Chapter Text
Everything happened so quickly.
His mate's face staring down at him as Grian tipped over the edge of the abyss.
The void snapping at his code. Cold leeching into his bones as bits of data were chipped away.
A sudden change to warmth.
To wind.
Then impact.
By the time Grian's mind caught up with the present, he was prone on the ground. There was red splattered in his vision, on his hands sprawled in front of him, and lines of gray curled over his head before splitting off into a mess of broken angles.
Scared and confused, he tried to pull in his wings, only to scream when the action was met with pain lancing through the limbs at the slightest movement. Grian looked over his shoulder, biting his lip to keep another noise from escaping as he tried to figure out what was wrong.
The same broken and twisted metal that surrounded his head had done the same to his wings. Not only were they crooked in a way that screamed broken bones and torn muscles, but the forked metal disappeared into his feathers in multiple places. The coating of red on the iron that matched his primary feathers gave away where the metal went after being blocked from view.
His wings were broken. Even as the pain surrounded his mind in a hazy fog, the realization was unimpeded. Even if he managed to escape the twisted metal, he'd be flightless. Grounded. Doomed to the danger that lurked on the surface with no way to escape.
The thought made Grian wonder if it was worth trying to get himself free. If living was worth it if his wings were ruined with no hope of recovery.
Tears started to form in his eyes as the pain and sorrow left him in the form of a loud whimper.
Despite the state of his wings and his questionable will to live, he looked back to the ground in front of him and dug a hand into the earth. Grian pulled himself forward, gritting his teeth at the stab of pain it caused. Then he did it again.
If he was going to die, he didn't want to die surrounded by twisted metal that only ever made bad memories. He would escape it, leave the scrap behind, and find some ditch to die in instead. It was a better way to go.
Every bit of ground gained didn't do much to help him escape. It felt like Grian was moving, but the metal never moved away from his vision. Everything ached more and more as time went on. It was getting harder to move, and his eyes blurred with tears.
After several minutes of struggling, Grian heard something beyond the treeline that surrounded his little clearing of hell. He froze, trying to figure out what it was through the haze of pain.
Was it a mob? It was hard to tell if it had gotten dark enough yet for the trees' shade to provide opportunities for things to spawn. If it was, he wouldn't survive the way he was now. Alone and pinned to the ground. The idea of yet another path towards death had a whimper leaving Grian before he could stop it. Which only made that possibility more likely given that said mob could find him by that sound alone.
The noise solidified into definitive footsteps. Footsteps that were coming closer and closer.
Grian cried out as he made another attempt at escaping, fingers scraping the dirt as he made little progress in his attempts to crawl away. He hadn't even moved by the time he let his body collapse, panting with exhaustion.
The mob theory vanished as the footfalls became heavier. Player footsteps.
For a moment, his heart soared with hope. Maybe his mate had come to get him. To tell him this had been a test. One that Grian likely failed, but that wasn't new. He would be more than willing to make up for it like always.
Then the player spoke, crushing that hope in its place.
"Scar, buddy. I think we really need to have a talk about--" The voice cut off, interrupting itself with some kind of garbled shout.
Grian did his best to turn towards the player. He could just barely make out a man with fiery hair staring back at him from behind a tree. A tail with the same fire as his hair lashed behind him. His red eyes stared the avian down as he sniffed the air, trying to scent the other.
He stomach dropped when he picked up the spice of an alpha.
As soon as he realized his mistake, Grian dropped his gaze, whining apologetically at the no-doubt annoyed alpha. He couldn't afford to anger him in his condition. Especially being alone as he was. The spot on his neck that once held his mating bite throbbed with the reminder.
The footsteps came back after a few moments of silence. Grian whimpered as the alpha stopped near his head, kneeling down to his level. He tried to curl in on himself, to prove he wasn't trying to pick a fight by making himself smaller, but it only succeeded in jostling the metal in his wings and earning another whimper.
