A/N - This is a prompt from Kiss_of_Pink who has been commenting on my stories for ages and is awesome!

 

My second three way ship (first being MoJiTzu in Paper Planes and Rubber Band Balls)!!

 

I didn’t come up with this ‘tattoo of the first sentence they said to you’ thing but credit to whoever did.

 

Second Time Around (NaMiTzu)

 

I’ll see you later, I love you!

 

Those words mocked Tzuyu now. The most earth shattering words in the world tattooed on her arm for the rest of her life. She couldn’t even wear short sleeves any more, every time she saw the words she felt the pain all over again. New city, new psychiatrist, new medication, old pain - it was inescapable. She as now on so many anti-depressants that she spent her days in this never ending loop of numbness. Numbness or pain, that was all her life was now - those two feelings over and over. She’d get fed up being numb and stop taking her medication, then she’d nearly die from the pain she faced without them. Back and fourth, she’d swing on this torturous pendulum until she died. Only then would she feel some relief.

 

Growing up you’re always told you had multiple mates spread across the world, when you found one of them (if unmated) the first sentence you hear them say would engrave itself on your body. Tzuyu was an alpha, strong, dominant - head of the pack. Or at least she was, now she was just…there. No alpha qualities, no beta qualities and she definitely wasn’t an omega - she was just there. Sure, they always told you you’d get the first words your mate said to you on your skin…they never mentioned you’d get their last words too. Tzuyu’s grief had doubled when she looked down at her arm to see that her tattoo had changed.

 

See you later

 

A cruel, cruel lie.

 

Tzuyu sighed and looked at the clock, it was mid-morning - she supposed she would have to get up for work soon. Her eyes drifted from the clock to the eyes in photo by her bed, she felt a pang through her chest as their eyes met. She could never explain how it felt to lose your mate, how it hurt, how it felt like you were being ripped apart CONSTANTLY. The day she lost Elkie….it still haunted her. She remembered the doorbell ringing on Christmas Eve, her parents were there so she couldn’t go with Elkie to the store but they knew everyone in the neighbourhood and Tzuyu knew Elkie could take care of herself. When she opened the door to see the policemen there with grave expressions on their faces, she realised why her stomach had been churning the last half hour. She didn’t remember the officers telling her, she just remembered hitting the floor. Underneath the rushing in her ears she heard her mother enquire what was going on but from that point on Tzuyu was as dead as Elkie was.

 

Difference was that while Elkie was in heaven, Tzuyu was in hell.

 

Tzuyu kissed her hand gently and gently pressed it onto the photo before rolling out of bed. She’d been off all of yesterday so that was the first time in nearly twenty four hours that she had left her bedroom. She took her anti-depressant, brushed her teeth and walked out the door - patting Gucci (her small dog) on the head as she went. She wasn’t in the mood for breakfast, or anything really. Jumping in her car she made her way through the busy streets of Seoul. She’d moved there shortly after…what happened. She could stay in Taiwan any more, in that house, all the memories overwhelming her. Now she was working as a security guard at OM3 - an entertainment company only for omegas. There were very few alphas allowed in the building, only security guards like Tzuyu and the mates of the omegas were allowed inside the building and even then they had to wear special bracelets that monitored their heart rate, if it went up to high security (or other security) would intervene.

 

Most of the security team were mated though so they were no danger to any of the omegas in the building, all except Tzuyu. Jihyo, the omega that ran the company, had taken Tzuyu under her wing after meeting her. Tzuyu had gone to highschool in Korea, her old best friend Son Chaeyoung had let Tzuyu and Gucci stay with her when she first arrived. When Jihyo had heard what had happened to Elkie she offered Tzuyu the job in the security team, ever since then Tzuyu had been earning the trust of all the idols in the company. She was polite and kept her distance, if an idol went into heat at award shows Tzuyu would go and walk them to their van - she was the only one who just didn’t care. She supposed there was one good thing that came out of Elkie’s death, Tzuyu would always defend an omega (or beta) when they needed it. The amount of times an idol had been attacked by some alpha backstage at a music show was staggering, luckily for those at OM3 Tzuyu would always rush straight over and beat the alpha black and blue.

 

Most of the omegas in OM3 had little crushes on her, nothing serious but they all just loved being around her. She made them all feel safe and to her that meant a lot. She couldn’t protect Elkie, but she could protect the omegas in her care. That was the one thing she’d allow herself, while she may not think of herself as a good alpha she was dedicated to protecting those she cared about. It came with the territory, she didn’t care if she lived or died so if she was fighting someone she didn’t care how big they were - she’d distract them long enough for an omega to escape.

