Archive of Our Own ^beta

So. Here’s the thing. When Vio “agreed” to join Shadow for his venture on the dark side, he had kind of expected to be swept away. Off to some hidden lair to plot and be able to learn about everything going on. Take mental notes about insider information to jump the boat in case of hot water. 

This was exactly what happened. Mostly. It was a good time!

What he hadn’t expected was that one of Shadow’s masters summoned the Omega to them. And that Shadow then thought it was a great idea to take Vio with him. Introduce him to the local evil overlord and all that. Fun times. Not.

“A Beta?” Evil purple eyeball - Vaati’s true form apparently, good to know - just about screeched. Well. Whoops. Sorry to be boring.

Vio bit his tongue and kept his expression neutral and impassive. “Yes, sir” he confirmed, like his neutral scent did not give it away.

“His designation does not matter, Lord Vaati” Shadow insisted, shifting protectively to stand beside Vio, nuzzling his cheek against the Beta’s neck. Try and scentmark him. Mark him as his. Shadow was very possessive for an Omega, Vio noted from the moment he met the shade. A large personality to cover his insecurities.

“We do not need a Beta” Vaati presses, voice icy. “They are untouched. Fickle.” But Vio saw the cold look the demon had. He knew the truth the words carried hidden behind excuses. Betas are more independent than any other secondary gender due to their neutrality and lack of instincts. They are harder to chain down, harder to control. And control was what Vaati wanted, needed. Over Hyrule, over his troupes, over Shadow. And now over Vio.

“I need him! Beta or not!” Shadow protested, flying up to wrap his arms around Vio and nip on his scent gland. His, that claim screamed. ProtectiveOmegaBelovedBetaMine.

“He is mine” Shadow insisted even as Vaati stilled, a clear thought occurring. One Vio couldn’t gauge and it set him on edge. Would the creepy oversized eyeball smite them now both for this? For Shadow daring to disagree and speak up?

“You can keep him” Vaati declared suddenly and Vio felt a shudder run down his spine. The tone felt like toeing the edge of a line, of a deep drop. Until… “But you will pay for this.”

Shadow flinched and Vio sucked in a breath as the embrace went painfully tight like a strangling vice. His teeth grit, goosebumps forming as he feels skin under Shadow’s sharp claws break. 

“Sorry” Shadow whispered in his ear, easing his grip, noting the wince Vio had bitten back. Vio only managed a tight nod, breath catching under Vaati’s cold gaze, studying their dynamic. He never had seen Shadow so relieved and scared at the same time. The unknown was more dangerous than any threat of death.

One of Vaati’s long limbs - a deep purple like the rest of him - reached forward, cupping his chin, tilting Vio’s head up to make the undercover hero meet his eye. Study him and his glands, bare except for the marks Shadow eagerly put there at every occasion. All Vio can do is not shudder at the odd texture of the tentacle like appendage. And then he spoke, foreboding and horrifying: “I will fetch you when it is time for your punishment.”

And with that he let go.

Dismissed, heart racing with fear of the future in his chest, Vio took Shadow’s hand and practically raced out of there as dignified as he could. Shadow looked at him, expression so tender. “It will be okay, Vi” he insisted, voice low, barely not shaking. “We got good magic to heal us. Magic even unknown to the light world. Whatever pain our punishment will be, we will make it through together.”

…

There was the fake death and the duel. Green faked his death. They celebrated. Shadow showed him the Dark Mirror. It was time. Time to strike. Vio knew the power source of all evil now, he could end the war by weakening the troupes of the Dark World, he could finish the Dark World Invasion…

But for once Shadow refused to sleep. His scent, sickly sweet like cloying honey, had him push and nuzzle against Vio, the shared bed soon a mess of clothes and sweaty limbs, arranged in a clumsy nest. Sharp teeth barely did not yet break skin as Shadow gnawed and nipped on Vio, leaned against him, back arching, eyes clouded with need. And with it came the cold realization… 

“Are you in heat?” Vio asked, breathless as Shadow grinded down. The friction was delicious as the air swelled with scent, as Shadow’s need was more and more clear.

