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There was a red string on Law’s hand. It had been there for as long as he could remember, and though no one else seemed to see it and it never once came off, there was no doubt from anyone else that he did, in fact, have it. His mother called it the red string of fate and said she had one too.
“Where does it go?” Euri smiled sweetly, petting his wild maroon mop.
“I followed it to your father, little wolf. The only one who can see your string is the one who shares it. Zephyr and I can see ours, and someone is waiting for you at the end of yours.”
“Really??” She laughed, which trailed off into a cough.
“Yes, my love. We may live in secrets and slavery, but there is no boundary the string can’t cross and it will always be there to guide you. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t, Mama.”
---
Such advice lingered, buried in the back of his mind with everything else he remembered from his parents. The mother who died, and the father who wasn’t there for it. Law never stopped being able to see the red string, which had extended all the way through the Gates of Fire and into Cyslodia. It had still been there as he met his friends and formed a rebel group of his own. It was there through every raid, every defeat. It hung from his finger still when the lot of them were slaughtered by the lords’ pet hounds in their stupid masks. It was there during his stint in prison, beaten and broken down through a torture worse than any slave in Calaglia could suffer, and it held still on that horrid first day he donned the mask of the organization that killed his friends. The red string of fate was always there, but Law had long since lost hope in it ever leading him anywhere that wasn’t the prison tower chaining him to this horrible lifestyle. The string trailed off into Cysloden or beyond and whomever his mom had said was on the other end was just as uninterested in seeking him out.
The worst part was tha t tha t made perfect sense . The string lead right to Riville. No one was coming for him. A Snake Eyes soulmate? The string would sooner fall of his finger. His kind was despised by all of Cysloden, informants and slaves alike. Anyone soul-bound to an agent of the Civil Investigation Bureau would rather die.
And yet, Law thought, looking despondently at his hand, it remained. Tied firmly to his finger and stretching to somewhere he couldn’t see, it remained. Whomever it was connected to made no effort to connect, but then neither did he. A search for someone’s soulmate in Cyslodia could easily get you reported, just for suspicious behavior.
Whoever his was...he didn’t want to get her in trouble. It was better, that they stayed apart. Really, it was. It was to both their benefits that the one who shared his string would never come for him.
For six more years, the increasingly bitter and cold agent kept telling himself that. Life as a Snake Eyes was a life lived alone .
---
It was a normal waking cycle, a term Law had had to quickly get used to since his new icy home didn’t have “day”. It didn’t have the sun, either, or heat. A normal waking cycle, in which the inhabitants of Cyslodia, slaves and Snakes alike were out doing whatever work was entailed of them, keeping their heads down and eyes peeled. A Snake Eyes job was to be there for informants, to take in suspicious dissidents, and to recruit everyone they could for labor at the Lights. Law hated it. Every day in this damned mask and getup was hell, and he hated himself for participating.
He hated a lot, these days.
It was a normal waking cycle, seven years after the Calaglian caravan had carried him in tears and anger away from his home and the father who hadn’t been there, and Law was fifteen years old now. The anger persisted, the hurt lingered, compounded by the self-loathing that lived coiled around his heart and strangling it with every breath. He tucked himself into a shadowed corner of Cysloden and made a pretense of being intimidating, mask and hood up as per protocol, while so many people walked by with their heads down.
Honestly, what was even the point.
He crossed his arms, staring flatly at the city, and waited for the chance to go back to the barracks and the forced solitude his life was now. Everything was cold and hard and miserable-
a tug
Law blinked, and glanced at his crossed arms. The string, the red string of fate that so persistently remained tied to his finger, the string no one else could see but no one in Calaglia ever doubted he had, tugged again. It wasn’t on the ground and trailing off into darkness, it was leading off into the streets, suspended in the air, and for the very first time, he could see the end. A girl. A girl close in age, with an outfit ill fitted for Cyslodia’s harsh temperature and a hood big enough to keep her identity secret walked away, her back to him. She’d have seen it too, she had to. The string couldn’t just be ignored, but then was he so surprised? The search for a soulmate in Cyslodia was dangerous, he understood that. She was a citizen, if not an odd one, and he was clearly not. It made sense. He’d been warning himself of and against this potential encounter for the six years since his conscription. She was better off without him. He’d been telling himself that for so long, and continued to do so as standard issue boots padded quietly after, sticking to the shadows, teal eyes mesmerized by the sight of the ever present red string that had once lead into nothingness.