 

“Morning Tzuyu!” Momo greeted as Tzuyu walked in,

 

“Hey Mo.” Tzuyu replied in monotone,

 

Momo was an alpha that worked on security with Tzuyu, the duo were really good friends. Momo thinks….they can never really tell with Tzuyu. But the younger girl hadn’t killed her yet so she took it as a good sign. Momo’s mate, Sana, was a idol that now took on a producer role - whenever Momo would go on break Sana would appear and they’d be all lovey dovey. It drove Tzuyu up the wall but she never said anything, she remembered what it was like to be like that. They spent the first part of their shift turning unknown alphas away, as time neared lunch Jihyo came to see how they were doing. Chaeyoung also joined them, she worked as a song writer in the company. They always came to join them at lunch time, mostly so Chaeyoung would know that Tzuyu ate something that day.

 

“Hey guys!” She greeted as she approached, “Good day so far?”

 

Tzuyu shrugged, “Couple teenagers tried sneaking in but nothing out of the ordinary.”

 

“Hmm,” The shorter girl hummed, “What are you having for lunch?”

 

“Sana’s coming with Dahyun, they’re bringing food!” Momo beamed excitedly,

 

“What about you, Tzu?” Jihyo asked,

 

“I had a big breakfast.” Tzuyu lied,

 

Jihyo squinted her eyes, looking to detect the lie in Tzuyu’s words but before she could find it two hands went over her eyes, “Guess who!”

 

“Knock it off, Jeong.” Jihyo smiled, turning and pecking her mate on the lips, “What’re you doing here?”

 

“Dahyun’s car broke down so I gave her and Sana a lift.” Jeongyeon smiled down at her,

 

“Momoring!” A high pitched voice squealed as an omega crashed into Momo’s side,

 

“Hello everyone!” Dahyun greeted walking over and kissing Chaeyoung’s cheek,

 

And now Tzuyu’s headache was back, she hated couples. She hated that they were happy when she wasn’t, it hurt her to admit it though - she really valued her connections with the girls around her, she should be happy that they were happy. Only she couldn’t, she’d only been given two years with her mate. They were the best years of her life, sometimes when she was having a rare good day she could justify that all the pain was worth it for those two years of complete happiness. The sight of the three in love couples before her caused the pangs of jealousy to strike into her heart. Jihyo must have seen Tzuyu’s face change because she immediately stepped away from Jeongyeon a little.

 

“Sorry Tzu, that was insensitive.”

 

Tzuyu sighed, “It’s fine, enjoy your time together.”

 

It’ll end one day.

 

Then she heard it. It was faint but Tzuyu immediately hushed the others to see if she could hear it again. Sure enough she did, there were faint cries in the distance - they were screaming for help. Worried she was hearing things she looked at Momo who confirmed with a nod that she had also heard it. Alphas were instinctive to omegas crying for help, most of the time the calls were either ignored or alphas would go and join in but Tzuyu was not about to let this omega get hurt. She tore out the revolving door, ignoring her friends as they called her back. When she made it to the street she tried to pick up where the scent of fear was coming from, it was faint but she found it. Over time Tzuyu had become very good at tracking faint scents through busy areas, once she found the scent she took off down the street.

 

It got stronger with every step, the cries getting louder.

 

“Get away from me!”

 

She reached a dead end street and for a moment she didn’t know where her next step would go.

 

“Get off!”

 

The alley…

 

“Help!!”

 

It was coming from the alley.

 

Not even hesitating Tzuyu sped down the alley and tackled one of the attacking alphas to the ground, “Get away from her!”

 

There were four of them, three male and a female alpha all surrounding a shaken and visibly scared omega. Now Tzuyu was not the biggest alpha, nor was she the bravest but if she was about to get her whooped at least the omega could escape. She landed on top of one on the male alphas with a grunt, using the momentary shock to start hitting him. With every punch she zoned further away from consciousness letting the un-dealt with rage that was inside her bubble to the surface and take over. Once she felt the other alphas try and pull her off she turned and tackled them both to the floor whilst the female tried helping the beaten male up.

 

“Hey what’s your problem!?” One of them shouted, “We can share!”

 

“Like you will!” Tzuyu pulled the one that said it (from now on called Douchbag 1#) to his feet and slammed him onto the wall, turning his head so he could see the trembling omega, “See that tattoo on her neck, she is NOT YOURS.”