"H-hey there, little guy. You, uh, You don't look so good. Do you need some help?"
Help? The alpha must have wanted him for something, then. Or saw some kind of value in Grian, even with his mangled wings. He nodded with another whine. "P-please, alpha."
The alpha made a wheezing noise. "O-oh boy. That's, uh. We can talk about that later. Let's see if we can't get you free in the meantime, okay?"
Grian nodded again, going limp as the alpha started poking at the metal that surrounded him. He tried his best to stay quiet while the other man worked, but couldn't hold back a sharp chirp when a harsher tug moved the bits stuck in his wings. "Sorry! I didn't--"
"No, no, you're okay! I shouldn't have done that." The alpha was still and silent for several moments. Grian took the chance to crack open an eye to see why. The man was sitting on his heels, frantically typing something into a communicator as his tail lashed behind him.
He'd met enough blaze hybrids to recognize agitation. Tail flicking like that was usually only moments away from smoke and burns.
Maybe he wanted Grian to be vocal about his pain? Or freeing the avian was more work than he had thought? Either way, he gave another apologetic whimper. Something to make the alpha aware of how grateful Grian was.
It had the alpha looking back at him, meeting the omega's gaze again.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, little buddy. I'm just messaging for some backup. This is a bit too much for just me to handle."
Oh, Coders. That meant a second alpha. While Grian was still trapped and vulnerable.
His eyes started watering again as he sniffed without quite meaning to. The air was thick with his own wilted scent, but he could also smell the alpha's... fear? Distress? Some kind of sour tone that clashed with the usual spice.
He'd be confused if he wasn't already aware of how inaccurate his sense of smell usually was. The man was probably angry. Upset with the omega and the situation he was now dragged into.
The blur in his vision that made up the alpha shifted, moving. Before he could make out what was happening, a hand settled in his hair.
Grian tensed. He should've expected not to get out of this without some kind of beating or doing something to make it worth the alpha's while to help him. His mate was nowhere to be seen, no protection to be had from any alpha that came across him. Just like this one.
He tried to beg, to make an offer of his own, but it was hard to get anything past a hiccup or sob. He couldn't move his wings or body on his own without severe pain. Grian kept his posture as submissive as possible with the new contact, waiting to see where the alpha was taking it.
Maybe the alpha was contemplating asking for pleasure in exchange for his freedom?
Grian was fairly good at pleasuring alphas. He couldn't do much for an alpha beyond that, but he could give pleasure. Though with how he was pinned, the only thing he could offer was his mouth if the alpha wanted something before freeing Grian. That could've been what the hand in his hair was for.
He was still for a few beats, tense and waiting for the harsh tug of the other man's patience running out.
But it never came.
Instead, the alpha started... petting him? It was enough of a shock that Grian's tears stopped with a quiet noise of confusion.
"It's going to be okay. My buddy's gonna get here, and we're going to get all those wires off of you," the alpha soothed. Which was weird. It'd be calming if Grian wasn't so thrown off from the un-alpha-like behavior.
He kept waiting for the grip to change, to turn harsh and controlling. But it never did. It just kept petting his head and running through his hair.
It almost felt wrong. An unnerving level of affection that had Grian hesitantly reaching out to grab at the alpha's pant leg, tugging hopefully with a whine in an attempt to navigate back to familiar territory.
But the alpha just kept petting him.
Was Grian doing something wrong? Did the alpha just like seeing him trapped and injured? Did he want Grian to struggle so he could get off to the sight of him in pain from fighting to free himself? There had to be something Grian was missing.
Several more tugs and whines met with quiet affirmations went by as Grian became more and more distressed trying to figure out what this alpha wanted. The thought came to mind that the alpha lied about someone else coming to meet them. He wasn't sure if that was more confusing than anything else so far, but he was running out of ideas.
Then there was a new set of steps coming closer. The alpha's friend.
