My mother called me the first day of university after the winter break.

"You and Izuna. To my office. Now."

I couldn't help but smirk. "Sounds like you're gonna punish us. Have we broken the rules?"

"Tobirama not... Not now."

I felt an ice-cold hand clench my heart in dread. My mother was always so easy-going with me, teasing me and laughing with me endlessly. This is bad.

I knocked on Izuna's door. We had just gone separate ways in the morning after a quiet night together, and I saw the panic in his eyes when he saw me.

"Tobirama, you horny fuck, I'll come over tonight-"

"It's mum", I said, and something in my eyes must've spoken of my worries because his face immediately set.

We walked together, a good distance between us. I tried radiating hate from me to him so that it would show to people passing us, but it was impossible. My love poured like a thick syrup from my soul to his. A thought suddenly struck me. What if there are other people who can see bonding between people as my mother? I tried to relax. They can see that I have bonded. And that Izuna have bonded. But they can't see that we've bonded WITH EACH OTHER. I calmed down a little, but then panicked right back up. But Izuna is an omega? HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BONDED AT ALL!

We reached our goal while my mind was still panicking, not having met a single soul. And seeing my mother again made me forget my worries. She'd become ashen, and I could see she had lost a lot of weight. It's been two weeks since dad stabbed Izuna... Was this an effect of losing the person you'd bonded with? Did it happen so fast? I tried imagining breaking up with Izuna, but it was impossible. How does it feel leaving your liver on the ground, and walking away? I knew what happened to people who lost the person the've bonded with; they died. But my mother hadn't lost him but divorced him, so it must be different with her. Surely?

But my frail mother wasn't the only thing there that made me react.

"Mum! Dad! Madara!" Izuna shouted and ran to hug them. He was scooped up in a warm family-embrace of four, and I couldn't help but smile. His father caught my eye, and he nodded at me. I nodded back. He felt more like a father to me than my own had ever done.

"I'll get straight to it", mum said. "I'm sorry, I don't have much energy nowadays, and I need to put this out as simply as I can. Please, sit down."

We all sat down in her dark green fake leather couches that complemented her bright, light-filled office with enormous windows brilliantly. The sofas where the only touch of colour in an otherwise white room, with a neat spiral stair in one corner leading upwards. Izuna's family looked strangely at home in such an environment, despite coming from a container dumpster. His mother carried herself with dignity, his father radiated calm, and Madara... Well, he was just Madara.

"What I am going to tell you is very, very serious, and strictly confidential", she begun. "I have made a discovery that will change how we see the world forever. You will walk out of here never being able to see others, and yourselves, the same way again, ever. Do you understand?"

We nodded. Shit, this was bad. I couldn't help it, but I took Izuna's hand, entwining our fingers. Mum noticed, but none in his family did. He squeezed back.

"First of all, I want to ask you..."  She turned to Izuna's parents. "Did Izuna, as a child, for some reason, not get any tap water to drink?"

I could see Izuna furrow his brows. His mother was quiet for a while, then she spoke up.

"Yes. He refused water from the moment he was off breast milk until he was about four. We gave him only juices. Not the best for his health, perhaps, but it was the only way to keep him hydrated."

Izuna looked confused, as if he didn't know this. Mum nodded. "Thought so. I will come back to that later. Now. I have discovered two new parts of the brain. You can't really dissect them out; they're just two centers, just below the thalamus. I have named the first center the alpha-equina, and the second part the beta-equina. Equina is latin for horse, and I decided on that name as an homage to Rudy." Mum smiled for the first time that meeting. "If you discover a new part of the brain, I think you're allowed that." She continued: "There's a reason I've named them alpha and beta. They're what conjures up the differences between alphas, betas and omegas. Because alphas only have the alpha part. Betas only have the beta part. Omegas have neither. Except..."

I could feel him stiffen up next to me. He stopped breathing altogether, and his jaw set. He looked out of the window, as if ashamed.

"Except Izuna, who is the only person out of all the fifty thousand test subjects that have both parts."

I looked at him, brows furrowed. I checked my soul to see if I felt differently about him, but I didn't. I was just scared as to where this conversation might lead.

My mum continued: "The alpha and beta parts cause the release of hormones and pheromones into the bloodstream."

"What are pheromones?" Madara asked. "I know hormones are chemicals in your blood making your body function, but pheromones?"

"Chemicals that are released from an animal that can affect the behavior of another animal of the same species", mum explained. "Alphas, betas and omegas release different pheromones and have different hormones in their blood stream, which is the cause behind alphas only to mating with alphas, betas with betas and omegas with omegas."

Mum took a glass of water and sipped. It looked like she was quickly running out of energy.

"The pheromones are released from one human, and correspond to the hormones in the bloodstream of another. The pheromones released from the alpha-equina are indescribably potent, much more so than from the beta-equina, causing alphas to bond with each other. Once they meet the alpha releasing the pheromones matching their hormones, it starts a positive feedback loop causing the bond to form as more and more pheromones are released, and more and more hormones are produced in the counterpart as a response, causing them to fall more deeply in love by the day. It's beautiful, really", she said dreamily.

"Does this mean the omegas and betas have one dedicated person to them as well, just that they don't bond?" Madara asked. "Because their hormones and pheromones need to match?"

Mum shook her head. "No. In alphas, it's a closed loop; the pheromones causes the hormones of another alpha to react, and the pheromones from that alpha, in turn, causes the hormones of the first alpha to react. In betas and omegas, you need the hormones and pheromones to be from another beta or omega, respectively, but you can fall in love with anyone. At least endocrinological speaking. That's why omegas and betas can divorce, and then find someone new"

"I see", Madara said, brows furrowed, as if trying to figure out whether he liked this or not.