 

Suddenly Tzuyu was pulled back to the floor, kicks and punches being landed on her over and over. Douchebag 2# making sure the omega stayed where she was. Tzuyu couldn’t feel a thing, only adrenaline rushing through her, but she made peace with whatever happened to her. Hopefully they’d get bored and kill her soon. But as she turned her head to look out of the alley and on to the street she thought she saw a familiar figure standing there, watching her with sad eyes. Reminding her of why she was there in the first place, if she died what would happen to that omega? So Tzuyu jumped up, ignoring the pain from the rib she was sure was broken and fought back. The anger and pain all fuelled into a rage induced smack down, Tzuyu growling in such a threatening manner that she was sure she heard the omega whimper with fear. Eventually Tzuyu managed to get the omega behind her, taking a protective stance.

 

“ this, man!” Douchebag 3# growled, dragging her friends out of the alley,

 

As they ran out they barged past Momo, Sana and Jihyo, the older Japanese woman glaring when one of them eyed her mate as they went. Momo went over to check Tzuyu over whilst the two omegas tended to the frightened girl now curled in a ball on the floor. Jihyo knew the girl and told Sana to speak soft Japanese, she was actually the mate of Jihyo’s best friend - she walked out to the street to call her friend and tell her what happened. Tzuyu stepped away to calm herself but the moment she did she felt pain throb from…well everywhere. She winced.

 

“You good, Tzu?” Momo asked,

 

“I might need to go to the hospital.”

 

Suddenly a force hit her side and she let out a groan of pain, she looked down and saw the mystery omega. She was cuddling into her, seeking protection…which was strange seeing as the tattoo on her neck showed her as somebodies mate. Sana said something in Japanese and tried to pull her away but the girl squeezed tighter and replied quietly in Japanese. Tzuyu looked at Momo in question, the older girl shrugged - bewildered.

 

“She says you make her feel safe.”

 

“Mina…” Jihyo began as she approached, pausing at the state the poor maknae was in, “What’s happening?”

 

“She’s scared and is latching on to Tzuyu for…some reason.” Sana explained,

 

Jihyo took note of Tzuyu uncomfortable look and approached, “Mina, I called Nayeon - she’s on her way. I told her we were taking Tzuyu to the hospital so she can pick you up there, okay?”

 

The girl, that Tzuyu now knew as ‘Mina’, nodded but still refused to let go. When it became clear he had no intention of releasing the poor alpha, they just walked back to the company. Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung and Dahyun had stayed to hold down the fort and the duo were both equally confused by the sight of Tzuyu being cuddled by an omega. Jeongyeon was glad Jihyo was okay and reminded her that they had a meeting with their estate agents, they were planning to move house so that they could start having children. Momo also couldn’t drive Tzuyu to the hospital since someone had to stay and work security, so in the end Dahyun said she’d drive Tzuyu there and would drop Sana off on her way home. Chaeyoung also came, very concerned by her best friend who was beaten, bruised and appeared to have grown an omega out of her shoulder. Dahyun and Chaeyoung were in the front with the other three in the back.

 

“Tzuyu you need to stop doing that!” Chaeyoung scolded, “You can’t just rush off and get yourself nearly killed every week saving some omega.”

 

“Yes I can,” Tzuyu growled out, “I’m done arguing about this.”

 

At the growl Mina burrowed closer and without thinking Tzuyu let out her scent to comfort her. It was instinct, her inner alpha said to protect the omega and that’s what she was going to do. They managed to arrive and get Tzuyu booked in, Sana telling the receptionist that when a ‘Im Nayeon’ showed up to let them know. Tzuyu could guess that was Mina’s actual mate, as soon as she arrived Mina would cling to her instead. The group were told they had to wait outside while they checked Tzuyu over but since Mina refused to budge she was allowed in. They managed to part them long enough to do the xray but as soon as Mina was allowed back in she clung to the alpha once more. The awkward part was when they said Tzuyu had to remove her shirt so they could check the bruises, they’d got Mina to stay in her chair but Tzuyu could feel herself being watched. Safe to say she was glad that was over, now she just sat in the doctors office waiting for her results - Mina once more glued to her side, Tzuyu now having an arm round her. She felt a finger delicately tracing the words on her arm, guilt panged through her. This girl shouldn’t be cuddling with her, Mina had this Nayeon girl and Tzuyu….Tzuyu had Elkie.