That answered one question and possibility at least.
"Tango? You around here, my dude?"
Grian sniffed at the air hesitantly, not able to catch much beyond the overwhelming scent of the alpha next to him.
"Over here, Ren!" The alpha--Tango--relaxed a bit as 'Ren' came closer to them but still sounded strained. "Need a bit of help getting these metal wires off. I tried helping by myself, but couldn't get anything off of him, really."
There was a quiet whistle. "That's a real mess. But I brought the shears, so hopefully we'll have our friend here free in no time."
Grian couldn't stop himself from shaking with a quiet whine. On one hand, getting free sooner was nice. On the other hand, Ren sounded almost frighteningly happy about the idea of getting him out of there. Which meant bracing himself for whatever reward the alpha wanted for getting dragged into this.
Tango's hands finally left his hair, moving down to touch his back again where he was caught in the metal. A set of strong legs knelt down near his face, and he internally tried to calculate how big an alpha of that size would be. He was bigger than Tango, at least. Not that it mattered much. If either one took him while injured, he'd probably have to bite his tongue not to scream and annoy them.
Grian sniffed again now that Ren was near him, trying to scent any strong emotions off the alpha to know if he needed to submit more. He didn't want to get in trouble. But he couldn't make anything out. Tango's scent still burned in his nose too much.
There was a light tug to the metal, just like the first time Tango started messing with it. But this time, there was a sharp snipping noise followed by some of the tension falling away. Grian shivered as multiple hands worked around his back, occasionally leaving before another snip rang out.
A particularly rough change in tension led to some of the metal digging into his wings harder, causing Grian to cry out. He was quick to muffle it down to a whimper when both alphas started brushing along his back and hair.
"Hey, hey, it's alright, buddy. Just got a bit of a bigger chunk out of the way." Ren's voice was a lot less strained than Tango's had been. More steady, at least. "You're doing great so far."
Grian took a deep breath to calm himself down, to behave. Or keep behaving, apparently, given Ren's complement.
And he finally caught a whiff of Ren's scent.
He had expected another strong alpha scent to overwhelm his senses, more spice burning his nose, but it was so different. It was an omega's scent. Something light and easy. It made him relax, just a bit, knowing that he wasn't alone at the mercy of two alphas. There was someone who would probably treat him okay nearby. To redirect the alpha's attention from being solely on him.
Someone less prone to the impulsive urges to harm that an alpha had. That Grian was mildly surprised hadn't made Tango sabotage his own efforts to get Grian out.
His focus came back to the present as he felt fingers nudge his shoulder.
"Okay, we got most of the loose bits free, but we need to start looking at the stuff that's caught up in your legs and wings. We'll try and be careful, but we want to get you out of that thing as quickly as we can so we can get you out of here," Ren quietly assured.
"Just stay as still as you can for us and we'll get you out of there," Tango added. "You can grab one of us if you need to, but your wings and legs need to stay as still as you can manage to keep them."
He whimpered again, but managed to speak, "O-okay. Thank you, Alpha."
He felt Ren's hands pause and shivered, wondering if he had been wrong to use the title. Was he Ren's alpha, and he didn't want to hear someone else call him that?
But neither man said anything further, instead resuming their work.
Both remained quiet for a bit as he felt hands move down his back slowly, starting to work on moving and cutting metal. All the while, one of them stayed within sight each time they moved. He focused on the legs of the men as best he could, to give him something to distract from the pricks of moving wire mesh.
When a piece moved and dug into his wing harshly, he cried, his body going stiff as he tried not to struggle and let his wing thrash. A hand settled on his back, rubbing a calloused thumb over the tense muscles.
He cried, but stayed as still as he physically could. To behave for the alpha watching him. His wings giving a twitch that made him cry harder.
"Oh sweetheart, I know," Ren said, "We're trying. Once it's all off, we can get you some potions and a nice, comfy bed, okay? Help you get somewhere comfortable."
