remember me [kiho, kihyun x wonho]

-6-

Kihyun and Hoseok sleep right through what should have been their fifth day together in the cabin.

It's not exactly a surprise, since their mating was so intense and had succeeded in wiping the both of them out in the very best of ways, the two of them both completely spent and satisfied for the first time in their lives, physically, mentally, emotionally, down to their very core. It was certainly to be expected that they'd need some recovery time to bring themselves back down to the earth and to regain their bearings, and it would be the result of their natural biological drive to help to increase the chance of pregnancy by following a heavy mating, especially the first mating, with an equally heavy rest. And of course, as a newly mated pair, their biology would be working in full swing, working at its full power to ensure that their mating would be a success.

But even so, even with the knowledge that this would be completely expected to happen, Kihyun can't help but to feel startled upon waking with no sense of the time or day at first, the room still bathed in cool air and darkness and the sweet, sharp scent of their mating still thickly saturating the space all around them like a heavy blanket.

It's a unique and powerful scent, undeniable, unmistakable, and anyone within a short distance of the cabin would be able to smell them, and would know. As Kihyun breathes it in, one deep breath after another, it feels like it's filling him up from the inside out, like it's tangible, physical, growing stronger with every breath he takes, swaddling his mouth and nose and coating his lungs, swirling around in his heart and in his mind, touching every part of him down to every cell and atom in his body.

But for all Kihyun knows right now, his mind foggy and blurred and half-asleep, slowly piecing the world back together around him, their time together here is almost up. Especially if their smell is really this strong, the elders will soon be on their way to retrieve the newly mated pair, having successfully achieved the objective, even if it did take them much longer than what was usually expected because of their initial resistance to the idea and to each other.

Whatever their own reasons were, whatever the true nature of their relationship is now, in the end, Kihyun and Hoseok had done what they were put here to do, and the elders, and anyone else, would be none the wiser to know that for the two of them, their mating was different, everything about the two of them was different. All that would matter would be that Kihyun and Hoseok, omega and alpha, had mated, had done their duty to the compound, and their society would continue on as always.

And despite being together in the most intimate of ways, despite the profound bond shared between a mated alpha and omega that rises above all else, if it is indeed time to leave the cabin, they'll immediately be separated, ripped apart once more into their respective roles. That's just the way of the compound, the rules of the elders that have been in place for hundreds of years.

Kihyun will be locked away with the other mated omegas, fixed into a meaningless, mindless life of gestation and mating and birth, an endless cycle of isolation where he'll only be able to see Hoseok when he's ready to be mated and impregnated with another litter, Hoseok unable to even witness the birth of or to get to know his own kittens, Hoseok unable to ever seen Kihyun again outside of their mating.

Hoseok, in turn, will be given to the other mated alphas, locked away in his own bubble of isolation, his own prison, to hone fighting skills to protect the community, forced into a life of endless violence and fights for dominance, sure to end only in blood and pain, at which point, Kihyun would be given to another alpha, one after another for as long as his fertility lasts.

As for the kittens, their kittens, their precious babies, they'll be taken away, placed into their own respective roles just as both Kihyun and Hoseok had been at birth, never given the opportunity to know their parents, Kihyun and Hoseok unable to see their own babies grow up and live their lives. And then, when Kihyun could no longer provide kittens for the community, well, then he'd be shunned, left to live out the rest of his days with the other old omegas, broken and battered and alone until death came for him. At least then, he'd be able to see Hoseok again.