 

“Okay Mrs. Chou…”

 

“Miss.” Tzuyu corrected automatically, “It’s Miss now.”

 

Mina looked at her, very confused. The doctor looked between them but continued, “Miss Chou, your friend asked me to let you know when a Miss Im Nayeon arrived, she’s in the reception now.”

 

“That’s you then.” Tzuyu said feeling relieved as she was finally released,

 

Mina smiled and stood, then hesitated. Before Tzuyu knew what happened, Mina had pecked her cheek, “Thank you for saving me.”

 

And then she left….

 

And Tzuyu felt empty…

 

What the …?

 

_____

 

Tzuyu was panicking.

 

The week after she had met Mina had been quiet, easy, no drama. Tzuyu could go back to being emotionally dead inside and her friends had stopped giving her interrogations over why Mina had been so clingy. It had all been fine. Until Sana pointed out that her tattoo looked a little faded. Tzuyu hadn’t thought much of it, the tattoo was old it was bound to fade sooner or later. But not this much. Not to the point that Tzuyu could barely make the words out any more. She couldn’t lose this too…she couldn’t lose her last words. That was all she had, this couldn’t be stolen from her as well. It was almost as bad as losing her, the pain of having your heart ripped out. She had been given a few weeks off for her broken ribs and sprained wrist to heal, since she’d never had time off before Jihyo told her to finally use her vacation days.

 

So all she did was lay on her couch and watch bad television all day, in Elkie’s old hoodie with the last blanket that smelled like her. The scent was faint now but it helped a little. Sometimes, Tzuyu would close her eyes, inhale the old scent and pretend for a moment that she was still there. That she had just gone to get a drink or go to the bathroom. She’d wish herself back to their little home in Taiwan, but then Gucci would bark or a car would drive past and she’d open her eyes. Then she was back in her large empty house. Inevitably she’d begin sobbing to herself and Gucci would sense she was sad, jumping on her lap to comfort her. It’s why she never took vacations, when she was alone everything she’d shoved down bubbled up and she couldn’t stop it.

 

She’d been cycling through this the last few weeks, usually she could go for a run and clear her head but those stupid alphas broke her ribs so that was out. Instead she had just wallowed in her depression, come off her meds for a while and drowned herself in alcohol. In fact she had just reached for another bottle when she screamed, like actually screamed. Yesterday Elkie’s last words had disappeared completely causing her current spiral, so when she reached for the bottle and saw new words there she panicked.

 

Because there were new words there….

 

Thank you for saving me.

 

This was bad, this was really bad. Ignoring for a moment that Mina had a mate, Tzuyu had already had hers! Why the hell was she getting another one? Was it even possible for this to happen? She’d never heard of anything like this before. Did Mina have a tattoo too? Did her own alpha see it? Was Tzuyu going to get her kicked again? It was fine, it was going to be fine, all she had to do was stay away from Mina. Besides - what’s the probability she’d even see her again? Seoul was a big place, there were lots of people. The likelihood of Tzuyu running into them again was almost impossible. Sure, when Mina left she felt sad, sure she kind of wanted to see her again, SURE she may have had a dream that Elkie gave her blessing but all of that was irrelevant! That part of Tzuyu’s life ended when Elkie died and she wasn’t going to entertain the idea of fate giving her a second chance.

 

So she avoided them….which wasn’t hard because she didn’t know who Nayeon was, what Mina’s last name was and she didn’t leave the house for another three weeks. It was her last day off, now that her ribs had healed she’d started taking her medicine and finally stopped crying all day. She was planning to take Gucci for a long walk, the small dog being her only reason for living at the moment. Tzuyu loved Gucci more than anyone else, no matter how ty she was feeling she would always ensure that her favourite pup was fed and walked. Since she’d been slacking on the walks lately she thought her loyal pup deserved a nice long walk. As she went to get Gucci’s leash said dog began barking and snarling at the door. Tzuyu lowered the leash and walked carefully over, Gucci didn’t like new people. He was an old dog, very set in his ways. Just like she assumed it would, the doorbell went seconds later/.

 

Tzuyu opened the door and got punched straight in the face.

 

She took a step back and cupped her eye, “Ow! What the !?”

 

“How’d you like that, head!?” A voice snapped,

 

Tzuyu used her one good eye to study the woman before her, “Who are you?”

 

“My names Im Nayeon and you are apparently mated to MY mate.”