He whined, giving tiny nods and hoping they'd notice how eager he was for that. For somewhere safe to rest until Grian could leave them alone. Before Tango's kindness wore off when he realized how useless of an omega Grian was.
There was purring, soft welcoming omega purring, and he wanted to cry in relief at the noise. More snips and hands moving something, and one of his legs was free.
"He'll need a lot of rest after this," Tango said, sounding somehow more panicked than he did. And he was the one trapped. "His leg is pretty messed up. That's nothing to say about the rest of him."
Ren purred again, fingers moving through his hair in a somewhat familiar motion. Tango was petting him again softly. If it wasn't for the other omega's purring, it would've sent him into another panicked spiral.
"Yeah, he's in pretty bad shape. Like his wings are..." Ren trailed off at that, hesitant.
Grian sobbed at the words, knowing how bad they had to look. Twisted and broken on his back. Ugly. Mangled. Ruined compared to the beautiful mass of colors that they usually were.
"Oh sweet thing, it's okay," Ren assured. "We'll have someone help. You're okay."
"I think I can move this piece near his hip," Tango said, his hands moving off his hair.
He whimpered again, but felt more weight leave him. The hurt in his body became more apparent as he got dizzier and less metal lay on him. He let his eyes slide shut, whimpering as he tried to ignore the pain.
"Dude?" Ren said, gently patting his hair, "Are you okay?"
" 'm dizzy..." He managed to mumble to the other omega softly, " 'n tired. Hurts."
"We're going as fast as we can without hurting you more," Tango assured as another heavy piece moved off his back, taking weight off his wings.
"... know, thank you," He assured softly.
Grian's wings were still pressed tightly to his back, trapped in a tangle of wires even with the heaviest piece now gone. He had to keep himself from trying to push against the metal, knowing it would only make the points of contact dig in that much harder.
The removal process moved back towards his head again. The shears sounded close enough to his ear for him to make an effort to press the feathers flat to his head.
It was quiet, minus the occasional snip. Then there was a shift as another chunk of metal came free, leaving his vision.
Then there was a low growl from Tango.
Every instinct in Grian went wild, whimpering and trying to shrink away from the angry alpha. But he stayed still and quiet, not squirming or fighting like his hind brain wanted him to.
This was just the alpha finally acting the way Grian expected. The man's own set of instincts pushing forward and taking over.
Except it stopped almost as quickly as it started.
Replaced by purring.
The dual tones of Ren and Tango's purrs settled something in the avian's chest, making him fall limp even as one of them rubbed his upper back, right near--
...Oh. He'd forgotten about the stinging necklace of bites around his neck, too distracted by the pain everywhere else. The growling made sense now. Tango must have seen the proof of his failure to keep an alpha happy.
Where his mate had made sure to remove every sign of the bond they'd had.
One of the men was saying something in a soothing tone, but it was hard to focus on the words. Everything seemed so far away. At least they were quick to start chipping away at the metal bars, again. Even if it was probably in an attempt to get rid of him sooner.
They were less careful, now. Less gentle. It barely took a few more moments before there was a jolt in the mesh of metal and the ends pushed hard into his wings. He cried out in pain, wings twitching to throw off the thing hurting him. It only succeeded in making things worse.
Ren was quick to move back into his line of sight, kneeling by his head and petting his hair. It didn't scare him the way Tango did when doing the same action, but it wasn't enough to stop the strangled noises that left Grian's throat somewhere between a whimper and a sob.
"Shi-- Sorry, sorry! That was my fault," Tango's voice shook hard. "I touched the wrong bit and-- it just--"
"Hey, it's all good, man. It was an accident," Ren reassured the alpha. The man's scent felt stronger for a moment, helping to soothe Grian's distress back down to quiet whimpers. Then to his surprise: "Maybe you should step back and take a minute to breathe, dude. Maybe check the server logs with those admin privileges of yours. See how our friend here got onto the server."