Vio gave a breathless gasp. The smell might not affect him as a Beta but he was still a prisoner of flesh and thus capable of being aroused by a very horny Omega in clear pre-heat straddling his hips and grinding down.

“I-impossible. Lord Ganon and Lord Vaati have me on strict suppressors so I am not a liability and public e-embarrassment due to being an Omega” Shadow insisted, eyes glassy with need, his words underlined with him grinding down over and over, a wet patch of slick forming where they touched.

And with that Vio flipped their position and pinned the Omega into place, earning desperate budging of hips and eager little whines in response. His mind raced as Shadow wiggled and tried to flip his tunic up and leggings down despite the pin, to make himself accessible to Vio. “What if that’s the punishment?” He remembered the damning words. The Warning from so long ago. “Trying to mortify you by revealing your secondary gender?”

“I don’t care” Shadow wheezed out, letting out a low whine and breathless little “ah~” as the first cramps hit. “Please, please, please, Vi. I need you to stop thinking and fuck me. I need you. My Beta, please-”

Vio bit his lip, at first hesitating. It wasn’t the first time they had become intimate, but it was the first time under such circumstances. “Okay” he whispered, leaning down to catch Shadow’s lips with his own, the kiss eagerly received as one of his hands snuck down Shadow’s sides - drawing a muffled but wanting keen - before he dipped his fingers between the shade’s legs. Slick greeted him, glistering where it smeared across the Omega’s thighs and especially his center. Shadow let out a gasp, bucking as Vio gently stroked his member, once, twice, then slid his hand down from the other’s tip to his opening, which stood wide and weeping, the hole below twitching as well with his muscle spasms. 

Shadow let out a sob as a shudder worked through him with a harsher cramp and Vio quickly realized this was not a normal heat. This strong, the heat clearly had been induced. It was likely someone - or more likely Vaati - had swapped Shadow’s last heat suppressor with a heat inducer and his partner now paid the price.

Vio bit his lip. He would just have to satisfy him enough to fall asleep and then he could sneak down to shatter the Dark Mirror and end the reign of terror over Hyrule, coming back up to finish satisfying the Omega to help Shadow ride out the heat. He could imagine the drop of energy would not be pretty…but he could make it up to him with the damn best heat ever. Vio might not have a knot but he had hands and a damn good knowledge of Shadow’s body. 

And so he pushed two fingers into the wet cavern Shadow was presenting to him and his Omega let out a glorious, breathless little howl, back arching. “Shh” Vio soothed, peppering kisses over Shadow’s face while he worked his fingers in and out of the shade. Crooking them, he searched for Shadow’s sweet spot and once found, he started with the legendary come hither gesture that drew his lover absolutely wild. 

Indeed beneath him Shadow twisted, clawed hands shredding another of Vio’s tunics with his need to hold on, hips bucking to take his fingers deeper while his walls around Vio’s fingers spasmed, clenching desperately around the Beta’s every thrust while breathless exhales and babbles escaped his lips.

He was so loud that Vio did not hear the footsteps. And by the time he did notice the Hinox, it was far too late. Something hard came down upon him and with Shadow’s Omegan shriek of panic and pain, Vio knew no more.

…

The first thing Vio noticed upon returning to awareness was the smell. The cloying, sickly, desperate, needy Omega-in-Heat smell. There was no salvation from that smell. As he stirred, throat dry, a cup was set to his lips and where he hung blindfolded, feeling sore, tired and aching in chains, he was grateful for the cool glass, his head pounding. His gratefulness quickly turned into horror when he recognized that taste. It was the taste of Shadow’s slick and when Vio shook his head desperately, a large, meaty hand grabbed his chin and made him down the contents anyway, the liquid sweet and intoxicating, thick on his tongue, nose and mouth held shut until he swallowed. Only then he was released, he coughed and gagged, head spinning in his disorientation, pain and fear.

What was happening? Why was he chained and blindfolded? And notably naked? Did they figure out he is a traitor? How? His plan was supposed to be foolproof! Had someone seen Green and-

A long, pained whine drew his attention, blindfolded eyes searching for Shadow whom this sound belonged to. 

Shadow was here too? Why? What had happened while he was out?

