nodding forward.

"And I was the third, the Luna who was in charge of all Betas. I was not...prayed upon a lot. My powers were so limited at the time and I couldn't give them the blessings they truly deserved. So, Betas are quite weak because of my own weaknesses. Despite that, we all balanced everything perfectly, it made sense. Jeremiah - which was not his original name - was dominant, but in a way that didn't bring anyone else down. I was...still young and weak. Then there was you, submissive and kind." The Luna's smile dropped, becoming annoyed.

Thinking about the past once again, and who ruined the three of them.

"Until you wanted to be dominant too." She glared at Ivan as his face became red.

He avoided looking at her again until she forced him to look at her again.

"Don't look away, look at me. You must hear this to better understand that you can't keep doing this."

"Why...do I need to hear that? That's not me!"

"You're right, it's not; but it was before you were reincarnated so many times. And that's all that matters. The original Alpha and Omega; you and Jeremiah were once my..." She stopped, looking at Ivan as he waited with bated breath.

Smiling, she sat on the floor as her eyes lowered to it.

"You both had to be punished because of your selfishness. Jeremiah went down with you because the part of him that made him an Alpha was strongly bonded to you. No matter what I said...he stuck by your selfish need to be more than the Omega image you created! Despite it all being perfect, you had to ruin it. Then, you became pregnant once again, however, your pregnancy would've thrown off our balance and your child - a son - would've been greater in power than us three because you both were stronger too. You both knew you were wrong, but you didn't care and Jeremiah was always going to protect you - even if you were wrong." The Luna didn't bother looking up, feeling her own heart begin to race.

To race at the memory of losing her parents...and having to be the one to punish them to keep the balance. Now she looked up, seeing their punishment before her very eyes.

She remembered when she enacted it and it brought her joy. Joy to know that he was being punished for ruining not just her father, but himself and almost the world's balance. But now, she wanted to end it...to fix it - them.

Yet the person who started it all was still doing the same things.

Controlling the narrative and making choices for everyone, even themselves.

"No matter what I do, you are still...you." She croaked. "And until you stop trying to be that 'Omega of domination' over everything, you will die once again - cursed to a rebirth of the same fate until you do it right."

Ivan could hear his own breathing and how rushed it was. How scared and fearful he was to hearing all that he was hearing. While the Luna looked on at him like he was an idiot.

Until she grins, resting her hand on his shoulder. Only for that to make him more nervous as his heart begin to race and become tight.

"Their son was going to be named Luka too, my brother was."

And to that, Ivan lost consciousness.

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