Grian thought the alpha would get angry. Yell about how an omega shouldn't tell him what to do. Instead, the man was quiet beyond some shuffling he could just barely pick up.
Ren leaned over him, shears still in hand, and quietly worked at a section of metal near his right wing. It was only a handful of moments before the other omega spoke back up again. "Can you tell me what happened here, my dude? What got you all tangled up?"
It took a few long seconds for Grian to even register the question. Even longer to try to think of an answer. Everything was hazy.
"Fell," was the only thing he could get out.
Ren let out a noise of confusion before Tango saved him from trying again. "I found him like this. I heard a crash and some whimpering. Thought maybe it was Scar, but instead..." The alpha's tail lashed in and out of his view. "...Yeah."
"That's... something, alright." The omega hummed.
The snips were longer apart now. It felt like most of the metal was gone at this point. At least what was wrapped around him and not stuck in precarious places.
Things hurt less now. The pain felt further away.
"Okay, found some stuff about his entry to the server, but it doesn't make a lot of sense," Tango called out.
"How so?"
"It's not the standard player joining logs. It happened about the same time Doc was lagging out the server, so there were a lot of errors logged around that time. I thought maybe that made the server skip checking the whitelist or something, but..."
Grian felt Ren sit back, putting the shears down. "But what?"
"The join message wasn't for a player. It was for an unknown entity. The server had to rebuild some of his code because it came through corrupted and translated some random numbers into his spawn coordinates. Which doesn't make any sense! The server should've recognized at some point that he was a player and corrected that. Alerted Xisuma or something. Even now, his spawn coordinates are probably--" Tango cut himself off with another one of those sharp wheezing noises. "Ren, come take a look at this."
The other omega left Grian's side. Which didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. He was starting to get really sleepy, actually.
It wouldn't hurt to close his eyes for a minute, listening to the other two men whisper to each other.
------
Ren knelt down next to Tango, looking at the admin screen. "...I don't know what I'm looking at, my dude. It's a lot of numbers and stuff."
Tango highlighted a section of Grian's player data - or entity data, apparently - that was blank. "This is where his entity tags should be. The stuff that tells the server what kind of entity he is. It's blank. That's why the server didn't try to match him against the whitelist."
The omega's eyes widened in understanding. "It doesn't think he's a player? Can you fix it?"
"It's above my security. Xisuma can fix it, but until then, the server's not registering him as a player. So no messages, no block update audits, no--" Tango froze. His gaze snapped back to the avian that was now more still and red then he was comfortable with. A sinking feeling built in his gut. "No respawn."
The implications must have hit Ren at the same time as it did for him because both suddenly scrambled back towards Grian.
His eyes had closed at some point while they were talking. He was still breathing at least.
Ren started gently shaking Grian, trying to rouse him. Chest growing tight, Tango refreshed the data he had opened for Grian in his admin panel.
The health stat had ticked down from 3.5 hearts to 2. In just over a minute.
"We need to take him to Xisuma. Now." Tango dismissed the panel. He quickly checked over the remaining metal Grian was trapped in.
His wing wasn't looking good at all, and there were still some points that dug into both his bad wing and parts of his back. But the majority of the weight was gone. What was left was, for better or for worse, pressed close to him enough that it wouldn't be hard to maneuver around.
Ren managed to get the avian to open his eyes again, even if only to small slits. Tango didn't waste any time, moving to scoop up the omega with Ren's help. Grian made a small noise of confusion.
"It's alright, dude," Ren soothed, running a hand through Grian's hair. "We're taking you somewhere safe, alright? Just stay with us until we get there."
"Message Doc, too. Have him meet us at X's base." Ren pulled out his comm and started typing. In his arms, Grian gave a quiet whimper. "It's alright. We'll be there, soon."
With that, he started running towards Xisuma's base with Ren on his heels.