 

Now in Tzuyu’s head she had been envisioning a tall, muscular, alpha male who probably has less brains than biceps. What she was not expecting what this short, bugs bunny looking, beta yelling at her. Betas were rare, they weren’t as tough or dominant as alphas and they weren’t as submissive or nurturing as omegas. They were happily in between, Tzuyu’s mother had been a beta while her father had been an alpha so she knew a little bit about the differences between betas and omegas but still she had assumed that Mina’s mate would have been an alpha.

 

“You’re a beta?”

 

“So!?” Nayeon growled, “You alphas always think betas can’t look after omegas the way you can but guess what…WE’RE JUST AS GOOD!”

 

“I take it Mina has a tattoo now too?”

 

Nayeon was getting frustrated with Tzuyu’s bored tone, “She does. A lovely ‘Get away from her’ on her hip bone.” Nayeon crossed her arms, “Which by the way I found during a very intimate moment so thank you for that!”

 

Tzuyu tilted her head, “Wait so she still has your tattoo too, right?”

 

“Yes…?” Nayeon confirmed,

 

“Then you’re still her mate, you can have her.” Tzuyu shrugged,

 

Nayeon paused, “Wait…so you don’t want her?” Her arms falling by her sides, “But…she’s your mate.”

 

Tzuyu sighed, very frustrated by this conversation, “No she isn’t. She’s a mate. I had my mate, so you can have Mina. Been there done that and got the t-shirt!”

 

“It’s not as simple as that.”

 

“Yes it is.” Tzuyu snapped, “Have a nice day.”

 

She went to slam the door but Nayeon put her foot in the way, “No it really isn’t look at your arm.”

 

“Yes I know I have a tattoo of Mina.” Tzuyu groaned opening the door again,

 

“Other arm idiot.”

 

Tzuyu looked down and her world stopped.

 

“H-How is that possible!?”

 

“How would I know!?” Nayeon shouted, “All I know is that I have ‘What the ?’ on my wrist!”

 

“Well that’s a damn sight better than ‘How’d you like that, head!?’.”

 

Tzuyu felt like shouting or kicking something over.

 

“So we’re three way mates…an alpha, a beta and an omega.” Nayeon summarised, more for herself than Tzuyu,

 

Tzuyu didn’t reply for a second, faintly she felt a hand on her shoulder but she knew it wasn’t real. It never was.

 

“I can’t do this.” Tzuyu sighed,

 

Nayeon looked up, as if really seeing her, seeing how bad she looked after weeks of isolation, “I shouldn’t have barged round here, Jihyo told me to wait but I just saw red and…..I shouldn’t have hit you I’m sorry.”

 

“I’d have hit me too.” Tzuyu shrugged, “But I really can’t do this now, I had my chance at this and whatever cruel joke is being played on me now…I’m sorry that it is affecting you and Mina. It’s unfair and I’m truly sorry but I’m not doing this now.”

 

Then Tzuyu slammed the door shut.

 

_____

 

Tzuyu knew that Jihyo wanted to talk to her about Nayeon but the older girl respected that she would talk to her when she was ready. Trying to talk to Tzuyu about her personal problems when she wasn’t ready was like getting blood out of a stone. She went to work every day, worked through her lunch break and went straight home again, not leaving any time for an accidental run in with her apparent mates. She had actually taken to talking to herself, true it was the first sign of madness but talking aloud to ‘Elkie’ helped her process things. It stopped her feeling so…alone. Her friends were a little concerned with this new found coping mechanism but if it worked it worked. Only Momo knew what had caused this new change in the younger girl, at least she was the only one Tzuyu had talked to in a moment of crisis.

 

“I think I heard of something like that happening back in Japan,” Momo had told her, leaning on the security podium, “Something to do with all betas and omegas needing an alpha.”

 

“So it is possible.”

 

“Maybe you should do research, try and find out why this happened.”

 

“I don’t want to know!” Tzuyu huffed, “I don’t want them…I want---”

 

“I know,” Momo sighed, “But maybe a second chance will be a good thing.”

 

Tzuyu just shrugged and walked off to check an alphas ID. Though the conversation was over, it never left Tzuyu’s mind. Were there more people like her out there? Even long after Tzuyu had walked in from work she had turned over the thought of their being others. Caving into the burning curiosity she went upstairs to her study and logged on to the computer. As she waited for it to load up she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and there was Elkie, smiling gently at her - eyes sad, they were always sad. Tzuyu could imagine her any way she liked but she could never imagine her eyes happy.

