Holding on by a Thread (Held together by tape)

Birds of the Feather & Lightning That's Not Bad Weather

At twenty-three years old, Dick Grayson had been fairly certain that puberty had long since packed its bags and left. Truth be told he'd known that for awhile now, but some small, optimistic part of him had been holding onto an ever dwindling shred of hope that he was just a late bloomer...a really late bloomer, considering most people developed their soul-markings in their mid teens, and almost always sometime before the conclusion of puberty. His voice had changed, he'd filled out, gotten hairier, hornier and moodier, but even after he stopped growing and his hormones leveled out, the only things etched permanently onto his skin were scars.

So all things considered, Dick was very much not expecting to wake up one random summer morning, several months north of twenty-three, with a bright array of colors decorating the expanse of skin covering his heart. His initial reaction was that of shell-shocked glee, he had a soulmate, growing up he'd always dreamed of the day his mark would appear. His parents had been soulmates and he'd wanted nothing more than to find his very own other half, to have a love like theirs. It didn't matter to him that not everyone had a soulmate, his parents often gave him gentle reminders of that fact. They told him that even without a soul bond he could still find someone to live a happy fulfilling life with. At the time he had thought they were full of it, and besides he just knew he had a soulmate out there somewhere, statistics be damned!

Yet for all the youthful longing and certainty of his childhood every year that passed during his adolescence chipped away at his hope. After awhile between school, being Robin, the team and all the other things that came with being a teenager, obsessing over if/when he's get his soul mark had fallen to the wayside. Well until the day his best friend Wally West had gotten his.

                                                                                          ...

|MOUNT JUSTICE

| ~Nine Years Ago

On that particular day, Kid Flash had strolled into the mountain, casual as all hell, totally unfazed by what most people consider a cherished and sacred event, and proceeded to gracelessly whip his tee-shirt off.

M'gann had oohed and awed while Conner and Kaldurh studied the colorful design intently as Wally flexed his still not-as-impressive-as-he-thought-biceps.

The 'gun show' ended abruptly though when Artemis, who, at the time, he had been dating for over a year, cleared her throat from across the room. The sound had caused his ears to turn pink as he swiveled around at super speed to face the blonde archer, meeting her raised brow with a sheepish smile.

"Something you wanna tell me honey?" She'd quipped sarcastically.

In response, Wally just grinned at her before proclaiming,

"Don't worry babe, you're the only girl for me! Besides you haven't gotten one yet, we could end up matching, and even if we don't you know I've never cared about any of this soulmate crap. I'm not gonna let some admittedly cool looking, skin art tell me who to love, don't need it either, because I love you Artemis Crock, cosmic lightning feather be damned!"

At the time Dick had thought it was a nice statement, a dumb one, but still nice. He'd figured they were still teenagers, it was unlikely Wally would meet his soulmate for at least another few years, same for Artemis if she did end up having one and it wasn't Wally. The relationship would run its course, they'd grow up, grow apart, hopefully before he met his match, as nice as the sentiment was there was no way Wally was actually serious about just throwing away his soul bond like that...

It wasn't until years later that Dick had realized exactly how serious Wally had been, he and Artemis stayed together, even after it became clear that she wasn't going to get a mark, matching or otherwise. Despite the couple's apparent continued happiness over the years Dick hadn't been able to stop himself from resenting them, especially after he'd had to accept that he was never going to have a soulmate of his own. After Artemis made it to twenty without the appearance of a soul mark they went back and forth for months before reaching an agreement; She would stay with him, but only if he promised to never go looking or to publicly expose his mark so long as they were together.

As much as he might have wanted, Dick didn't blame Artemis, not really, she had taken a risk when she'd chosen to stay with him, because even though he wouldn't go looking she would never have a true guarantee he wouldn't somehow meet them anyways. That being said, knowing Wally as well as Dick did, he knew better than just about anyone, maybe even better than Artemis herself, that when Wally really, truly set his mind on something there was pretty much no changing it. The combination of his legendary stubborn streak, and near Green Lantern level will power made the task near impossible.

After he'd proposed to Artemis, there wasn't a doubt in Dick's mind that should Wally ever encounter poor individual bearing his matching mark, he would all but force his bond out of existence with the same determination and total disregard of the laws of nature that led him to barbecue himself in his garage in order to gain super-speed.

As such Dick could understand why Artemis made the choice she did, not to mention, being markless her options were fairly limited anyways, besides, how could he really fault her for loving the ginger speedster? No, Wally was the one who was wasting a precious gift, one that some people would give anything for. It was Wally who chose to condemn some clueless person to the grief and heartbreak of being rejected by their own soulmate, he never even gave them a chance. Their fate was sealed when he had asked Artemis to marry him three months ago and she'd accepted, he had made his choice, and all Dick could do was stand by and support his best friend, huge mistake or no.

                                                                                        ...

Dick shook himself from the thoughts of Wally and his soul mark, or he tried too but the ping pong of memories that had bounced through his head shook loose a comparison that startled his shell-shocked, sleep-addled brain into alertness. Forcing his stiff body upright, Dick rubbed his hands over his eyes and blinked rapidly trying to clear the lingering remnants of sleep from them so he could get his first good look at the mark. Vision finally clearing, he peered down at his chest, but as his eyes focused he found himself wishing he hadn't.

A heavy pit started to form in his stomach as he took in the distressingly familiar details that his half-asleep brain and unfocused eyes had initially overlooked. The longer he looked the clearer the design etched above his heart became, bringing with it an all encompassing tidal-wave of dread that completely obliterated all traces of his earlier joy.

Dick's heart dropped to his feet as unwelcome moisture gathered in his eyes, while his mind processed just what the presence of the mark on his body meant. He sat immobile, his damp, unblinking eyes fixed on his chest, unable to look away from the breathtaking, heart-wrenching, depiction of a lightning struck feather. He found himself unable to process how something so extraordinarily beautiful could be so wholly devastating. It was a cruel mockery of the one thing he'd desperately wanted all his life, he'd spent years agonizing over it before he'd finally been forced to give up on it for the sake of his own sanity. He had worked most of his adult life to come to terms with missing the other half of his soul. Gasping, he clutched at his chest where the mark sat throbbing over his heart and in that moment Dick felt something deep inside him shatter into a billion tiny pieces as he finally allowed the tears that had been fighting to get out, to fall as he mourned what would never be.

Later, as he got ready for patrol, taking extra care to securely adhere a large bandage to his chest, lest his suit get ripped or he sustain an injury, he couldn't banish a single, persisting conclusion from his thoughts.

Of course it was him, of course Wally was his soulmate, the man had unknowingly taken his heart years ago, it only makes sense that he would take his soul as well.