#terzalpha

Terzo blanches, his brain catching and stuttering on the sentence like a scratched record.

“A-- what?” Terzo asks, staring up at the big Ghoul. Alpha is taller than Omega, though dressed the same. His hair is short and spiky, and what Terzo has seen of his skin is covered in discolored patches, some areas lighter gray than others. He’s handsome, his tall stature and muscles making him a commanding presence, and right now he is entirely alarmed. His shoulders are tight, his posture held like a snake ready to strike or, perhaps more accurately, an elk ready to bolt.

“A dead body,” Alpha says again. His voice sounds impatient, but his posture is relaxing bit by bit with every second he spends in Terzo’s room. “You’re being called for.”

“Me?” Alpha nods tersely in response to the question and Terzo takes it as the sign it is. He gets up and dresses in record time, not even bothering to check if Alpha was watching as he stripped and changed his boxers or pulled his binder over his head. When he finally has his teeth brushed, hair styled (half-heartedly), and shoes laced and on, he indicates for Alpha to lead the way.

He thinks, at first, that Alpha is taking him to the morgue that he knows they have in the basement of the Abbey. It’s where they keep bodies - generally those who died of natural causes - to prepare them for funerals. It’s a horrible, cold room filled with gleaming silver cadaver drawers and sharp instruments and an overwhelming smell of chemicals that Terzo has come to associate with death more than the smell of a rotting body. He’s been in that room exactly once in real life, but it makes an appearance in his dreams almost nightly.

He was relieved for a moment when Alpha didn’t lead him to the basement stairs, almost letting himself smile at the relief. Any other situation that had the two of them walking together like this, Terzo would have been elated. He would have used the opportunity to flirt, brush his hand against Alpha’s or the Ghoul’s arms or waist or shoulders in an attempt. Alpha would have tolerated it as he always did, walking closer to Terzo to make the “accidental” touches easier, loosening his posture so the shorter human could reach his shoulders easier. But every step forward brings a higher and higher ringing in Terzo’s ears and for once, he can’t even conceive of flirting.

“Alpha…” he doesn’t finish whatever he was going to say and even just the Ghoul’s name is hard to get out. He knows the path they’re walking, he’s walked it since he was young, since the day after Marika’s wedding when he and Secondo went to visit her new home. He knows this path and every step further down it makes him feel sick.

He thinks of being twelve, then. Of waking up from a nightmare and wandering into his eldest brother’s bed for comfort. Nihil had smelled like alcohol as he pulled Terzo close, but Terzo hadn’t minded. He had pressed his nose hard into Nihil’s chest, focusing instead on the smell of expensive cologne and laundry detergent that had always been what he associated with his oldest brother. Nihil had spoken, then. His words slurred and fingers clumsy as he ran them through the black hair that he and Terzo shared. He spoke of a father that Terzo didn’t know, didn’t even have photos of. He spoke of a nebulous eldest brother that Terzo had never heard of before, of a pretty sister in law and a nephew the same age as Terzo himself.

And then he spoke of fire.

He spoke of heat, burning and all-consuming. He spoke of fear, of people screaming and crying and begging. He spoke of grief, of loss. Not just of their parents but of everything they had ever known. He hadn’t noticed when Terzo started crying again, when the things he spoke of had only led to tears. Terzo had tried to stay quiet, gasping softly as he cried, and Nihil hadn’t noticed, simply holding him tighter, playing with his hair the same way he would on a normal day. Terzo swore he could hear a baby crying through the walls, but Nihil never mentioned it.

“Alpha,” Terzo says again, pushing past memories and forcing himself to focus on what’s going on. The Ghoul stops in his tracks and Terzo distantly thinks that he must have sounded even more miserable than he thought he did.

“Your Unholiness?” Alpha is overly formal now because they’re in public. There’s none of the feigned annoyance in his voice that he usually points towards the human. More than that, there’s concern.

“It’s not her,” Alpha says, his voice painfully soft. His hands are clenched at his side and not for the first time, Terzo wishes it wasn’t forbidden for Ghouls and humans to intentionally touch. He can play off his flirtatious touching as accidents if anyone saw them, but what he wants right now is for Alpha to touch him properly, to grab his shoulders and pull him close, to wipe the tears off his cheeks and out of his eyes. Alpha does none of that, though. He won’t risk the punishment of being caught touching a human, much less an Emeritus, and even if he was willing to, for all their friendship, Terzo surely wouldn’t be the one that Alpha would risk it for.

