Chapter Text
Aelwyn hated her soulmate. She hated soulmates altogether. She’d hated the idea for as long as she'd known. Why should the universe be able to predetermine who you were meant to be with, and why did she have to be unlucky enough to have a soul mark? Her soul mark was a permanent sign of the first words her soulmate would speak to her, forever etched onto her skin. And hers was the worst. Each morning as she was forced to stare at it in the mirror, she cursed every higher power she could think of that she was stuck with this horrid mark. The worst of it was that she was alone. She stood out. Her sister didn't have one, and neither did her parents, as far as she was aware; being unique in her family was not something to celebrate. She had tried everything to hide or remove it, but no matter what she did, it stayed; there was nothing she could do about it. Aelwyn hated her so-called soulmate for putting her through this, but most of all for the string of words laced around the side of her hip, “Um, who are you“.
This soul mark would be acceptable for anyone else, but for Aelwyn Abernant? Absolutely not. How could someone so easily deny her status and so rudely dismiss her importance in their first encounter? And then there was the shame. The biggest shame she brought upon her family was something entirely out of her control. Her parents even praised Adaine for her lack of a soul mark. They were so offended by the notion that their eldest daughter was unknown to anyone. Any time Aelwyn met someone new, she was introduced at least three times to solidify her existence. And yet they blamed her. They blamed her for getting the short end of the universe's stick. And so she did her best to forget about it, she focused her energy on other areas and excelled to compensate, and it worked, for the most part.
~~~
Soulmates were Sam's favourite topic. She rarely shared this romantic side of her, but ever since she learnt what her soul mark meant, she had been captivated by the idea of true love. This secret devotion to her soulmate helped Sam through a lot of her troubles. She fixated on the reality that she would find the person that was made for her one day.
Sam didn't really understand what her words meant as a child, but she knew they were her destiny. All she had to do was find Penelope. Sam loved her soul mark, a flowing script running down her spine that read, “Ah, right, Penelope’s friend”. Penelope’s friend. She wanted more than anything to find Penelope, the one who would lead her to her soulmate. Sam didn't have many friends when she was a performer, not even the other kids on set, as she was isolated by her mother. Once she moved out of bastion city, her dream of finding her fate-determined friend was achieved. Sam had found Penelope; she was finally Penelope’s friend and one step closer to finding her soulmate. Sam loved Penelope; she was her closest friend. No matter what happened between them, Sam knew she could always rely on Penelope to be there for her and that she would one day be the cause of the one thing Sam longed for most.
~~~
Aelwyn met Sam at a party. It was supposed to be a quick introduction and then a swift trapping in a palimpsest. Sam was dating Johnny Spells, one of the Harvestmen, and he had convinced Aelwyn to help him trap Sam. According to him, she had expressed concerns about trapping their friends with Penelope, the girl Aelwyn had been creating crystal prisons with. Johnny thought it would help if Sam met someone else in on the plan to calm her nerves and build her trust so they could trap her in the next palimpsest. Penelope’s logic was that even a slight doubt would ruin everything, so they needed Sam out of the picture.
Penelope knew everything about Sam and had constructed the perfect plan to imprison her best friend. She told Aelwyn how Sam was obsessed with the idea of soulmates; Aelwyn had scoffed at this, and Penelope laughed her high-pitched, sinister laugh.
“Aww, someone’s unlucky in love”,
she had teased. Aelwyn brushed this off; she didn't have time to waste on soulmate business,
“So, how will this juvenile obsession help our plan?”,
“Well, she's for sure a virgin, Johnny does not fuck, plus she'd been saving herself for her ‘true love’ anyway. Of course, I know her words, so when I introduced her to Johnny, I got him to say her soul mark phrase and act like whatever she said to him was his mark too. Now she trusts him with his life, and we can get her to do anything, like, follow us to an isolated place so we can put her in a crystal.”
Penelope laughed that devilish laugh again and turned towards Aelwyn,
“By the way, we need you to find somewhere to hold a party for Friday night. See ya!”
That was how Aelwyn found herself in the middle of another meaningless Hudol party filled with her elemental cheerleaders and a bunch of sweaty nerds. She sat across from Johnny Spells, waiting for Sam to join them. Aelwyn knew she was expected to sell this performance to calm Sam's nerves and get her ready for trapping, but she quite honestly wasn't in the mood tonight. She was becoming fed up with Johnny and Penelope. They weren't the best company, and the fact they needed her around to make this catch annoyed her more than it usually would. That, combined with lousy alcohol and desperate dweebs from her school following her around, made Aelwyn apathetic at most.
