Chapter Text
When you were little, you weren’t sure why your momma would pay so much attention to your hair. You knew momma also paid heavy attention to your dads hair, brushing it and looking at it from across the room with lots of love.
You had asked her, one day, why exactly she did all of this. She told you that you’d learn when you were older. At the time, you had pouted and declared it wasn’t fair- she merely laughed and gave you a coloring book.
It, unfortunately, caught your attention enough you forgot all about what you were asking in favor of coloring the pictures.
Though thankfully, your little mind was given the answer mere weeks later, during school.
“Class, class! When we need to focus, what do we say?” The teacher, a nice old woman named Miss Smith, had suddenly asked from the front of the room. She had black hair with blue highlights pulled up into a bun, smile marks, and a strange obsession with lightning and lava. She catered to the lot of you, always patient when someone struggled, gave the class plenty of time with assignments, even provided snacks with story time.
You’re not sure you fully believe the wild tales she tells, stories of ninja who could control the elements, but they were good entertainment at the very least. One kid was a little too dedicated to becoming the next ‘fire ninja’. At least Miss Smith humored him and pretended his ‘fire powers’ lit a candle or two when it was cold or dark.
“One, two, three! All eyes on screen!” A cacophony of eight year old's responded, some much louder than others. Miss Smith smiled at you all, nodding in affirmation before starting up the projector after dimming the lights in the room. Immediately, a buzz went through the room- all the kids expecting a game to be brought up. It was a fun way to pass the time though some were much more competitive than others when it came to the activity meant to calm them down.
The class had already done their lessons for the day, the main ones like math and history completed earlier, so mutters started rippling amongst the kids when, instead of a game screen, the start of a slideshow popped up. Some were disappointed, but others were just curious on what else could possibly be taught since other lessons have already been completed that day.
“I apologize for the accidental deception,” Miss Smith stated, voice softening as she attempted to quell the complaints going through the room, “But the principal has deemed you all ready for a very important subject! Now, some of you may already know this information from a sibling, parent, or guardian, but today we are going over the subject of..” She points to the light hitting the sheet, the image changing from ‘Today's topic’ to ‘Soulmates’.
Right away, you see some of the kids around the room understand what was going on. Seems Miss Smith was right in her guess that some of them already knew about the topic. You, however, were with the majority that had not a clue. A tablemate of yours rose his hand, looking at the teacher with wide eyes. She points to his raised hand with a nod, and he puts it down looking like he was looking for the answers of the universe in whatever her response may be.
“Miss Smith, why are we learning about a book topic?” He asked, voice full of genuine confusion as he swayed back and forth in his chair. Vocalizations could be heard around the room as several of them, you included, agreed. Weren’t soulmates just a thing that superheroes were given in comic books to make the villain have something to hold against them?
You didn’t understand.
You didn’t get the way the ones who seemed to know before the rest of you did looked almost offended, one even sharply raising her hand while staring your tablemate down. Despite not being the one the gaze was aimed at, you shrink down in your seat. She looks like she’s going to say something mean again..
Luckily, she didn't get a chance; Miss Smith took over and gathered attention back to her by lightly tapping a glass of water with a pen. She didn't look like she was surprised, which made sense since she's been a teacher here longer than you've been alive. Miss Smith has probably gotten that comment hundreds of times by now.
“I can see why you would think that, however! Soulmates are indeed real, and they’re all around us.” She commented, a smile gracing her face as she taped at her laptop in order to go to the next slide area of the subject. To nobody's surprise, everyone went quiet as they absorbed the contents of the new slide. You tilted your head, squinting.
That was a lot of text.
“Soulmates are special things. Everyone has them, though some even have multiple!” Miss Smith begins, summarizing the information on the screen. “Somewhere out there is someone- or someone's- connected to you, feeling when you get a little rough in gym class, and feeling when you land a bit hard in your seat. We share pain through our bonds, a side effect of being connected from stardust. So if you’ve ever felt itchy, or maybe a small sting on your body, it’s likely the other side of your bond got a small injury.” Tapping the sheet where light projects onto, she scans the room to see if anyone wasn’t following.
Which, you were, you were just thinking- going over the information presented to you. It was a fair bit at once, but you think you understand what was going on. Somewhere out there, you had someone that felt your pain and you in turn felt theirs.
Scrunching your face, you immediately feel guilt creep in as you think back to all of the times you’ve fallen, stubbed your toe, went down a hot slide; anything that caused you discomfort. Everything you’ve felt, someone else has had to feel the same thing.
You hoped your mental apology reached them somehow.