“Terzo, listen.” His name coming from Alpha is enough that he focuses. Any other situation and he’d be delighted hearing it. “It isn’t her. Your sister is safe, I promise. I promise, okay?”

“Okay,” Terzo responds, nodding shortly. Alpha nods in return and straightens his clothing, waiting for Terzo to wipe the tears from his face before they continue walking. Terzo lags behind now, walking just a foot or two behind Alpha, watching. There are marks in the shape of his claws pressed into his palms.

The rest of the walk is calm and by the time they reach Marika’s cottage, Terzo has composed himself as much as he can. He almost, almost breaks when he walks into the living room of the cottage behind Alpha and Copia is nowhere to be found.

“Copia?” His voice sounds small even to himself, especially as Marika launches herself at him and hugs him close. He’s shorter than her, he always has been, and she curls around him like she does her ward. She’s sobbing and the fear that Terzo feels in his chest is painful and overwhelming. He looks over Marika’s shoulder, meeting Secondo’s eyes. Secondo is sitting on the couch, speaking in a low voice to Psaltarian. He looks over at Terzo, feeling when his brother’s gaze is on him, and shakes his head minutely. Terzo keeps holding Marika tight, turning his gaze to Primo and Nihil next, who are speaking in equally quiet voices, the Ghoul at Primo’s side shifting anxiously and playing with the chain wrapped around its waist.

Nobody is answering his question.

“Where’s Copia?” Terzo repeats louder, rubbing Marika’s back as she sobs into his shoulder. When his brothers still don’t answer him, he looks to Alpha. Alpha looks to Chain, Primo’s personal Ghoul, and does something to get its attention. Chain nods and tugs on Primo’s sleeve just slightly. Primo nods in return and raises a hand that stops every conversation in the room. Even Marika releases him at the silence, stepping back. She keeps an arm around Terzo’s shoulder, though, and he keeps one around her waist, letting her lean on him.

“The child is in his room,” Nihil says eventually. Nihil has never liked Copia, for reasons that none of them are really aware of. Maybe it’s the fact that his eyes could point to a deeper familial connection than expected or maybe it’s just that Nihil has never been great with children. Terzo doesn’t know either way.

“And he’s--?” Alive is how Terzo wants to finish that, but he worries about how Marika will react.

“He found the body,” Secondo jumps in to explain now.

“He was covered in blood,” Marika says, her voice small and haunted.

“We believe he witnessed the murder,” Psaltarian continues. And that explains all the chaos. If it was just a Sibling of Sin dropping dead of natural causes, nobody would panic like this. For it to be a murder, it makes sense. “But he won’t talk to anyone. He’s completely in shock.”

Copia is family, yes, but this much attention from the sitting head family of the Ministry isn’t because of that. Copia may be Marika’s ward, but none of them have ever been close to him, nor does he refer to any of them but Marika and Psaltarian as aunt or uncle. This much attention surely doesn’t come from any familial care, which means there’s much more to this story than he thought.

“This isn’t the first body we’ve found is it?” Terzo asks, leaning equally against Marika as she is to him.

“Not in the slightest,” Secondo sighs, standing and brushing imaginary dust off his ridiculously nice suit. “We’ve found several, in fact. I’ve been investigating them for months.”

So that is what Secondo had been doing. All the times he’d complained of work being stressful in their phone calls since winter break, all the times he’d been too tired to actually talk and had just listened to Terzo speak. All of it was because of this? And nobody told him?

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have--”

“Could have what? Come home from school early? Been just another sitting duck, not contributing anything?” Primo’s voice wasn’t unkind as he interrupted, and he made his way across the room with Chain’s help until he could grasp Terzo’s shoulder.

“There was nothing you could have done,” Primo continues, squeezing Terzo’s shoulder in a way that was clearly meant to be comforting.

“What am I doing here now, then?” Terzo asks, looking around the room. If the investigation - apparently led by Secondo - had been going on for this long without his knowledge, surely it would be fine to continue that way?

“Like Salty said-” Psaltarian glared at Secondo at the name. “-Copia won’t talk to anyone. You’ve always been a bit better with him than the rest of us, I was hoping you’d be willing to give it a try.”