"But..." Mum took a deep breath. "I hired that hacker. He did a splendid job. He hacked the computers of the government, not leaving a trace. He got all information I asked for, and more, without being discovered. And he found..."

Madara leaned forwards in his chair. I saw Izuna's parents take each other's hands, just as me and Izuna had done.

"There is water contamination in the different cities." I just stared. "The hacker found the files and we've been reading them together. Everyone are born with both brain parts. In alpha cities, the chemical compound added to the water destroys the beta-equina part of the brain. In beta cities, it destroys the alpha-equina. In omega cities, it destroys both."

The office became dead silence. The expression "hearing a pin drop" made no sense; you could hear atoms land on the floor, it was so still.

It was Izuna's father who broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Then, Izuna..."

My mother stood up, went to her desk and got some photos. It was the brain CT scans. "I've used  two different isotopes that you inject in the bloodstream that are absorbed by the alpha- and beta-equina, respectively. This is the picture of an alpha brain." She showed the CT picture. A small part was glowing green. "The green is a reflection of the isotope that has been absorbed by the alpha-equina. This is a beta brain." A similar picture, but a smaller part than the green part in the alpha brain, was glowing red. "And this." She held up a picture. She didn't need to explain; it glowed in both red and green. Izuna's. "This is the only brain where both isotopes are absorbed. This explains why you're able to bond, Izuna, and why you can fall in love with those out of your own class. And this, Izuna, is because you didn't drink the water when your brain was in a crucial stage of its development. As you can see, the red and green aren't as prominent as in alphas and betas, respectively. That's because you've been drinking the water since you were four. But the chemicals didn't eradicate the alpha- and beta-equina completely since so much of your brain development had already occurred."

His parents stared at him. "You've..." His mum. She whispered. "You've bonded."

Izuna looked down shyly. "Umm..." He squeezed my hand. And that was when his parents noticed. They looked at me with an expression of chock, and, to my great pleasure, delight.

Mum's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... I didn't think. Gosh, this de-bonding has gotten to my head."

Izuna smiled shyly, still looking down. I massaged his hand with my thumb. "It's okay", he said. "I'm glad they know. I didn't know how I would say it myself, anyway."

"This also explains why you, Tobirama..." Mum looked at me. "Can bond with Izuna. He has his alpha part intact so he produces the pheromones that you can react to, and bond with."

"But I'm so omega!" Izuna suddenly burst out. "My whole being radiates omega-ness!"

"You aren't really", mum said. "You omega behavior are probably a result of having grown up the way you did. Surrounded by omegas, in an omega-city. But your personality deviates quite powerfully from both alphas, betas and omegas."

Izuna became dead quiet, contemplating this new part of his identity.

"This water-contamination must..." Madara said. "It must've gone on for quite some time."

"Thousands of years. We know very little of the time before that." Holy shit.

"But how come we can fall for each other as men?" Izuna asked.

"I don't know yet", mum said. I knew researchers had a way of saying "we", but not my mother. She knew the impact she had as an individual. This was her research. "It has something to do with the hormonal and pheromonal and hormonal cocktail created by the alpha- and beta-equina together. And clearly, only one in a pair needs to be able to have both parts intact."

"But why?" Madara asked. "Why would the government do this?"

"To keep alphas in control", mum said. "It's in the documents. Before all of this, everyone bonded. Now it's only alphas, so a lot of structural trouble is spared them. Love is a powerful force, and the loss of it causes great disturbances within human structures. By ensuring alphas are the only ones free of this nuisance, as well as being able to bond, it could be ensured that they are viewed as superior, and were the ones in power. Betas and omegas were separated to keep those in the container cities at bay. By removing both the alpha- and beta-equina, you become very mellow and content, so the omegas wouldn't rebel against their poverty."

"But there weren't any differences to begin with!" Madara kept going. Smart kid. "They were created!"

"Oh, there were differences. In classes. There were already ginormous differences in living standards, as it is now. The hacker found a document about the supposed benefits of actually changing the brain structures so that there would be a true difference."

"But why not let alphas keep both parts of the brain? Seems ludicrous to experiment with your own social class."

"To get rid of homosexuality", my mother said. "Same-sex partnership. It's pure homophobia. The hacker, bless him, found that out as well."

All became dead silent.

"That's sickening", I said. Izuna turned to look at me, and I realised I had said nothing since this meeting started. "I don't like it."

"One last question", Izuna said. "Did the government know about these brain parts?"

"No", my mother said. "The experimented on rats and measured hormonal and pheromonal levels. Then humans. Then, they released the chemicals in the water once they were happy with the results. In all this time, they could not create a molecule that attached to the parts of the brain releasing these hormones and pheromones to identify it, like I could." There was a lot of pride in my mother's voice.

"What do we do now?" Madara asked.

"We go to the rebels. And we tell them. We tell them what we found out."

When Izuna's parents were to leave, they hugged me. "We don't have much but please...", his mum said. "Please come visit. There's a spare chair at our table always free for you."

"Thank you", I said warmly. "I will." And I meant it. I wanted to see where Izuna was coming from, where the injustices of the world had caused him.

"Izuna... Tobirama." My mum looked at us. "Please, stay for a while longer."

We sat in the sofa, still holding hands as Izuna's parents had left.

"There's something more I need to tell you."