Chapter Text
It is said that every person in Eos has a soulmate.
Somewhere on the body is a small marking of sorts, a sign from the Astrals themselves that leads one to their other half. Said marking is mirrored on the soulmates body, and reacts to their presence like a magnet. To be soulmates is to share pain, physical and emotional. It isn't an easy task to find said soulmate, in fact most people never do, but being united is believed to give one a sense of feeling whole. Of feeling stronger just by being near them. To be glowing in a warmth so strong that nothing can break it.
Prompto Argentum didn't believe he had a soulmate. Or rather, that he was undeserving of one.
In his mind, the idea that anyone would love him unconditionally the way he was didn't seem possible. Sure, the mark was there, but he couldn't see himself actually finding the one person in all of Eos who had a matching feather on their left wrist that went with the one on his right. What with his anxieties, his worries, and his self-esteem issues, who would ever fall for someone like him? At the very least, he was certain that this "other half" wouldn't find him, after all he had to cover the wrist to hide the other mark he'd had as long as he could remember: the barcode.
He'd only ever shown that mark to a few people, and only one had seen the feather itself. He didn't know what the barcode was, why he had it, or why it was on the same arm as his soulmate marking, but he figured it was something he'd never learn. A part of him almost didn't want to know, the thought of learning the truth scaring him. It was almost as if he knew that the truth itself would be too much for him to handle.
Instead, he tried to humor himself with the feather and thoughts of what his supposed soulmate was like. He liked to think the mark was specifically a chocobo feather, he had an affinity for the birds and assumed the marking had something to do with that. He didn't know if what the marking looked like meant something or not, but he liked to think it did. Maybe his soulmate liked chocobos as much as he did? Maybe a chocobo had something to do with how they'd meet or bond? It was a silly thing to think about, but he liked to imagine the what ifs since he figured he'd never meet them face to face.
Sometimes he found himself just looking at the chocobo feather and touching it, feeling a small warmth when he did. He wondered if his soulmate did the same things, thinking about who he was and who he was like, stroking the marking just to feel that warmth for a moment. But he never entertained those thoughts for long. He just hoped that whoever and wherever they were, they'd find happiness without him and fall for someone who didn't have the baggage he did. All he knew from their bond was that they were sad a lot and had bad headaches. And he figured that was all he'd ever know.
Unknown to him however, his soulmate was closer than he ever imagined, and the warm feeling wasn't limited to when he touched that mark. His other half was right beside him, and they didn't even realize it either. The two of them were more similar than either would have ever imagined. It wouldn't become apparent to either of them until that fateful day, the events leading up to the realization beginning with Noctis Lucis Caelum's engagement to Lunafreya Nox Fluret...