Miss Smith sighed, drawing your focus back to her as she looked around the classroom with a sad smile. You looked around as well, and were met with many faces looking sad or guilty, some faces a mixture of both.
“You didn’t know, and you all are still children; it’s expected that accidents happen and sometimes you get a bit hurt.” She soothed, walking around the room to remain active. “Even if a bigger injury is gained, like a broken bone, your soulmate only feels some of your pain. The bond connects you, yes, but at the end of the day everyone feels things differently from one another.”
It certainly helped more than just your own conscience, several others in the room also being affected. Shoulders slumping, quiet sighs ringing in the classroom- you even saw someone at the table next to you put their head down onto the wood of the desk. You were tempted to do the same, but the reminder that the lesson was still technically going hit you when Miss Smith changed the slide.
“Though even with that, the bond doesn’t stop there. As you grow, you will gain a feature of your soulmates! Hair is a common trait that changes, although things like freckles or moles are also known to be fairly common!” Miss Smith smiled at you all, before pointing at her own face.
You leaned forward in your seat, knowing several others did the same based on the creaking of chairs, and noticed small changes in her skin. Gasps echoed around the room, your eyes widening slightly, as you noticed that on your teacher's face was, in fact, freckles. Faded, but there. She touches her face with a soft smile. “Like my own freckles. They belong to one of my soulmates, but I cherish them deeply.”
You blink, processing. You’ve.. never heard Miss Smith’s voice sound like that- you couldn’t even describe how it sounded since you lacked the words! If you had to try and give it a name, it’s like… it’s like when momma talks about dad.
What was the word momma said about dad again? You know it was important, it was a big deal and full of emotion, not to be said lightly.
Suddenly, it rushed back to you, making you straighten in your seat- Love! The word was love. Momma loved dad dearly. And it looks like Miss Smith loved her soulmates lots as well!
Right as you realize the word you were looking for, you notice Miss Smith giggle as she thumbs the rings of her necklace. You missed the context, but it was easy enough to just look around and notice some of the more outgoing girls look really excited. They probably made a comment that made her laugh. Well, Miss Smith didn’t look upset- far from it- so you assume it wasn’t offensive. She never was the type to let people get away with things, even if they're a kid, so her reaction hints towards maybe a teasing comment about her soulmates? You didn’t know.
Time passed as the rest of the lesson mainly consisted of answering questions, but you weren’t paying all that much attention since you had the basic understanding. Soulmates… somewhere out there, someone is connected to you. Possibly even multiple someone's! But you weren’t.. fully sure how to really explain why your gut twisted at the thought. You should be happy, shouldn’t you? They’d probably complete you like a puzzle piece you were missing, so why did the thought of meeting them fill you with unease?...
Maybe it’s just lunch sitting wrong. Yeah, that had to be it. One day you’ll meet your other pieces, and you’ll hug them real hard! And then you’ll… go on picnics? What did soulmates even do?
You shrug it off, grabbing your bag from its hook and waiting for your name to be called so you could finally go home. Whatever, it’ll likely be a few years before you even get a hint of who your soulmate is- you have the time to think of what to do when you finally meet. It sounded a little rude, but you just didn’t care all that much right now.
You were only eight, all you cared about right now was keeping your grades up and hopping into momma’s car as the two of you drove home.
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Far, far away, two unique individuals discuss an important topic.
Well, discuss was a strong word.
One was pacing circles around the small place they called home while the other sat on the couch in the middle of the room and loudly talked about the sensations they’ve been feeling. “You could just be getting hurt without realizing it, end of story!” Huffed the one on the couch, picking at a pillow’s tassels.
“You and I both know that’s not it,” Countered the pacing one, “this is more than coincidence! Plus, are you just conveniently forgetting about the times it's happened when we're together? There has to be a third!" They finally paused in their pacing, planting both hands firmly on the back of the couch to stare at the one sitting. Their jaws were clenched, but there was a spark in their eyes.
The one on the couch grunted, finally looking up at the other as they, too, paused. “Jin, even if there is a third, how’d we go about finding them? And, more importantly, why haven’t we felt their presence until now?”
Jin rolled his eyes, scoffing, but was undeterred, “Oh come on, they could just have been being super careful! Maybe they started slipping up, everything we’ve felt has been a sting at most. Face it Yin, they’re out there!” He grinned, squinting his red eyes even as the golden hair tried to cover his vision from his leaning.
Yin sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes.
The home fell into silence, the two brothers in their own thoughts. Different in what raced through their heads, but one thing matched.
Somewhere, someone out there was their soulmate.