“Hngh” a grunt escaped him as something wet and hot closed around his penis. The motions were pleasurable, rhythmic, making his hips stutter and pump into sensation even when unwanted. A desperate sound from Shadow was audible across the room in response to his own pleasure and unrelenting as it was, it soon tipped Vio unwillingly over the edge, tensing in a weak, overwhelmed orgasm. Oh, so that was additionally why he felt so tired and sore.

And the overwhelming pleasure continued. It made the Beta wince and try to get away, twisting in his chains where he hung until his wrists felt raw. But whatever had latched onto his cock did not budge, it remained in place, trying to coax his limp member up again and once more over the edge.

“S-stop. No. P-please” he choked out, his desperation palpable in words as Shadow’s was in whines. But for different reasons.

The painful coil in his neither regions drew tighter again and Vio shook and trembled and cursed, twisting and throwing his head around in an attempt to escape. With the Beta tipping over the edge, his blindfold caught on the rough stone behind him and as he twisted, cursed and bucked, it slipped enough to free an eye. 

Shuddering and wheezing from his newest orgasm, Vio saw he was in a dungeon cell, two Hinox beside him, studying him curiously. Following its gaze, he noticed runes drawn in dark blood on his chest and neck, smeared enough by his sweat by now to by illegible. The item attached so torturously pleasurable to him was almost shaped like a flower, still suckling. The Hero, with what little braincell had not been sucked out of him yet, recognized it as a sort of fleshlight, a toy for Alphas in rut to bury their knots into. But Vio was neither an Alpha nor in rut so why-

Shadow keened in desperation again and Vio’s attention immediately was drawn to his partner. Chest heaving, teeth grit as the toy went unfeeling, merciless for another round, Vio witnessed Shadow surrounded by Hinox. Unlike himself, hung vertically off of his wrists, Shadow laid spread on the floor, wrists and ankles pinned by heavy, glowing chains to stop him from shapeshifting and melting into the shadows to escape. No, the heated Omega was left bare, pinned and exposed to the world, tears streaming out of his eyes, soft sobs, despairing keens and desperate whines escaping as every action of relief was denied to him. 

He could not curl into himself to soothe the cramps. He could not press his legs together or finger himself for some friction, something to clench against. He had no nest for comfort and shelter.

And his only touch was a Hinox reaching between his legs to gather his copious slick into a glass once more. Clinical, merciless, leaving Shadow shrieking and making the most awful Omegan sounds Vio ever had heard. For him too there was no relief, no escape, just torturous heat and he bucked and shrieked when the Hinox pulled away to carry the glass over to Vio once more just as the undercover Hero was forced over the edge again in a weak, sputtering orgasm that had him nearly black out as it became too much.

They were in the same awful boat, rowing in opposite directions. Shadow did not get the relief he desperately needed. Vio had too much pleasure, by now simply tortuous overstimulating pain, a gutteral sound escaping as the damn toy still kept going.

The Hinox held out the freshly filled glass of Shadow’s desperation, hand on the toy torturing Vio. It was clear, it expected Vio to drink it if he wanted a break. And so the hero drunk just as desperate, nearly sobbing when the toy finally was pulled off of him with the glass emptied.

And then he felt cold, foreign in his own body as he noted the bump at the base of his now limp, exhausted penis. It almost looked like…a small knot? But…Vio was a Beta. Betas did not possess knots! How was this-

“I see you found my little gift. Though by the state of you, declaring it a punishment suits just as well” Vaati’s slimy voice had Vio’s head snap over. The bat bastard, still a floating eye as ever, reached out with one of his tentacle appendages to stroke at his cock, making Vio wince and try to buck him off. 

“Don’t-” the hero hissed out, shaking his head, then stilled as the same tentacle wound around his throat, resting just below his adam’s apple. 

“Don’t what?” Vaati taunted. “You forget you agreed to join the darkness, oh hero. You are now one of mine and I can do however I please with mine. You should be grateful I chose to make you an Alpha rather than another bitch in heat.”

The demon lord turned his attention toward Shadow when the poor Omega struggled and wound in his chains in desperation. Vio’s head spun with the information as Vaati released him to float over to Shadow. Finally, he found words: “How?”