Finally, Sam joined them in the small seating area where they were waiting and walked over to stand by Johnny. Sam was beautiful. Much prettier than any of the other girls she knew, including Penelope, though she would never dare say that unless she wanted to end up in a palimpsest herself. Something about the genasi was intriguing to Aelwyn, like her essence was pulling Aelwyn in, inviting her closer and telling her to forget about her hatred and fears. She studied the other girl's face. She was obviously uncomfortable; her nervous eyes darted between Johnny and Aelywn as she awaited an introduction from her partner. Johnny let out a cough to quash the silence and gestured to Sam.
“So this is my lil’ mama, Sam.”
he made a pointed face at Aelwyn, and she returned his look with a bored expression and turned to Sam.
“Ah, right, Penelope's friend”.
Both Sam and Johnny froze. Sam stared at Aelwyn and blinked at her as if she'd said something insane, and Johnny’s eyes widened what seemed like twice their size.
“Um, who are you”.
Sam’s look of shock at that moment seemed parallel to Aelwyn’s, though she quickly tried to cover it up and forced a laugh. Surely it was a coincidence; there was no way this girl had just spoken the four words she detested more than anything. She must have heard it wrong. At that point, Johnny seemed to have gathered himself again and let out an even louder superficial laugh than she had.
“Of course, Sam! I forgot to warn you, Aelwyn here is quite the prankster, but don't sweat it baby, she's not really being a bird dog”.
He repeated the same fake laugh and slapped his knee harder than he intended.
“I've just been so happy about meeting my soulmate I’ve been telling everyone about you, and I guess Aelwyn here thought it would be a real great joke to introduce herself with our soul words”.
Oh. Shit.
Aelwyn felt sick. There was no way this girl she was meant to trap was her soulmate. Yet again her soul mark had messed up her life. She had ruined the whole plan. Aelwyn looked between the couple and smiled as best as she could manage,
“That's right, I do this to everyone's soulmate. I guess I just find it so hard without a mark of my own that I have to live through the amusement of confusing others, and I suppose it worked. So… nice meeting you. I must be off now, goodbye”.
The look of forced amusement mixed with panic and anger on Johnny’s face made Aelwyn want to run away anyway. Still, she couldn't handle being in the same room as someone she had spent her life hating, especially not while pretending she had played some amateur practical joke. She headed straight for the kitchen to avoid hearing the lingering conversation from that awkward encounter, hoping she could calm herself down.
Later that evening Penelope found her in the bathroom, avoiding seeing Sam or Johnny again.
“What the hell happened!?”
Penelope’s stare bore into her. She’d seriously fucked up,
“I don't know! Johnny asked me to help calm Sam down. He wanted me to trap her, and then he started acting weird, so I left.”
“That's not what he told me. How did you know her soul words?”
Aelwyn didn't want to deal with Penelope’s anger issues tonight, and she pushed to move past her.
“I don't know what you're even talking about. I don't have a soul mark.”
right as Aelwyn reached the door, she felt Penelope's unyielding grip on her arm,
“I don't care if you are her soulmate; you've cost us tonight so go find someone else for this palimpsest while I figure out a new plan for Sam. Got it.”
Aelwyn knew there was no point in arguing. She took the palimpsest from the other girl and went off to find a new victim to distract herself for the rest of the night.
~~~
Sam stayed home almost all weekend. That party had done something strange to her, she tried to pretend it was just the alcohol, but she knew it was something more. She was confused and conflicted, and everything felt wrong. She kept reliving that same conversation over and over in her head, trying to remember every detail, every slight facial expression or tonal shift of that charming elven girl. Aelwyn. Johnny had spent the rest of that night trying to convince Sam that Aelwyn had just made a bad joke and that she shouldn't worry anymore about their plan. Sam had no reason to talk to Aelwyn; she knew she shouldn't, but she was drawn to her. She wandered around the party looking for her for the rest of the night, which seemed to upset Penelope as she had ignored Sam ever since. That feeling she felt when she heard her soul words again, the same phrase with such different meaning, a spark that wasn't there the first time. She had seen it in Aelwyn’s face too, despite how well she hid it, that feeling of knowing that this was maybe more than a coincidence.