 

“What are you doing?” She asked, the familiarity of the Chinese language making Tzuyu feel more comfortable than she had been in a while,

 

Tzuyu sighed, “I have to know. If there are people out there like me…I have to find out if I can fix it.”

 

“Why do you want to fix it?” Elkie asked with a sigh, “You’re getting a chance to try again, to love again. Take it.”

 

“I can’t!” Tzuyu shouted, “You were my mate, you were my love and that’s it. I don’t want to try again because I had you and you were all I wanted. You’re the one I want to wake up seeing, you’re the one I want to spend my life with, you’re the one I want in my arms.”

 

“But you can’t hold me in your arms any more.” Elkie told her, “But Nayeon and Mina…you can hold them.”

 

Tzuyu’s computer beeped causing her attention to go to the blue login screen and when she turned back Elkie was gone. Tzuyu smiled a little, she always had to have the last word. After a few minutes Tzuyu had found a page which gave her all the information she wanted. Since Betas were rare there was only ever one beta mate for every alpha and omega. In fact usually betas were only mated to each other. However, sometimes alphas and omegas could have the same beta in their mate pool. Because all three had the genetics to mate with each other, if two mated they could still mate with the third. It was all very complicated but once Tzuyu got her head round it she began to connect the dots. She then looked into stories about mates who died prematurely, like Elkie. There were a lot of stories saying that eventually they found other potential mates and were able to move on, there were side affects like extra protectiveness and more intense heats/ruts. But that would never apply to Tzuyu since she had no intention of marking either of the women that she was apparently mated to.

 

She was up all night researching and when she walked into her shift the next day she looked exhausted. One of the other security guards became worried at how bad Tzuyu looked and radioed Jihyo. Jihyo was fed up, she had been watching Nayeon and Mina piece together what had been happening and struggling to know that there was someone else out there they were destined to be with. The worst part was that the stress had triggered Mina’s heat which had hit harder than usual and Nayeon couldn’t help her through it. Betas had less endurance than alphas. Watching her friends suffer hurt Jihyo and she couldn’t stand to see all three of them suffering. So finally having enough she called Tzuyu to her office.

 

“Hey, Ji,” Tzuyu said as she came in, “Need something?”

 

“Sit.”

 

Tzuyu knew better than to argue, plus she was exhausted.

 

Jihyo sighed, “Tzuyu you need to talk to Nayeon.”

 

“No I don’t.”

 

“You’re all suffering,” Jihyo sighed, “You’re a ghost, Mina’s feeling guilty for needing you and Nayeon doesn’t know how to help her. They’re lovely girls Tzu, they’ll be good for you and you’ll be good for them. You deserve this Tzuyu, why are you running away from it?”

 

“I’m not,” Tzuyu growled beginning to grow frustrated, “I don’t want to be involved.”

 

“But Tzuyu opening yourself up will be so good for you!”

 

“It wont be.”

 

“Why not!? Why can’t you just let yourself be happy!?” Jihyo was raising her voice now,

 

“I can’t be happy with them.” Tzuyu stood,

 

“Why not!?”

 

“I just can’t.”

 

“That’s not an answer!” Jihyo shouted,

 

“BECAUSE IT’S NOT HER!” Tzuyu finally shouted, Jihyo’s instinctively putting the desk between herself and the enraged alpha, sensing Jihyo’s fear Tzuyu calmed herself a little, “It’s not Elkie. People keep telling me to cheer up, move on but they don’t know how it feels. She wasn’t sick, she wasn’t in some sort of accident - she was taken away from me. I couldn’t save her, I couldn’t protect her. Do you know how that feels? To be so stupidly helpless, I was the one that was supposed to save her and I didn’t. Now because of some ed up fate I have two instead of one - I COULDN’T PROTECT ONE HOW CAN I PROTECT TWO!?”

 

Then something in Tzuyu broke. She saw how scared Jihyo looked and now that everything was off her chest she had nothing to hide any more. There was a sob, it took both herself and Jihyo off guard. Jihyo was startled by the noise, Tzuyu was startled that it came from her. She was even more scared when she couldn’t stop, she just kept crying and crumpled to the floor. Never in her life had she cried in front of someone who wasn’t her mother. She didn’t know what to do and neither did Jihyo, so the omega walked over and wrapped the alpha in a hug. Letting Tzuyu cry into her shoulder, her office door opened and Momo ran in. She’d been radioed by Jihyo’s receptionist about shouting and crying from Jihyo’s office and had run up. She froze at the sight of Tzuyu on the floor, knowing Jeongyeon would hit the roof if Jihyo came home smelling like another alpha Momo took over. She hushed the girl gently as she broke down.

