Chapter Text
After Ryland Grace got his Soul Marks as a child, they remained black and colourless his whole life.
Once he found himself in space, he abandoned any hope of finding his soulmates.
That is, until he meets a certain alien, and a strange human.
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When Ryland was born, he came into the world with a peculiar mark. On his right forearm was a strange shape, blocky with three points extending outwards.
The inky black colour of the mark made it obvious that Ryland was born with a Soul Mark. It puzzled everyone that saw it and as Ryland grew older and learned more about the Marks, he began to resent it, because it separated him from everyone.
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One day, when six-year-old Ryland was at school, his class was being taught a lesson about Soul Marks.
He learned that Soul Marks appeared on your body as impossibly black marks, taking the form of how you and your soulmate touch for the first time. After your skin meets, the marks transform into bright swirls of colour, completely unique to each pairing. Similar to a fingerprint, no two Soul Marks are coloured the same.
Ryland learned that if your soulmate hasn’t been born yet, the mark will appear as soon as they take their first breath.
He learned that animals can be your soulmate. He learned that your parents, your siblings, your relatives can be your soulmate. He learned that the relationship you have with your soulmate can be whatever you want it to be.
The last thing he learned that day was that rarely, some people have multiple marks at once. And Ryland left school that day hoping he would get another soulmate, and a mark that didn’t make people stare when they saw it. A mark that made sense.
Ryland returned home with a new black mark that wasn’t there when the day began.
A handprint, curling around his left wrist. Ryland’s mother and father pointed it out with joy, because Ryland himself hadn’t noticed the change.
This made Ryland special! He had not one, but two soulmates! People asked him questions about it and paid a little more attention when he spoke, thinking he was some kind of important person, because he was gifted with a pair of soulmates.
However… as time passed, and the marks remained as black as they had always been, Grace pushed any thought of soulmates to the back of his mind.
And as he would eventually find out…
…having two soulmates didn’t make him special enough to stay on Earth.
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“Grace, what is mark on arm, question?”
“Hmm? Woah, Rocky! Point that thing somewhere else!” Grace turned around and was greeted with the business end of Rocky’s screen-reader. Despite the eridian assuring Grace that it was not a weapon, it still freaked Grace out to have the thing pointed directly at him.
“Grace answer question.”
“Jeez, okay!” Grace put his hands up in a defensive stance and Rocky thankfully lowered the screen-reader. Grace stepped closer to Rocky and ran a hand over the black mark on his arm. “This is my Soul Mark.”
“No understand words.”
“Yeah, wait a second, I’m getting there.” Grace reached behind him and grabbed a stool, pulling it close to the xenonite barrier before he sat down, now at a comfortable level to speak directly to Rocky.
“I was born with this one. Nobody could figure out what it’s supposed to be.”
“When you touch your soulmate for the first time, the mark will change and become really colourful, connecting both of you together.”
“Weird human concept. Eridians not have this.”
Grace let out a huff of air. “That makes sense, since you can’t see colour. But, your mate stones are similar.” Grace gestures to the turquoise stones embedded in Rocky’s limb. Rocky immediately runs a claws over them and chitters quietly.
“Rocky understand. Grace have multiple marks, question?”
“Oh, yeah, right. I do, actually.” Grace lifts his right arm, tapping his wrist. “This one is obvious - it’s a handprint around my wrist.”
“I never found my soulmates before I was sent away from Earth though.” Rocky chitters a quiet note. “Now that I’m here, I don’t think I’ll ever find them.”
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A pained screech echoes through the ship, horrendous black smoke filling the air as an eridian drags a human through the halls.
Neither of them can see when it happens.
When stony armour meets soft skin.
When that lonely black mark on the human’s arm is burned, and beneath the damage, the mark blooms into a beautiful kaleidoscope of colour.
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Grace stands next to the robot arms in the coma room, waiting for it to take off the bandages wrapped around his forearm for the final time. It was kind to him and changed his bandages while he slept, so Grace hadn’t seen beneath the gauze since he got the injury.
“Grace arm hurt, question?” Rocky was in his tunnel nearby, watching Grace.
Grace gave him a thumbs-up and shook his head. “Nope, not really. It’s pretty much healed at this point…”
His words trailed off and the breath was stolen out of his lungs in an instant.
There was a large scar on Grace’s arm, raised off of his skin.
The mark that Grace knew used to be there had raised along with the skin.
His mark was impossibly bright. Something Grace never thought would happen.
Rusty copper, pale orange, warm brown and flecks of a silvery white danced around each other.
“Grace not breathe! Grace okay, question?!” Rocky tapped a frantic claw against his barrier, trilling nervously.
Grace forced his lungs to inhale and he looked over at Rocky. “Rocky… which claw did you drag me with… when I got knocked out?”
Rocky tilted his carapace and raised a limb. “Rocky use this claw, statement. Why Grace ask, question?”
“Can you open that claw… for me…?” Grace takes a step, moving closer to Rocky. His voice is dropping, but he knows Rocky can hear him clearly.
Rocky chitters and obeys, opening his claw. Grace gasps and presses his hand against the xenonite.
The inside of Rocky’s claw is colourful, matching the pattern that was now imprinted on both their bodies.
“Oh my god…” Grace covers his mouth with a hand and lets out a shuddering laugh. Rocky chitters in alarm and presses his brightly coloured claw against Grace’s hand, separated only by the barrier.
“Grace okay, question??”
“Yeah, bud. I’m okay.”
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Grace leans against the barrier, absentmindedly running his hand over top of his new scar, tracing every waving line of the colour on his skin.
“Grace.”
“Yeah?” Grace tilts his head back, looking up at Rocky, who had his carapace angled toward his human.
“Soulmate mark mean Grace Rocky mates, question?”
“Yeah… technically.”
Rocky taps his claws together. “Wonder how Rocky explain to Adrian.”
Grace is quiet for a moment, processing the words, before shaking his head and spinning his body around. “Not mates like that Rocky!”
“Grace explain, statement.” Rocky sits back, tucking his limbs beneath his body.
“We can be best friends and be soulmates.” Grace started to explain, fiddling with the hem of his shirt while he talked. “I know that some people have their siblings or parents, or even pets as their soulmates.”
“Oh… good good good. Easy to explain. Rocky understand. Grace Rocky soulmates and best friends, statement.”
Rocky leans forward and taps the top of his carapace against the xenonite. Grace smiles and returns the gesture, tapping his forehead against the barrier. They stay there for a moment before Rocky speaks up again.
“Rocky love Grace, statement.”
Grace laughs quietly. “I love you too, Rocky.”
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In the tunnel that connects their ships, Grace and Rocky stand facing each other in silence. Neither is quite sure what to say.
“I’m going to miss you.” Grace speaks up first, his words quiet. Rocky hears him clear as day and chitters sadly.
“Will miss Grace much.” Rocky is quiet for a moment before speaking again. “Grace promise… never forget Rocky …question?” He taps his claws on the ground twice slowly.
Grace smiles down at him. “I could never forget you. Not with our mark. I’ll remember you every time I look at it.” Grace gestures to his arm and Rocky flexes his colourful claw in response.
“Good good good. Rocky will remember Grace forever, statement.”
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Somewhere in space, Ryland Grace makes the decision to leave his life on Earth behind.
He does this to save his soulmate.
This will be the bravest thing he does in his life.
Except for when the pair find a blood-soaked submarine floating among the stars.
And Ryland Grace brings a new human on board the Hail Mary.