Sam didn't know what to think. She loved johnny, he was supposed to be the set-in-stone one for her, but the idea that someone else could have her soul words was almost too much to handle. Maybe she had two soulmates. It was unlikely, but Sam didn't buy that Aelwyn had been trying to prank her. It felt like something more. It was too real.
She had been avoiding Johnny all weekend. She didn't know how to face him, she tried to ignore the thought, but the idea that maybe he wasn't her soulmate kept coming into her mind. On Sunday night, he texted her to meet up at the garage. He wanted to talk, which was strange as most of the time, an invitation to the garage meant Sam would end up watching his newest dance routine over and over again. Eventually, she decided there was no point in delaying it any longer, so Sam slipped out of the house and went to talk to Johnny about their soul marks. Unfortunately for her, what was waiting at the garage wasn't a comforting conversation with her boyfriend; instead, she was greeted by Johnny and swiftly trapped inside crystal palimpsest.
Chapter 2
Summary:
The bad kids are holding a party for Adaine's birthday. Neither can avoid the party and both are stressed about encountering the other and not knowing what to say, they haven't spoken since that night at the party.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It had been a year since the seven maidens were freed, Penelope and Johnny were both dead, and Aelwyn had given a thousand apologies, but that didn't make it any easier when her sister and her friends held parties and invited the maidens. She knew there was nothing she could do about this, the two groups were so close and she didn't want to be a party pooper, so she spent most of these events hidden away in her and Adaine’s shared room. Today was different though. It was Adaine’s birthday and she knew she couldn't avoid this party, she loved her sister too much.
Since moving to the manor, Aelwyn had become close to all her housemates but had especially clicked with Ragh. They both had similar experiences, being popular kids who fell down the wrong path, and they became quick friends. She knew she could count on Ragh to help her through tough times and she would help him in return. On the morning of Adaine’s party, Aelwyn was lying on the edge of Ragh’s bed, hoping for some last-minute advice.
“You've already apologised, there isn't much more you can do, they're allowed to be upset with you”
“Yes, I know, but facing them again, I just feel so guilty and I don't want to ruin their experience by being there”
“You deserve to have fun too you know”
Aelwyn sat up so she was facing Ragh, he shot her a knowing look and she flopped back down across the bed, she hated how good he was at giving advice sometimes, he got her in ways a lot of the others didn't.
“Well there's one more… slight issue about seeing ALL of the maidens again”
She paused and took in a deep breath. In all of her other encounters with the maidens she had been able to avoid this detail, most of the time it was just Zelda hanging out at the manor and the last time she saw the whole party together was when she was begging for their forgiveness. She hadn't seen Sam since then. She knew tonight she would be there and there was a large probability she knew now that Johnny Spells wasn't her soulmate. She must have paused for longer than anticipated because she felt Ragh sit next to her on the edge of the bed and nudge her.
“Well?”
“Um. You see. The last time I saw Sam before she was trapped I… maybe… discovered she was my soulmate”
Aelwyn closed her eyes tightly to avoid seeing the look on Raghs face. When he didn't say anything she sat up and faced him. He had a puzzled expression on his face.
“Are you sure? I thought you didn't have a soul mark”
“Im fairly certain. And I was lying about my soul mark, I was embarrassed. My soul mark wasn't very welcome with my parents.”
“Can I see?”
Aelwyn was slightly taken aback by this, she had never shown her mark to anyone, quite often she was hiding it from people. She took in another deep breath and lifted the side of her shirt, revealing the script “Um, who are you“ the same words that had haunted her all her life, but now for a much different reason.
“I see. At least it's pretty, I can hardly read mine”
Aelwyn let out a soft chuckle and pulled her shirt back down, at least Ragh could make her laugh when she was stressed out of her mind.
“I just, I don't know what to do. I don't think she'll even want to talk to me after… you know, and knowing that I was her soulmate and I did that to her, she must hate my guts. And I have to be at a party with her and all her friends who probably also double hate me now”
Aelwyn felt Ragh's hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him
“Hey, no matter what happens, we don't hate you and we're here for you, ok, you need to be there for Adaine cause she wants you to be happy. And you never know, maybe you'll be surprised”
Aelwyn gave him a weak smile and stood up off the bed.