 

“I-I lost her Mo…she’s gone.”

 

“I know T, I know.”

 

_____

 

Tzuyu ended up back at Jihyo and Jeongyeon’s that night with the others, word had spread quick about Tzuyu’s breakdown and Chaeyoung had breathed a sigh of relief. Tzuyu had never talked openly about Elkie, ever. This was a long time coming, now that Tzuyu had let it all out they needed to prove nothing would change. Tzuyu couldn’t stand pity. She’d been there quite late when Jihyo appeared to remember something, she cursed loudly and told Tzuyu she had to leave right then. The younger girl had been….well confused but she didn’t question it. She’d been embarrassed about her breakdown, plus she had to go feed Gucci. All became clear when she walked into her house. Gucci didn’t greet her which was strange, usually the little dog would be yapping at her feet about now. There was also an unusual scent in the air, she looked down to see that the spare key had been used. Tzuyu frowned, that was meant to be under her welcome mat.

 

She put herself on high alert and walked into her living room. She was not expecting the two figures laying on her couch. Mina was laying on Nayeon, both girls fast asleep with Gucci curled up next to their legs. With a quick glance through the archway to the kitchen Tzuyu noted they had filled Gucci’s bowl and also left her some food on the counter. This had to have been Jihyo’s idea, Tzuyu would scold her tomorrow. Grabbing the food off the side Tzuyu sat at her kitchen table to eat, looking into her living room and watching the two girls as they slept. It had been a long time since there had been an omega in this house. Tzuyu watched as Mina’s chest rose and fell, she could feel her instinct telling her to get closer to the omega but Tzuyu stayed where she was. Her eyes drifted to Nayeon, the girl much cuter when she wasn’t yelling. It was strange, she didn’t want to protect Nayeon as much but she still felt her instincts telling her that Nayeon was hers.

 

She wasn’t jealous of them being together either.

 

It was in an alphas nature to be jealous, but Tzuyu wasn’t. In fact having them both here made her feel…happy. Like they were meant to be there, in fact she hadn’t felt like this since---no. No this couldn’t happen. Tzuyu rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes and when her hands fell away she saw Elkie at the end of the table. The alpha reached out to touch her before she remembered Elkie wasn’t really there…she never would be there.

 

“Go to them,” Elkie told her, “I want to see you happy.”

 

Tzuyu studied her for a second before standing, as she walked into the living room she felt the scents of her two mates wash over her. They were soothing, Tzuyu finally felt something other than the pain she had been holding on to the past few years. They were beautiful, Tzuyu could admit that, plus Gucci seemed to feel comfortable with them and Gucci didn’t like anyone. Tzuyu sighed, it was clear they needed to talk to her. But the doubts were strong in her mind, what if what happened to Elkie happened to Mina?

 

“Then Nayeon will also be there.” Elkie reasoned as she stood by the sofa,

 

“What if I can’t protect Nayeon?”

 

“You’ll learn from your mistakes.” Elkie told her, “You deserve this.”

 

“Do I?”

 

She was genuinely asking the figment of her imagination.

 

“Yes. You know you do.” Elkie smiled, then she pointed to the blanket (what had once been her blanket), “Now cover them up and go to bed.”

 

Tzuyu stood and lifted the blanket, smelling it once. The smell was nearly gone, fading away like the tattoo. She looked at Elkie, “I love you, I’ll always love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

Then she blinked and Elkie was gone.

 

But Tzuyu didn’t feel sad or empty, instead she covered Nayeon and Mina with the blanket, pecked their foreheads before she could stop herself and went up to her own bed.

 

_____

 

It was morning when Tzuyu woke up, someone was shaking her. She groaned and tried to turn over but whoever it was wouldn’t let her. When the memories of last night came back Tzuyu sat bolt upright and looked at an amused Nayeon. For a second Tzuyu just studied her face, she really was pretty.

 

“Morning,” Nayeon greeted, “Sorry for falling asleep before you got home, Jihyo told us she forgot we were going to be here.”

 

Tzuyu couldn’t speak.

 

“I hope you don’t mind but Mina’s making breakfast if you want it.” Nayeon’s smirk changed to a sad smile, “I know you said you couldn’t do this but I think we should at least talk about it over breakfast.”