“It’s called studding” Vaati noted, a tentacle coming up to Shadow’s spread legs and Vio could only watch in horror as it abruptly and without preparation thrust inside the Omega who utterly shrieked, back arching as he clenched around the rough intrusion, the horrifying list of scents in the air only going worse. It was clear on one hand Shadow needed it, on the other, he desperately did not want it. Especially not from Vaati. “Of course a light worlder would not know about such a handy thing. Just a small ritual, an Omega in heat, a lot fucking and Omega slick and-”

“ Stop! ” Vio called out, roared out, struggling in his chains, some new, developing part of him going absolutely blind with range. Blind to the pain of the skin of his back and wrists tearing as he scrambled for purchase, blood dripping onto unfeeling stone.

Vaati, surprisingly, withdrew his tentacle, leaving it covered in slick while Shadow let out soft sobs and broken keens, shaking his head as his body clenched around nothing in greater desperation than before. “Well, would you look at that. You are developing even faster than expected. I did know you two were compatible when Shadow dragged you here…I had not expected it to this degree” Vaati mused, gaze turning to Vio as he floated to him, holding out the tentacle in front of his lips which the hero pressed together, shaking his head. 

“Open” he ordered, voice cold. “Or I will have to return to Shadow. And this time even your budding Alpha commands will not save him.” Vio reluctantly opened his mouth then, shuddering as the appendage slipped in, gagging as it went too far.

Vaati watched the hero nearly choke on the tentacle, disinterest clear as he motioned the nearby Hinox to place the toy back onto the blonde. “Not much longer” he mused. “And then we can have your loyalty for certain. You and Shadow will mate…and no more independent Beta nonsense. An Alpha could never harm their mate..their instincts would not let them. This is just a little assurance that you truly are on our side, hero. Nothing personal. I am just not the fool your kind think me to be.”

And with that Vaati finally withdrew his tentacle just as Vio was left to painfully shudder through another drawn out, agonizing orgasm. “You should be grateful, really. A fist or toy never could measure up to a real knot. Finally you can truly satisfy your little friend here.”

Vio’s wide eyes before they rolled into his head as everything became too much made Vaati laugh and the laughter was the thing that guided him to unconsciousness.

…

Vio could not tell how long it took from there. Awakening had him still drained, still only given slick. He was continuously assaulted by pleasure until he suddenly could keep up. Until he could feel a proper knot form between episodes of awareness, fading in and out as his stamina increased. As the smells grew impossible to ignore, had him growling and snapping at the Hinox surrounding them.

Until finally Shadow’s cries stilled for a moment. “Alpha. Alpha, please ” the Omega brought out then and something in the Alpha snapped.

Things burst into a flurry of motion from there. It took four Hinox to hold him still to get him out of his restraints and force a potion down his throat to heal his sustained injuries. It took more to get him and Shadow separately washed up and then thrust back into Shadow’s room. 

Shadow just about collapsed with a helpless whine the moment he was let go, legs unable to support him, weak with the sheer agony of the last hours if not days. Vio caught him, gently carrying over to the bed, laying him into the nest. They both may be physically healed but what had been done ran far deeper than that. 

The scents of heat and rut tangled in the air in their own messed up dance.

“Vio” Shadow brought out, eyes glossy as he weakly shifted. Aching muscles moved as he curled up but still tried to present himself for Vio. “Alpha…my Alpha…my Vi…please…”

“Please what” Vio breathed out, upon his lover in an instant, cupping his cheek and meeting those lust riddled eyes with his own.

“Mate me…I…I need you, please…” Again he was begging. Vio wasn’t sure how much was left of prideful Shadow, and how much of all this was the Omega who was broken down in the dungeon. 

“That’s what Vaati wanted” Vio argued, desperately clinging to what little rational thought he had left. It wasn’t much as the undercover hero had always been weak to Shadow and so once more his fingers slip into Shadow’s upper hole, leaving the shade shuddering and clenching.

“N-no-” Shadow shook his head, letting it slump when Vio began to pump his fingers. “It’s…it’s what I wanted. I…I love you. I wanted to ask…to mate…before the heat.” Tears bead in his eyes, a whine of frustration escaping. “F-fuck me. I…not enough.” He shook his head.