“What would I even ask him?” Terzo looks over at Alpha then, hoping for some kind of reassurance that he’s not crazy for thinking this is insane, but the Ghoul gives no indication of a reaction.

“Just about what he saw,” Secondo explains, following Primo and Marika’s lead in approaching their youngest brother. “I’ll be there the entire time, fratello, and I’ll write everything down. You don’t even have to remember anything he says.”

“Okay,” Terzo agrees, feeling like he has no real other choice. And, to be fair, he doesn’t. Not in his mind at least. People are dying and if Copia saw the person who did it and isn’t telling anyone, then even the chance that Terzo could get him to would be immensely helpful to stop anyone else from losing their lives. Terzo looked around the room person to person for a second.

“But Alpha comes with.” Secondo sighed at the demand but nodded, gesturing them all towards Copia’s bedroom down the hallway.

Terzo had never been overly close with Copia. After all, the boy was twelve years younger than him, and they only really spoke when it would be rude not to. But Terzo had helped with his schoolwork in the past, when Copia was younger and would struggle with languages or history, and the one that had always ensured they got along was a love for small animals. Though Terzo’s fascination lay largely with birds - he even had a pet cardinal, sitting in a cage in his room. He’d have to remember to give him extra treats today for interrupting their morning routine - and Copia’s with rats, they still got along quite well. Copia’s room was set up largely the same as the last time Terzo had seen it. It needed to be cleaned, of course, but he was a teenaged boy, so Terzo wasn’t surprised. He was actually surprised at how few clothes were laying on the floor, most of them seemingly neatly folded and hanging. His bed was made, stacks of books on the floor and nightstand next to it. He had his own TV in one corner, a video game console attached to it. Much of the room had a large rat cage filled with various toys. It had two areas on Copia’s dresser and desk respectively, one holding seemingly a bedding and play area, and the other food bowls and such, connected by tubes attached to the wall.

“You’ve gotten more since last I saw you,” Terzo says, peeking into the cage as he enters the room. There are five sleeping clumped together in the cage from what Terzo can tell, and a sixth is cradled in Copia’s hands, making small squeaking noises as he stares at it. Copia is sitting on the center of his bed, legs folded underneath him. He doesn’t even react to Terzo’s entry, not looking at him at all as Terzo crosses the room and sits on the bed in front of him. Secondo receives a similar lack of acknowledgement, taking a seat in Copia’s desk chair, notebook out. Copia only reacts when Alpha enters the room. It’s small, barely noticeable if Terzo hadn’t been carefully watching the boy for any change. Copia’s attention snaps to Alpha as soon as he enters the room, his eyes widening and his breathing picking up speed.

“Copia?” Terzo asks. Copia’s eyes are locked onto Alpha, though, and it takes the rat he’s cradling less than a second to jump from his hands to his shoulder, nuzzling against his throat in a way that is clearly meant to be comforting. Alpha looks first to Secondo and then to Terzo for what to do, clearly unsure what to make of Copia’s reaction to his presence.

“Copia, you’re okay, you’re safe here,” Terzo says, shifting a bit closer to the boy. Copia is still staring at Alpha, though; he’s still staring like he’s terrified. His breathing is getting faster and faster and Alpha steps forward like he wants to comfort the boy, but it does the exact opposite. Copia screams before anyone else can react, scrambling back on the bed. Alpha stares in shock, stumbling back slightly. Terzo lunged forward as Copia began to claw at his face, eyes wide with terror. Terzo grabs Copia’s hands, pulling them away from the boy’s face and then holding Copia’s head close to his chest as the teenager starts to cry.

“Shh, shh, you’re okay,” Terzo comforts, holding Copia’s head to his chest and running his fingers through the boy’s hair. He hears in the background Secondo shoving Alpha out of the room, shouting at him and demanding to know why he would take a step forward when Copia was so clearly terrified. Copia continues sobbing, his hands fisted in Terzo’s shirt.

“Sweetheart,” Terzo says, keeping his voice soft and gentle, not wanting to startle the poor boy even more. “Sweetheart, I need you to tell me what you saw last night, okay?” Copia nodded against Terzo’s collarbone and began speaking.

