Vanitas × Noé

Soulmate AU

Now that chapter 42 is out guess who's back on her bullshit? That's right! I'm here to bring you some more of our boys. This chapter was short and sweet (though Vani and Noé only appeared together in the last panel lol) so I'm here to channel my love for this series into another insane one shot.

Y'know I have like 8 fics in my drafts for this but I'm going to have to scrap like half of them because of how the characters' relationships are developing? Oof. Also, Dominique should be back next year and I am HYPE. I've missed her!!! I'm not going to write a continuation on this month's chapter like I did last month because it will stop being canon compliant in, you guessed it, a month. So we're doing a soulmate AU so I don't embarrass myself.
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Noé had always been an unapologetic romantic. He didn't necessarily understand romance but it fascinated him. He'd read about it in the few fiction books that Teacher kept in his library or that Dominique would secretly bring as gifts to him. His childhood had been fairly devoid of romance seeing as he only interacted with a very limited number of people.

In fact, Noé was so behind on romance he didn't even learn about soulmates until about a year after meeting Domi and Louis. The three of the had been playing and while making flower crowns for each other Dominique burst out that she wanted to see Noé's soulmark. Noé had responded with utter confusion and Louis had laughed at him for it. Before explaining what they were of course.

Noé had assumed his soulmark was a birthmark. Noé's sat just a tiny bit left of the centre of his chest. Dominique's was on the back of her neck and coincidentally so was Louis's. When comparing them it had been clear that they all shared similarities. Noé's was a bit larger than the others' and had softer edges, almost looking like a crescent moon with a soft flower blooming in the middle.

Dominique's was a similar flower with sharper edges and thorns. The stem curled around it. Louis's was also a flower but withering and much smaller than even Dominique's. Apparently, the marks could change over time based on the bearer's personality and the people in their lives. Having similar features may not always indicate that any two people belong together, it could simply be that they care a lot about each other.

Even soulmates may not have an identical mark. The marks themselves were more of an indication of compatibility. Anyone could potentially be anyone's soulmate. To make the bond stronger there's a way to bind two or more people's marks together but even married couples don't always go through with that given all the risks involved.

Now, despite Noé being a romantic he could help the pang of fear when he glimpsed Vanitas's soulmark for the first time. It was on his upper left arm so Noé had only caught sight of it briefly when Vanitas had been changing shirts in their room. That brief glimpse showed him maybe the biggest soulmark he had ever seen. It was complicated so Noé didn't get a good look. There was a butterfly and a skull and an hourglass and vines. But at the centre of it all was a full moon covered in... something. Then it was gone.

The sight of the moon scared him a little, though it was a common symbol on soulmarks and particularly for vampires. He had never imagined that he would have anything in common with Vanitas on his soulmark. And the fact was, his own soulmark had been changing since he had come to Paris. He knew it wasn't unusual. As they got older the stem on Dominique's flower had grown into a snake and the flower itself shrank until the snake became the centrepiece. His moon was growing bigger and his flower was getting smaller, the last time the flower changed was after Louis died and the petals curled up ever so slightly.

Roots were extending from the flower, morphing into chains halfway and wrapping around his moon. The chains had only started growing after he entered Paris and he only recognised them as chains after their run in with Doctor Moreau. Noé didn't dislike when his mark changed but the rate at which it was changing and the fact that it was changing when the person he spent the most time with was Vanitas worried him. More than anything marks changed to reflect relationships between people. The personality of the owner was usually only reflected in the base of the mark.

Noé and Vanitas had never discussed soulmates together. Why would they? It wasn't important to their job and they weren't exactly interested in each other. Hell, Vanitas had never seen Noé's soulmark either. And yet, that glimpse Noé caught of Vanitas's haunted him for weeks.

Why was it so big? Was it always that big? Why were there so many layers to it? Had it changed since meeting Noé? Had it changed since meeting Jeanne? How similar was it to Noé's?
Eventually Noé just couldn't hold it in. He'd never been able to keep his curiosity in check, to the point of being chastised as rude.

One day, when eating breakfast with Vanitas he simply burst out with, "can I see you soulmark?"

Vanitas stared at him coldly, "Why would you want something like that?"

"I'm curious! I'll show you mine first if you like."

"I don't have any interest in that. Why would it matter? We know we're barely compatible as friends."

"That's not the point! Don't you think they could help us understand each other?"

"I already understand you. You're pretty simple-minded."

"Mine has a crescent moon." Noé declared in hopes of piquing Vanitas's interest.

"A lot of vampires do have a red moon. It is a big part of your identity for some reason."

"Mine's blue."

Vanitas twitched slightly and Noé knew he was starting to win. "That so?"

"I always liked the blue moon even though most vampires are afraid of it. Maybe because I was raised by humans for a bit? Either way, people always told me it was weird on a vampire of the red moon so I didn't show a lot of people."

"I hv bl m too..." Vanitas grumbled

"Sorry?"

"Christ! I have a blue moon too! It's the main part of my mark, even before I met Vanitas."

"Wow! Can I see it?"

"You piece of- we're back where we started! Show me yours first, bastard."

Noé removed his extra layers until he could unbutton his shirt to reveal his mark to Vanitas. Vanitas reached out to touch it, then hesitated, looking to Noé for approval. Noé shrugged and Vanitas ran the pointed tip of his glove over the lines. He frowned as he did so, seeming more irritated the longer he spent looking at it. Eventually, Vanitas pulled away.

He sighed and removed his clothes. Vanitas took off his shirt completely in order to reveal his mark. It twisted down and around his upper arm, huge and magnificent. Noé wouldn't have believed it was a soulmark if it were on another person. Tricking people with tattoos wasn't unheard of.

Vanitas's mark was like a morbid piece of art. A grim reminder that death was inevitable and yet, it was still somehow beautiful. Noé's heart nearly stopped at the chains wrapping around Vanitas's moon, so similar to his own. Vanitas seemed to have grumpily acknowledged the similarity too from the face he was pulling while Noé stared.

"Satisfied? Spending so much time together must have changed our marks regardless of how bad our relationship is."

"I don't think it's bad. I could go on for days about all you flaws-"

"Gee, thanks!"

"... but I still like you. You're interesting and driven and even kind when you want to be. I think our marks reflect that, whether we like it or not, we're partners now and we need to protect each other."

"Heh, sounds good to me. I do expect you to do more of the protecting though, as my shield."

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Sorry! I wanted to write a normal soulmate AU but I really hate the idea of being destined for one person. I think everyone has multiple potential 'soulmates' and depending on when you meet them and the compromises you're willing to make you will end up with someone. Also I got super distracted scrolling through pictures of cool tattoos.

Anyway, the official chapter 42 is out. Luna called Vanitas XXXX, implying his real name has 4 letters. My current theory, after one (1) Google search, is that Vanitas is named after Huon of Bordeax from the Song of Roland. Yeet, expect more guesses every time I put out a new chapter.