Chapter Text
Having a soulmate was a fact. Keith always knew this, as well as every other person in the universe, or in this case, Earth. Yet he couldn’t get past the undeniable anger he held; why would the universe give him proof of a soulmate at the very last seconds of death. It was a common fact on Earth. Each pair of soulmates would have one mark in between them. The one who died first didn’t have to bear the weight of the words.
Keith had his soulmate’s last words.
The average age for the soulmate marks to appear were ages 2-5; however, the marks never seemed to stretch or fade while the body developed though the years. Keith also knew the weight that came without having a soulmark, there were more options than just simply being the first to die. It could also mean you were born without a soulmate, that you, as a person, didn’t have a desire for a soulmate, or your soulmate died without learning how to talk first or not being able to talk.
The people who did bear the soulmarks, were left to agonize each word. The words would always be there, at the back of your brain. Every time someone said just one of the words, your brain would start to panic. Anxiety would swell, depression and relief would come sweeping in each time it was a false alarm. However; it was also common for the other soulmate to die without the other present. Leaving the other in a constant state of fear every time their partner left the house.
There are countless stories of soulmarks, and how the other died on the internet and in the whispers recalling them throughout a normal day. For Keith, his dad never had a soulmark, which proved itself when he died when Keith was too young. He never knew his mom, father always told him that she had to leave in order to save the world, but he knows she would have the words, “I’ll be right back” as her soulmark. Those words could possibly not be his last, however, those had been his last words for Keith. And Keith liked to think that he didn’t swear for his lasts moments before the collision.
Even though the one benefit about bearing a soulmark was having the knowledge that your soulmate wasn’t someone with one as well (to spare yourself from a hopeless romance and heartbreak), however, having a soulmark was extremely personal. Usually only family or close friends knew if you did or not. For Keith, only his foster care system knew, to inform each foster family before hand. He didn’t like anyone knowing, so the thought that his foster family needed to know something personal and useless to them was ridiculous. The only person he told himself, besides his father, was Shiro.
Shiro was like an older brother to him. He practically helped raise him after meeting him as a neighbour during his short stay with one of his foster families. After they met, they were inseparable, though Shiro acted more like a dad than a brother. After the Kerberos mission, Keith was utterly destroyed, it didn’t take long after his disappearance for Keith to drop out of the Garrison.
After rescuing Shiro, he quickly forgot his old habit that started after his father died. He would hold his waist tight, where his soulmark was placed, and repeat the words there like a prayer in his head in order to calm his rising insecurities. The reason he stated forgetting? Fucking space. Of course, the non-stop action of space, aliens, robotic coloured lions, space war-ships would take any mind off their soulmate. And let’s not forget the best (and worst) reason of them all. Lance. Fucking Lance.
Lance was dancing to a different tune, how he danced so elegantly, to the shittest tune known to man? Keith couldn’t tell you. However, Lance made his mind wander too easily from his past, from the fear of losing Shiro again, and from his ever looming soulmark. He was obnoxious, loud, an idiot, too outspoken, a flirt, and loved to pick a fight with Keith. Did all those reasons stop Keith from pining after Lance? Nope. Great, Lance’s stupidity was rubbing off onto Keith as well.
Even with all his fears of the war they were currently fighting in, Keith had found his home. A space alien war castle with sleeping Altean aliens, but home nevertheless. He also found a family, his brother who currently held the title “space dad”, his brother’s alien crush “space mom”, Coran the unexpected uncle (who visibly favoured Lance, not that he wasn’t as well), a little mischievous gremlin named Pidge, a giant sweetheart with literal sugar as a heart Hunk, and of course, Lance. The beautiful bastard.
With this new home and new family, Keith was happy. Well has happy as he could be with a pining heart and his crush making fun of him each waking moment of the day. With all this in his life, he almost forgot. I can’t meet my soulmate in space?!?!?