----

Terzo felt like he could still taste the bile in his throat and he’d brushed his teeth five times. He’d have to apologize to Marika for using so much of her toothpaste, but he couldn’t stand the phantom taste of blood in his mouth and, after that was gone, he couldn’t stand the taste of his own vomit. He’d gotten through Copia’s story without anything more than a few uncomfortable noises, determined to not scare the boy. He’d even gotten through the whole retelling to Secondo in front of everyone without anything. It was only after he’d told the story all over again, every detail Copia had shared committed to his own memory, and he had sat down to try and calm down that he’d been overcome with the urge to vomit. Marika hadn’t been any better off. She’d started sobbing into her husband’s shoulder as soon as Terzo had started speaking, his voice flat and inflectionless because if he spoke like that it made him feel less and less connected to the little boy who’s story he was telling.

“Your Unholiness?” Terzo wiped his mouth with a towel desperately before turning to Alpha, trying his best not to seem too shaken up by everything. It had taken hours to get the story from Copia after he’d been terrified of Alpha and only minutes for Terzo to recite it to the others. It was still early in the morning, barely past eight. The rest of the Abbey was sure to be waking up by now if they weren’t up already, beginning their duties for the day. Terzo already felt exhausted, like he’d been running a marathon since the sun had risen.

“Alpha, hello,” Terzo replies, trying for a smile. He wishes he could see Alpha’s expression to know if he succeeded or not.

“Has Secondo left yet?”

“Yes, your Unholiness, he left soon after you excused yourself.” Alpha’s language is overly polite, either because he feels awkward or because he’s polite enough not to increase Terzo’s shame at getting sick.

“Can I-- May I escort you back to the Abbey?” Alpha continues, his hands curling and uncurling into fists.

“Yes, of course.” Terzo waits for Alpha to move before stepping out of the bathroom. He has half a mind to say goodbye to Marika, but when he walks past Copia’s bedroom, he sees both her and Psaltarian curled around their young ward, the three of them asleep. With how exhausted they’d looked earlier, Terzo wouldn’t be shocked if it was the first they’d slept since the night before. He decided not to wake them and that he’d simply visit tomorrow to check on Marika and Copia.

“My other brothers?”

“Gone as well, your Unholiness,” Alpha answers, half a step behind Terzo as they exit the cottage. Terzo nods. He wants to say more, to talk to Alpha. To ask why he did step forward when Copia seemed so scared, to know what he and Secondo talked about while Terzo was listening to a teenager’s greatest trauma. He stays silent, though. He’s not sure how to ask anything, how to learn what he wants to know. They walk slowly and Terzo is glad for it, because he’s a little nervous that any too fast moment will make his stomach rebel again.

“Secondo thinks it was a Ghoul,” Alpha says randomly. Terzo stops in his tracks, looking at the Ghoul. They’re halfway between the cottage and the Abbey, away from anyone else in the world, that’s the only reason that Alpha is using Secondo’s name, Terzo knows that.

“Well, couldn’t it be?” Terzo responds, looking up at the Ghoul hesitantly. “Copia said that the attacker-- that he--” Terzo has to pause, slamming a hand over his mouth and doubling over while his stomach rolls. Alpha lurches forward, hands hovering over Terzo’s back, close enough that Terzo can just barely feel the heat radiating from the fire Ghoul’s hands where they hover, inches away from him.

“Your Unholiness?” Alpha’s alarm is strong in his voice, thick enough to cut with a knife. Terzo doesn’t want to say it, doesn’t want to have to repeat it again. It feels wrong. He’s twenty-six years old, he’s a grown adult. For all intents and purposes he should be able to speak about this. If Copia has to live with it in his head forever, Terzo can deal with having to say it over and over and over again.

“Why do you think it was a Ghoul?” Alpha asks. There’s more to the question, Terzo knows there is. Secondo said that things have been tense between the humans and the Ghouls, and there’s something in this question that he can’t voice. It’s said in the same tone that Secondo asks shopkeepers why they’re being followed around the shops, the same tone that Marika and Psaltarian use when asking why people are staring at them out in public.

“Because of what Copia said,” Terzo replies, feeling sure in his answer. Copia said the attacker was tall, much taller than himself and the victim. He said that the attacker ate her, that he ripped into her with only his teeth. Alpha hums, seemingly thinking for a moment.

“I’ll head back first, then, your Unholiness.” Is all the Ghoul eventually says. Alpha turns on his heel and walks off, faster than Terzo could catch up with even if he wasn’t stuck standing in shock in place.