Abruptly Vio felt cold. The nipping. The demand…the party…

He did not feel in control of his body as he answered the siren call, gently pulling his dick across Shadow’s folds, moistening it with the copious slick present there before settling it at Shadow’s entrance. “Are you sure?” he asked, breathless, heart thunderous in his chest. “I…” Vio hesitated. “I need to tell you something first.” If they were going to mate…

“Don’t care” Shadow shook his head, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to uncurl. “Fuck me. Please. Vi, Alpha…make me yours. I trust you.” And with that he reached between them, guided just the tip of Vio’s cock inside of himself before wrapping his legs around his lover’s hips to pull him close, unaware of the stab to the hero’s heart he had made. Both groaned, shuddering in pleasure to new degrees, their now truly matching biology raising them to new heights. 

Vio felt Shadow clench around him and the Omega was sobbing in sheer relief, shuddering beneath him, arms pulling him close to just hold on. 

“Please” Shadow whispered, a little more lucid, nosing at Vio’s neck, nipping at his glands. “Make me yours. And I’ll make you mine. I love you.”

Vio’s chest thundered. And for once he moved to nip Shadow’s neck as well, the shade squeezing around him. He felt around until he found the right spot, his new instinct singing. Teeth, now sharper with his change, dig into the other’s neck as he gives a mighty thrust of his hips and he tasted blood as Shadow shrieked in undeniable pleasure before doing the same to him, clenching around him in clear ecstasy that leaves him half knotted. A mating bite, written in blood and passion…

And despite just having come from being mated, Shadow rocked against him, desperate, eager. And so Vio gladly followed. Hips thrusting, long and slow, quickly turned into eager, quick fucking. Alpha and Omega, freshly mated, share a bloody passionate kiss as they rock into each other, a bond between them forming stronger and stronger with every thrust.

Vio’s half inflated knot popped in and out with every powerful, deep thrust in a way that made Shadow claw at his back, clinging on until the knot no longer could slip out. Then all Vio could do was grind, chase the horizon and edge together with Shadow.

And they found it. A few more deep thrusts and they toppled in a lover’s embrace, devotion and bliss christening their new connection as Vio spilled deep inside of Shadow, the Omega eagerly milking every drop of come his Alpha had to offer. 

No longer was the air thick in distress but rather through love and sex. ProtectiveAlphaOmegaBelovedMateMine. Content purring sounded loudly due to the shade - showing a deed well done as the exhausted Omega finally found relief from the nonstop agony and heat, soon drifting off into a recovery sleep. No doubt he would need several repeats of this during the rest of his heat once he awoke.

Vio meanwhile bowed his head, words he couldn’t dare speak out loud while Shadow was awake slipped out as he turned them to their sides to rest more comfortable due to their connection: “I’m sorry, Shadow. I love you too.”

Mated. Good goddesses, what had he done?

The other three heroes…would they understand? Would they accept him changed and mated as he now was? Could he dare show his face after all that?

And what about Shadow? The Omega now needed him. More than anyone else in this world did he depend on him. How could Vio betray him now?

…

The moment his knot finally deflated and Shadow seemingly was still asleep, Vio slipped out of bed. A bitter, angry coil around his chest guided him down the stairs. Down where the Dark Mirror stood. 

Furry carried him as he raised a hammer he had found, raised it high to bring it down, to end this war, end Vaati. What he did to him, to Shadow, it needed to be avenged, his mate needed to be safe…

His new mating mark burned, his muscles tensed up. Vio gasped and nearly collapsed as pain and adrenaline shot through the bond like a warning, the supernatural sense that Shadow was in danger leaving his hackles raised and emotions raw. And no matter his conviction, the hero could not bring the hammer down, he could not shatter the Dark Mirror. The Alpha could not harm his mate. 

Vio shuddered, eyes wide and fearful as he caught himself in the reflection. Pale, marked, forever changed. Breaking the mirror would harm Shadow, he realized. And with that he felt sick. He almost…almost…

Footsteps approached and Vio quickly turned to see who dared to approach. Hammer held ready, bracing for a fight. He had to get away, to hide this. Find a better way, a better path. Return to Shadow, not get caught. His mate needed him, he needed to return to him.

…

He did not.