 

Tzuyu sighed, the food did smell good, “Okay.”

 

Nayeon beamed and Tzuyu decided it was the prettiest smile she’d ever seen, “Okay!”

 

The beta led the alpha downstairs and into the kitchen where Mina was just dishing up some omelettes. The omega smiled shyly at Tzuyu and gave a little bow, Tzuyu awkwardly returned it before she was thankfully distracted by little paws on her leg. She scooped up Gucci and held him up, he liked to feel included. Once all the food was ready Tzuyu found some cutlery and the trio sat down to eat in an awkward silence, Gucci now on the floor in case someone dropped something.

 

“I never thanked you,” Nayeon started, “For saving Mina, you didn’t have to.”

 

“I did.” Tzuyu said, “She needed help.”

 

“I’m sorry for clinging to you like that,” Mina told her, blushing in a way that made Tzuyu want to coo at her, “I was really scared and you just seemed safe to me, like nothing bad would happen if I stayed with you.”

 

The talked idly for a little while, learning about each other. Nayeon, Tzuyu learnt, was an old college friend of Jihyo’s who now worked as a singing teacher. Mina was from Japan and had met when Nayeon was visiting Kobe a few years ago. The more the duo talked the more Tzuyu began opening up, they made sure to include her which Tzuyu appreciated. Mina was a lot like herself, awkwardly shy but in a way that Tzuyu found adorable. Mina would suddenly get excited about something, like her ballet school, going off on an excited tangent before getting embarrassed and stopping. Nayeon was how Tzuyu wished she could be, loud, confident and sure of herself. She kept the conversation going, asking about Tzuyu’s life or divulging into anecdotes. Tzuyu found she liked them both quite a bit, but kept reminding herself that they probably saw her a nuisance. Nayeon knew how to look after Mina and vice-versa - they didn’t need her.

 

“You’re tattoo’s changed.” Mina commented,

 

Tzuyu looked down to where Elkie’s last words had been, “Yeah. It happens after a while.”

 

“It’s why I got confused at first. I thought we both had mates and I was being hormonal.”

 

“What happened?” Nayeon asked gently,

 

Tzuyu cleared , “She died, a few years ago.”

 

Both girls reached out and grabbed her hands that were clenched on the table. She felt her fists relax.

 

“If you don’t mind me asking…” Nayeon started, “How did she die?”

 

Tzuyu smiled sadly, “She went to the store on Christmas Eve for some milk, it was only at the end of our road and we knew the neighbours so we…I thought she’d be fine. It was late and my parents were there so I was distracted. Apparently some alphas from out of town cornered her….they…umm…”

 

“You don’t need to tell us any more.” Mina whispered, tears in her own eyes,

 

Tzuyu took a deep breath, “Anyway, the police came and told me what happened. That was it. No goodbye, no chance of knowing what was about to happen. Just ‘See you later’ on my arm.”

 

“I’m sorry Tzuyu.” Nayeon told her, wiping away a tear that Tzuyu had let loose,

 

“That’s why I can’t do it again,” Tzuyu confessed, “I can’t protect you.”

 

“You did the other day.” Mina reasoned gently,

 

“I was in the right place at the right time.”

 

“So what?” Nayeon scoffed, “You protected an omega you didn’t know, you got really hurt because of it. What’s the difference between that and protecting someone that’s yours?”

 

“I can’t lose anyone else.”

 

“You wont,” Mina told her, “There are three of us Tzuyu, three people looking out for each other. We can do things as slow as you need to but we want to try.”

 

“Why!? You don’t even know me.”

 

“You know the pull of your mate,” Nayeon said with a chuckle, “You can’t explain it but it’s there. When Mina went through her heat I’d never seen it hurt her so badly, nothing I did helped.”

 

“It did a little but the pain was so strong that I just…I needed you. My body was asking for you and Nayeon, it didn’t want Nayeon to go it just needed someone else.” Mina continued, “You made me feel safe that day, the same way Nayeon does. But lately we’ve both been pining and we need you.”

 

“We just want to try.”

 

“You deserve this.”

 

“Okay.” Tzuyu said,

 

“Okay?” Nayeon smiled,

 

“We’ll try.”

 

Sometimes things are better the second time around.

 

A/N - I do want to do a sequel to this delving into the actual relationship more. This was getting a bit to long to do it. I also just posted this on the wrong story!