Chapter Text
Soulmates. A funny thing. Especially in a world where we've figured out we aren't alone. Humans aren't the sole species that can do these crazy things that no other animal seemed to be able to do. The creatures of lore? Things like Sirens, Dragons, Grim Reapers... All of them, real. Well, not all of them, but a good amount. With the revelation of those... Came other evolutions. Humans developed... Soulmates. A fellow human that was their one and only love for the rest of their life. Or so we thought. Eventually, we found out that some people developed multiple links to their soulmate. This happened when their soulmate wasn't human. How many links they had, determined how many lives they had lived. They were basically immortal. And I? Turned out to be one of them.
I still remember the day I got my first sign of a soulmate. I had just been mutter singing while painting a project. "Got me so high, and then she dropped me, but she got me, she got me, she got me bad." I had hummed the next part, but the words rang clear in my head.
"Took me inside and then she rocked me. She keep me up all night, this is what it sounds like~"
It took me a moment to realize that that wasn't my own voice or the voice playing from the earbud in one ear. I dropped my paintbrush, it landing in my water cup with a small splash, and scurried downstairs to inform my family, or rather, my found family of sorts. They had quickly asked what their voice sounded like. I tried to explain it as a deeper female voice that sent chills down my spine. I'm not sure if that was from the soulmate thing, or how good her voice was though.
The second sign was a bit of a surprise however. I had woken up with a start after an awful dream. In that dream I had watched someone take their final breath as the person who's eyes I was seeing from, caressed their cheek. They didn't look familiar to me yet I was filled with overwhelming waves of grief. "Please... Just stay with me... One of these times... Please." I heard come out of the person I was seeing from. They had a familiar voice. And then it clicked. My soulmate. She wasn't human. And I had already died multiple times if this dream had any truth to it. I never told the others about this second connection or the ones after it.
The third connection I felt was a painful one. I was listening to Sorry Sorry through the connection and smiling as I slightly did the moves. And then it came. I let out a whimper of pain as I somewhat crumbled to the floor. It felt like I had sprained my ankle or something... But I had been standing still at that moment... Then it felt like someone was biting my finger. Looking at it, there was no bite mark or person nearby. Then it hit me. I gasped and realized that my soulmate had sprained her ankle and was probably biting her finger through the pain. I winced and tried to continue walking normally after realizing that putting weight on it wouldn't further injure myself or cause more pain.
Then the last connection I knew of happened when I was finishing up the painting of a banner for our group. I was testing out different shades of blue on my arm since I couldn't find a proper place to test them. After I had decided upon a shade and painted the part I needed to paint, I went to wash it off. That's when I noticed something. A painting of a blue fish was on my arm as well. It was fairly detailed even though being in only one shade. I had not drawn that, and the others were not home either. That left it to be only one possible person. My soulmate.
After learning of 4 connections, they stopped appearing. That meant I was on my 4th life correct? I enjoyed the occasional song playing through my head, detailed drawings appearing on me somewhere, and sweet dreams that seemed like memories between my soulmate and my past lives. However, I never actually saw my soulmate's face. I just saw the faces of my past lives. The one I determined was the first life lived somewhere in Spain I believe. The second life appeared to be an American. And the third life appeared to be in Mexico. I didn't have much information on them as the dreams were, well, dreams. They become fuzzy in your memory after a while.
A tap on my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Minji smiling down at me.
"You ready for practice?" she asked.
I stood up with a nod. That's right. We were preparing to compete on a TV show where you make your own group and compete against others. We had made it past auditions and had to prepare for our first performance, which was a cover dance. We had decided upon the song Lucky Strike by Maroon 5 kind of in honor of how that was the song I first heard my soulmate's voice in. I was the only member who had discovered their soulmate connection, but still hadn't found their soulmate. So Lucky Strike it was.
Soon enough it was the dress rehearsal. And also our first stage rehearsal. If I were to say I wasn't nervous, I would be lying. Todαy we would watch all of the other performances, and all of the other performances would watch us. There was a line up of 10 groups, half being boy groups and the other half being girl groups.
I tugged on my skirt a little to pull it down some. I felt like I had put it on too high but everyone else told me I looked fine. As we walked down the hallway I couldn't help but feel funny. Like I was being pulled somewhere. I was tempted to follow the pull, but I needed to go with my group since rehearsals were starting soon. So I ignored it.
After we got to the auditorium and found our seats, we realized we were the last to arrive. The group performing first were running over some things on stage together before beginning. They were all wearing suits and all had their long hair down. My heart was about to beat out of my chest, and I wasn't sure if it was from nerves or gay panic. If it was the latter, I wasn't sure if I'd survive their performance.
And then they started. My heart stopped. Their song of choice was one that rang extremely familiar. This was the song that my soulmate was always listening to. Sorry Sorry by Super Junior. It felt like my brain, or maybe heart, was getting ahead of itself. Would my soulmate really be in the same competition as I was?
My question was answered when one member moved forward to sing her line. Her clear voice was too familiar. This had to be the same person who sung in my head. My eyes were glued to her for the rest of the performance.
Obviously my shock had shown because as my group was walking to the stage, Yubin nudged me and asked if I was okay. Apparently I looked as if I'd seen a ghost. I responded with a simple "I'm fine" even though I was certainly not fine.
Even thought I was distracted, I luckily didn't make any mistakes. Minji said we could watch the other performances and then get back to practice. So, we all excitedly walked back to the auditorium just in time for the next group to perform. However, like before I just couldn't focus. I decided to just excuse myself from the group for a moment to take a walk and clear my head.
I quickly regretted taking a walk back to the dressing room because in the hallway I saw three of the girls from the Sorry Sorry group practicing their dance. They had their blazers off and their ties loosened. My heart started pounding and I started walking faster to pass them and get to my group's dressing room. The one with brown hair smiled and waved at me as I passed. I couldn't do much more than smile and nod before going into a light jog and slipping inside my dressing room and closing the door behind me.
It was then that I realized I still heard the music from the auditorium loud and clear. That meant either there wasn't any soundproofing here or that my soulmate was in that other room. I banged my head against the counter and groaned from a combination of my nerves and the pain.
After that the music got quieter. My breath hitched in my throat and then I closed my eyes and banged my head on the counter again. She wasn't coming to see me. Chances are she didn't even notice I was here. I ran my hand through my hair and stood up. I checked the mirror to ensure I didn't look like I was in the midst of a gay panic and walked to the door. Taking a deep breath I slowly opened it a crack.
Outside I saw two girls talking quietly to each other. One was facing away from me with jet black hair and the one facing me had a concerned expression on her face as she talked to her friend. I slowly opened my door and walked out gaining the attention of the concerned friend. Soon after the girl with jet black hair turned around causing my heart to skip a beat at the familiar face. I smiled at them as I neared them.
"You guys' performance was really good." I said with as charming of a smile I could muster.
The girl who was presumably my soulmate smiled and muttered a "thank you" which I smiled and nodded at before turning and walking away. I survived the first encounter with my presumed soulmate.