“Thanks, I really appreciate your help. I promised to take Adaine out for a birthday treat so ill see you later”
“Ok, see you tonight, don't overthink it!”
Aelwyn went to go find her sister, trying to shake any idea of soulmates out of her head so she could give Adaine the best birthday ever.
---
Sam was beyond nervous about the party at Mordred Manor that night. Normally she loved parties, especially ones hosted by the bad kids because they got wild, but this one was different. Usually, she could avoid Aelwyn at these events as she mostly stayed in her room, but tonight was Adaine’s birthday and there was no way she was having a party without her sister. Sam knew that she would have to see Aelwyn again sooner or later, but she still didn't know how to feel. Should she be angry or excited, could she hate the person she had fantasised about spending her life with? She already knew at this point how Penelope and Johnny had used her soul mark against her, and she had spent a lot of time thinking about her first encounter with Aelwyn, how she felt that spark that wasn't there with Johnny, how she had tried to push the feeling away but she still pictured Aelwyn's face in that moment of realisation, the look of surprise, and maybe something more, that haunted Sam's mind. It had taken her a lot of time to rebuild her trust again after both her best friend and her boyfriend had tricked her, and she didn't know if she was ready to let someone else in.
Sam spent most of the day thinking of all the different ways she could face aelwyn and what she would say to her. The only thing on her mind was aelwyn, which made it hard for her to focus on getting ready for the party. Something else that was unhelpful in keeping her mind off the elven girl was the constant buzzing of her crystal from the maiden’s group chat. Her friends were all super excited for the party because they knew the bad kids would go all out for their friend’s birthday, and so the chat was filled with fit checks and voice memos about what to wear and what to bring and whos going to be there. They were still discussing the guest list when Sam picked up her crystal to join the chat and it seemed the maidens were discussing the person that had already been on Sam’s mind all day.
“I just feel weird y’know like I know she good now but I still don't forgive her”- Ostentatia
“I get that but I can't just ignore her”- Penny
“She's actually pretty cool once you get to know her”- Zelda
“You're just saying that cause you have to put up with her when you hang out with Gorgug at the manor”- Ostentatia
“I trust Zelda’s judgement but we all love you Ostentatia so we won't talk to her if you're uncomfortable”- Danielle
“It's fine, it's just more personal for me but I won't stop you from talking to her”- Ostentatia
“Alright. Btw did someone borrow my blue dangly earrings cause I can't find them anywhere”- Penny
Sam closed the group chat and took a deep breath. She was glad they changed subjects but knowing that Ostentatia was still upset with aelwyn made her even more nervous about the truth about her soulmate. She decided she needed advice, so she messaged the person she hoped would understand the most.
“Hey Zelda, did you mean what you said about aelwyn in the group chat earlier?”- Sam
“Uh yeah, she's pretty nice, why?”- Zelda
“I just don't want to upset Ostentatia if I talk to her”- Sam
“Fair enough, but I didn't think you'd be interested in talking to her anyway, she'll probably just hang around her sister tbh”- Zelda
“I have a problem and I need your advice”- Sam
“Ok, I'm here for whatever you need”- Zelda
“I think aelwyn is my soulmate”- Sam
“Oh.”- Zelda
Sam nervously bit on her nails. “Oh.” was not the answer she was looking for, if anything it made things worse.
“Do you know for sure? I mean did you even talk to her when she came to apologise for trapping us?”- Zelda
“Yes, I'm sure. I met her before then at a party with Johnny and it was like something clicked between us when I heard the words but she kinda ran away and I haven't spoken to her since”- Sam
“That sounds like how it felt for me and Gorgug. Soulmates are tricky, it's not just gonna be easy straight away but I think tonight is an opportunity for you to talk to her. I think you'd like her, you're pretty similar.”- Zelda
“How will I know what to say? I'm freaking out”- Sam
“Youll know when you know, trust me, just try to talk to her, ok”- Zelda
“Alright, thanks. Love you x.”- Sam
“Love you too, see you there”- Zelda
Sam thought about what Zelda said as she finished getting ready and she decided she would try and talk to aelwyn and not think too much about it, just wait and see what happens.
Notes:
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
vampyrelle on Chapter 2 Tue 19 Dec 2023 04:02AM UTC
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