The girl’s head tilted and Law’s heart leapt right into his throat as her pace picked up. She ducked into a side alley and ran and as though made to mirror her movements by the string they shared, so did he. He could hear her now, away from the quiet footsteps and murmurs of the city, quiet pants and pleas in her efforts to escape-
“Hey!” He lunged, and the string shortened to nothing as their hands met. A burst of warmth bloomed from the point of contact, spreading rapidly through the rest of him and Law felt like he’d been drowning up until that moment. The girl halted too, and her oversized hood flopped back to reveal cropped hair as black as their eternal night. She sank to the ground and cried and the sound pierced right through her unexpected partner’s heart in a way he was sure nothing else could. His own knees hit the cold cobblestone, and away from the many prying eyes and greedy stares of Cysloden proper, they stayed that way, hand in hand and filled with warmth to combat even the deepest chill. Law carefully maneuvered his hand to hold hers properly and was so gratified when she returned the gesture. The girl still wouldn’t look at him. He yanked his mask off and cast it aside, shaking his own hood back.
“I’m sorry.” She hiccuped. “M-my name’s Law. I’m not...I won’t bring you in. I promise. I hate what I am and I hate my job and I’m sorry that your string lead to me, but I won’t abuse it. I swear.” The teen scratched the back of his head with the other hand. “You can be mad, it’s okay. I’ll leave you alone after this, but...I’m glad I finally met you. Mom promised I would someday.” She sniffled.
“Why a Snake Eyes?” Law flinched.
“I’m sorry. Figured that’s why you left me alone.”
“You kn-”
“Uh, yeah? My soulmate had to be a Cyslodian native, of course you could tell where the string led.” He gently squeezed the petite hand in his gasp, making sure not to hold too tight. If she wanted to pull away, she could. “I didn’t expect you to try and find me.”
“Didn’t stop you.” He flinched again.
“I kept away for six years because I’m a Snake Eyes! I didn’t want to endanger you! I know I’m the absolute worst soulmate you could get, but I felt the string move and I saw you and I just...I wanted to meet mine. Just once. See?” He carefully let go and let the cold loneliness pull him under again. “I’m sorry I scared you, but you don’t have to be afraid. Not of me. No matter who you are or what you do, I won’t ever turn you in. Even if I never see your face, or know your name.”
“...why?”
“Well I like to think I’m better than the power crazed jerks I work with...but you’re different. You’re special.” He laughed bitterly. “I don’t know who you are, that’s true, and you can just forget I exist if you want, but you’re my soulmate. You matter to me. You always have, even since before I got to Cyslodia. It’s hard to forget your perfect match is out there somewhere with that string on your finger all the time and even if I gave up hope up of ever meeting you...you mattered.”
“...you’re weird for a Snake Eyes.” He snorted.
“Calaglians are a different breed I guess.” Carefully, the older teen climbed to his feet. “I’m glad I found you. Take care, okay?”
“W-wait.”
“Yeah?” Law turned his head slightly, glancing over his shoulder. “Do you want help getting home? I know some paths through the city only the Eyes use.” She stood up as well, turned to him. Short raven hair curtained her face.
“It’s...Law, right?” His heart skipped a beat.
“Yeah. That’s my name.”
“You-” she took a shaky inhale. “-you don’t feel dangerous. You should...but you don’t. My parents always said if I couldn’t trust my soulmate-”
“-then you can’t trust anyone, right?” His voice was soft. “I’d like it if you did, I won’t lie...but I don’t blame you if you don’t. I know how it is here.” He wasn’t wrong, but...she thought of her people, her group, a family of their own who’d welcomed in a shady teenager in outlandish clothing and accepted her. They, all of them, had to trust everyone else not to turn around and stab them in the back. It’d had to start somewhere, and without the trust that Cyslodia was in such short, short supply of, the Silver Swords wouldn’t exist. It had to start somewhere.The Snake Eyes boy with the soft voice. He didn’t feel dangerous. He felt...safe. He felt right. Slowly, she looked up from the snowy cobblestones in time to see vibrant teal eyes widen as they took her in for the first time. The boy, Law, blushed lightly and quickly glanced away, rubbing the back of his head.
“H-hi.” Unbidden, her lips twitched up in a faint smile.
“Hi.”
“You, um...you okay?”
“I think so…” She extended a hand, carefully, and he was just as cautious about taking it. All at once, that warmth exploded from the point of contact and the two sighed simultaneously in relief. Law laced their fingers together and she lightly squeezed his hand. “My name’s Rinwell. It’s...nice to meet you.”
“Yeah” her soulmate whispered, big teal eyes just a bit too bright as he beheld at their joined hands. “It’s nice to meet you too.”