Chapter Text
Meeting your soulmate is pretty difficult. Of course, it complicates things if you happen to have more than just one mark.
It gets more complicated if you’ve been locked up in a bunker for 10 years and your rescuer just happens to make one of the soulmarks on your skin glow.
Things get even more complicated when you realize that your soulmates are Peter Parker and Johnny Storm.
This was not how Cindy thought her day was going to go.
☆
Ezekiel took one look at the soulmarks that were inked into her left ankle and right wrist and sighed, his expression apologetic yet resigned.
Nobody aside from her family had ever seen her second soulmark. It felt slightly invasive when Ezekiel asked her about it once he noticed that the makeup on it had smeared off of its distinctive bright coloring when she had gone to change when she finally decided to go into the bunker.
“Cindy, most likely, you will never be able to meet your soulmates. I am sorry about it, but the quicker we get that out of the way, the quicker we can begin to focus on training.” His voice dripped with pity but Cindy had only nodded listlessly. It seemed like she was giving things up left and right ever since she had gone to that stupid field trip.
No Oxford University schooling… no more time with her family… no more freedom, and now, no way of finding her soulmates.
Perhaps it was for the best, she thought to herself. Finding your soulmate wasn’t a sure thing, but Cindy knew she had wanted to meet at least one somehow. Now that opportunity was gone, for what seemed like forever.
“Come now; let’s see what your webbing issue is.” The older man offered not unkindly, gesturing for her to follow him into the maze of hallways of the new bunker she was to call home.
☆
Cindy worried her lip between her teeth as she sat in the hallway of the exit of the bunker, Ezekiel’s warning resonating in her head as she rest her forehead against her knees. She knew the entire damn thing by heart, but it never failed to keep her locked away for yet another prolonged period of time.
It was unfair, yes, but she was well aware of the fate of the rest of her spider-brethren if she made the decision to leave the bunker, and the mere thought of them dying because of her leaving the bunker was enough to keep her inside. She hungered to see the outside world though, to experience everything she hadn’t had the chance to do for a decade. To go see her family, to get a job, and, if she was lucky, find a way to find one of her soulmates. Cindy closed her eyes as she traced the outline of flames on her wrist, smiling thinly at how vibrant the color was against her skin; it seemed like one of her soulmates enjoyed being one of the flashiest people around.
Both of her soulmarks were different colors - one was (ironically) a black spider nestled on the inner part of her ankle, while flames of red, orange and yellow flaunted themselves on her wrist. Most people assumed that soulmarks resembled the person, whether it be the shape or the color. Others said that they represented a large event in the person’s life. Ezekiel had found the spider on her ankle absolutely interesting for some reason he didn’t bother to divulge to her before he had left, but at the same time, Ezekiel had his reasons for not telling her about whatever it was, seeing as he hadn’t been in the habit of keeping secrets from her unless absolutely necessary. Part of her suspected he thought it was morbidly ironic, which, in all honesty, she thought it was on some particularly dark days.
The sound of metal clattering faintly above her broke through her train of thought, eyes flicking upwards as if she had some kind of x-ray vision that allowed her to see through the infrastructure of the building and see who it was that was breaking their way through it. Cindy doubted it was Ezekiel; there was no reason for him to be destroying the building he had so carefully crafted on a whim. It had to be someone else, but who?
A muffled recording came to life on the monitor outside of the bunker, but the sound of glass shattering quickly snuffed out whatever the message had been. Her brows furrowed together, and her face went semi slack in shock as she heard a male voice exclaim loudly.
“Hello? Is someone out there?” Cindy asked, eyes widening at the reply.
Peter Parker? What the hell was he doing here?
Their interaction passed in a blur, words falling out of her mouth as she scrambled to make sense of the entire situation, her heartbeat racing traitorously at the sight of the bunker door opening. Peter was speaking hurriedly, but she was quick to interrupt, the memories of Ezekiel talking about Morlun gnawing at her consciousness.
“You’ve killed us all !” She snarled, anger burning hot and bright as she threw herself at him. She’d been studying his fighting patterns for years, and she had the home court advantage. The scuffle was intense; he held his own against her even though he’d had no way of knowing what her fighting skills were, which was impressive all on its own.
Cindy hadn’t ever expected to be liberated by Peter, much less fight him, but this was serious! He obviously knew about Morlun- how could he have been so foolish to let her out of the bunker? “He’ll devour every last one of us!” He was stronger than her, she could tell, but it seemed he was slower than her by a small margin, something they were both equally surprised at.
“There’s something you need to know about Morlun-” Peter’s fist swung directly at her face and without hesitation, she blocked it with her hand, fingers lightly curling around his wrist.
The sudden glow of soulmarks bathing them in a soft golden light made them both freeze, Cindy’s eyes wide as she saw the glow emanating from a point on Peter’s shoulder, Peter’s head angled downward to stare at the glowing mark on her ankle. As the light died down, she let go of his hand with shaking fingers, taking a step back to press herself against the wall.
Oh dear God, her soulmate was Peter Parker. And that meant… that meant…
“... Can’t say I saw that coming, but,” Peter paused, an amused lilt to his voice as he crossed his arms and gazed at her, “I think Johnny is going to lose his mind when I- when we- go home. Truce?”
One of my soulmates is Peter Parker. The other one is Johnny Storm. I’m dreaming. There’s no way that this is actually happening. Maybe one of the food packets I ate had hallucinogenic properties to it from it having gone prematurely bad.
“Cindy? You okay? Aw, crap, I probably freaked you out. I’m freaking out too, don’t worry.” Peter cajoled her from a few feet away, and Cindy was secretly grateful for the distance. The adrenaline from the scuffle earlier was still making its rounds through her body, and her soulmark on her ankle was prickling, almost as if it was chastising Peter for the way its owner revealed himself.
“Morlun’s dead. You’re free to go. I promise.” Peter was a step or two closer to her now, still cautious about the distance between them. “You can come with me, and we can figure all of this out, together.”
I can go find my family. Her gaze strayed to the grey walls she had grown up in. I finally found one of my soulmates. And he’s going to introduce me to his- our- soulmate. Cindy’s mouth and hands moved on autopilot, spinning herself a temporary costume and thoughtlessly quipping right back at him, coming to as soon as the webbing finished wrapping itself around her body. “Call me Silk.” Her lips curled up into a grin as she jumped out of the bunker, Peter not far behind.
“Let’s go!”
☆
I’m free.
Mom, Dad, Albert… see you soon.
Hopefully I'll be able to introduce Peter and Johnny to you guys when I see you again.