jasonette july 2020

day 2- soulmate au

Growing up, Marinette was always a bit clumsy, but she usually scraped her hands and knees when she fell, which didn't explain the pain that sometimes made itself known on her hips or torso, and the blood red marks that came with it.

She woke up one morning when she was five with a blooming red splotch on her right cheekbone, and that was when her parents told her about soulmates.

There were many different kinds of soul bonds. Some people could communicate telepathically with their soulmate, others could communicate through writings on their skin. Some went into a mindspace when they were unconscious, others had a mark on their skin that represented their bond.

Juleka and Rose were unable to see color before they first met. They saw the world in only black and white, until they locked eyes for the first time and everything clicked into place. Her Maman told her that some soulmates only were unable to see one color, the color of their soulmate's eyes.

Marinette shared a pain bond with her soulmate. Any injuries that they received would make itself known on her too, with a red mark wherever the original injury was and the pain to go along with it. As she didn't actually have a cut on her leg or bruises on her ribs, the most she could do was always carry around painkillers, just in case.

Her soulmate got injured a lot. It worried her.

People used to see the red lines on her arms, neck, and face and tell her that she was bleeding. She'd have to say that no, she was perfectly fine, these were her soulmate's injuries, which didn't really do much to reassure them.

Ladybug had an indestructible suit, so there wasn't much need to worry for her soulmate in that area. However, Marinette cringed every time she tripped, sending mental apologies to her mate, who seemed to get injured enough on his own anyway.

When she was thirteen, Marinette was taking notes in class when a sharp pain lanced through her ribs, drawing out an involuntary gasp of pain. Alya looked over in concern, and she grimaced.

"It's fine, I just need to take some- Ah!" As she was reaching for her backpack, another wave of pain lanced through her, on her leg this time. The entire class glanced her way, and Mme. Bustier stopped the lesson.

"Marinette, do you need to step out until the pain goes away?" She asks, having dealt with this a couple times before.

Marinette opens her mouth to reply, but the only thing that comes out is a pained whimper as another wave of pain lances through her ribs. She loses track of time after that. Her soulmate is being beaten with some sort of blunt object. Wave after wave after wave of pain cascades on her torso, her legs, her arms, and even her head. Marinette hears screaming from somewhere in the room, and then vaguely registers that it must be her. Mme. Bustier sharply tells Nino to get the nurse, but all she can focus on is the endless agony as red the same shade as blood blooms all over her skin.

Nino comes back in with the nurse, who seems at a loss for what to do. She ends up getting Kim to bend down and pick her up off the ground (when had she fallen out of her seat?) when she arches up, mouth open in a silent scream, as every inch of her skin is coated in red all of a sudden and everything burns and then-

There is nothing.

All of her marks, even the pale scars that never fully faded, are gone without a trace. The pain vanishes along though she will feel phantom ones for a lot longer. No red streaks, just smooth, pale skin.

The class is in varying states of shock as Marinette curls up on the floor of the classroom and cries, mourning for a soulmate she never met.

That day, Hawkmoth sends six akumas after her. She purifies five of them before they reach her, and resists his control the sixth time long enough for Tikki to break the object and purify it.

Nobody but Chat will know if she delivered a couple more punches than necessary during the final battle for trying to take advantage of his death.

Five years later, Marinette wakes up with an ache in her thigh and a blood red streak in the same place that won't wipe off, and she cries again, because they're back, they're alive, they're okay (though probably not that great mentally, considering.)

Not long after that, a mouse-themed vigilante will drop down in an alley in Gotham to stop a mugging, only to find a man with a red helmet already on it. They form an alliance, of sorts. Multimouse is willing to kill, but only when there is no other option. She is more prone to dealing permanent damage to the criminals, depending on their offense, which makes Red Hood like her a lot more than the Bats.

A week later, Hood is shot while they're raiding a warehouse that acts as a base for a well-known dealer. He was shot trying to protect Multimouse, who has an indestructible suit. Idiot.

Multimouse flinches as she feels a wound in her right shoulder, at the same time as Red Hood clutches the wound in the same place. She quickly makes the connection but this is not the place, so she takes the men down as fast as she can short of getting Plagg to cataclysm everyone and gets her partner? Ally? Soulmate to the nearest safehouse.

She digs the bullet out and stitches up the wound without telling him. How does she even say it? "Hey, you're my soulmate. I figured it out when you got shot, but I just wanted to ask how you're even here because you very clearly died five and a half years ago?"

When Mullo's timer runs out, she lets herself detransform, revealing a bluenette with a simple black domino mask (she takes precautions) wearing a red halter top and jeans. Hood frowns, or at least she thinks he does. He hasn't taken off the helmet yet.

"Your right shoulder's bleeding, Mouse."

She looks down distractedly. "Hmm?" Merde. She forgot that her clothes didn't have sleeves. "Oh, that's just my soulmark. It's an injury bond, so I feel whatever injuries they have and I get a mark in the same place." Please don't figure it out please don't figure it out-

The helmet's eyes narrow. "Funny how it's in the same place as my bullet wound then, hmm?"

Multimouse laughs nervously. "Yeah, funny, right?" Red Hood just stares at her intently, and she flings her hands up in the air.

"Fine, I've known since you got shot in that warehouse, but then the priority was getting you somewhere safe, and then I didn't know how to address the subject!"

"What makes the subject hard to address? You literally could have just said 'Hey, we're soulmates' and told me you felt me get shot?" Hood demands.

"Because I collapsed in the middle of class when I was thirteen and felt every single moment right up until you died and all my marks faded! How was I supposed to- to approach that without sounding callous?"

Red Hood snaps off the helmet, revealing a black domino underneath as well. "You're right. I didn't think that my soulmate would feel my pain. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Multimouse says incredulously. "I'm not the one who died! Just- if you need to talk about it, I'll be here, okay? And about our bond- we don't have to do anything about it. Not yet. I don't know you well enough, ya know?"

Hood's face softens, just a little. "Yeah. Okay."

Multimouse smirks. "Alright, now that we've gotten that over with, want to get your butt kicked at Mecha Strike?