FOLKLORE! / selectively accepting! / @healselfs
BOW SAID: so much for summer love and saying “us.”
“ THAT’S NOT GOING TO WORK ON ME .” she says. her voice is harsh, but controlled, much like the mass of sparkles sitting threateningly in her fist. glimmer would roll her eyes if she could, but they’re glowing a sickly green with no depth to be found. they bore into him like they’ve never seen him before. it is less PAINFUL that way, prime tells her. the grief she felt at being built up for years and then suddenly dropped on her head is gone, replaced by what the overlord calls peace. peace is realizing that bow was LYING all those years when he said he always trusted you. peace is being nameless, her title weightless among the millions of chipped individuals in prime’s army. peace feels very numb, and then peace commits atrocities. it’s nothing she hasn’t experienced before.
and this reverse psychology is beyond her. with prime’s help, glimmer is wise to it, wise to ALL of bow’s tricks. words that would once wound her ricochet off her statuesque power stance. the fallen queen crushes the desperation in his voice under her heel as she takes another step towards him. her hands are remarkably still, not trembling an inch at the offhand mention of LOVE. because that’s all it is: a meaningless ploy to reel her in again. she is not capable of feeling such things anymore, and she’s all the better for it. all the TEARS she’s shed over this minuscule piece of prime’s empire washed away by his eternal light.
“ — BUT YOU’RE RELENTLESS, AREN’T YOU ? ” remark is made when he fails to step back, even with a rune being drawn against the heart on his chest. that’s who he is to them; bow, the bleeding heart, the glue of the group. always around until SOMEONE BETTER comes along. “ i think i mean as much to you as you mean to me. and that, now, is very little, bow. ” her steady hand connects another dot, draws another line, leans a little closer. “ lord prime has given me PEACE. i no longer need to stand around wondering if you’ll choose me in the end. and the choice to side with adora can’t help you now. ”
𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙞 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥. his distraction earns him that hit to the face that splits his lip and sends him to the training ground. vitani is not swayed in her concentration by kiara’s wails and pleas for them to cease like kovu, though she’s now standing above him, brow furrowing at the crying princess. kovu stands, spitting out the blood that has pooled in his cheek, and hurries to kiara’s side. “ 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴? ” his eyes are wide and worried. “ 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱? 𝘄𝗲 . . . ” he looks back over his shoulder at his sister, who simply shrugs, shaking her head. “ 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗸𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗮. 𝗶’𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. ” / @healselfs
@healselfs asked ❝ 11. the one where soulmates share extreme physical sensation — if one gets hurt, the other gets hurt, and
etc. ❞
from rose to lennon. / soulmate au prompts.
𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙙. you remember things hurting when you don’t have anything to hurt. you remember feeling scrapes that weren’t there. you remember a lot of things that hurting when they weren’t supposed to. it takes a lot to understand. for your parents to understand. after all, they fully believe that there were no soulmates, that there was nothing to do about it. they weren’t soulmates, had never been. they loved each other yes, but they weren’t soulmates. it worked out with them, but you can’t help but wonder.
you think a lot about them when you’re younger. who are they, what are they, where are they. after all, for all you knew they could be on a whole different continent. somewhere you couldn’t go, somewhere you would never think to go to. what if you never meet them? what if you always feel their pain but you’re never around to help them. what if’s plague your head for a long time.
you see how much uncle draco and aunt astoria love each other. you can see how much it hurts him. how she feels about everything he does. and how he feels the same. things aren’t easy for them, and for a second, you’re a little happy that... you don’t know your soulmate. if they’re suffering at least, you don’t have to see it. at least, now you just feel their physical pain.
you slowly forget about things. about the fact that you don’t know them. pain is relative. things don’t hurt as much. you hope that you don’t make them feel more pain that they already do. you try your best to not get hurt, but you’re still a kid, you’re still running around trying to figure out your life.
once hogwarts starts, you cannot help but be on the lookout. trying to find out who might be your soulmate. you always get the talk that not all soulmates are... romantic. that you shouldn’t get your hopes up, that they might be platonic or in other way of thinking. so, you get your hopes down, you get everything down and stop looking. you focus on school, on being friends with rose, albus and scorpius. they’re good company and you love them.
things change around third year when you fall in love with rose. she’s... wonderful and kind and pretty and god, you’re so in love with her. but you know scorpius is too. you cannot do this to him, you can’t really do that to him. he’s lost enough, and you cannot take one more things away from him. and then she starts quidditch. suddenly, you feel a lot more pain, sometimes coinciding with quidditch practice.
when fourth year comes around, things get completely fucked with the dark mark. and everything that comes after that, everything that you feel about it. pain is not that bad, you don’t really notice it anymore. then, tensions rise. everyone is waiting for you to do something. everyone is waiting for you to snap. once you do, you’re hit with a spell, pain shooting up everywhere before you even have a chance to think about it. about what it’ll mean for your soulmate. you leave that christmas and don’t think about going back. you ignore every pinch of pain after that. you want nothing to do with your soulmate. you hate them, wherever they are. and anger is always been easier than sadness.
you come back fifth year, pretty and hot, and you start quidditch which makes ignoring things a lot easier than you’ve ever come to. then, she almost kills you, throwing you off a broom, and you see the flinch of pain before she dives for you. you add it up then, she’s your soulmate and you’re done with it. things are so bad, worse than before. at least you get to be friends again. things are easy, so easy, that you kiss her in the back of a party. which turns everything so weird and... hard. you ignore everything again, not letting her know. you date and move, and that makes you take your mind off her.
sixth and seven year come and go. you even date albus and deciding that you can’t date any more friends. that enough is enough. you go on around, you focus on quidditch once james is gone, once that’s fucked and things are easy.
life goes on, there’s nothing more about it. you don’t think about much else. until she gives birth to her twins and you feel like you’re being ripped apart. screaming with her in the delivery room and telling scorpius, albus and james to stick it up their ass. after, after everything is done, you decide to tell her. that you’re her soulmate. platonic, she’s in love with scorpius and you’re in love with james, and life has moved on. you’re best friends, for life. for better and for worse.
‘ and when were you going to tell me? ’ ( from azula sorry )
iruka doesn’t know exactly what to make of azula. he remembers her and her brother as children, back when he and lu ten used to study together in the palace. he didn’t know either of them well ( though could he even say he knew lu ten all that well at the time, with the secrets and the silence and the fear ), but their presence was almost constant, two kids, sometimes more, playing in the courtyard. iruka remembers azula in particular, an incredibly sharp young girl ( perhaps too sharp for her age, but he was in no position to comment, only a young man himself ), with a quick wit and a strong turn of phrase.
now, he and azula see quite a bit of one another, whether he’s spending time with lu ten between his classes, or checking in on her studies. she’s bright, very bright, but there’s so much her father neglected to teach her, that iruka yearns to fill those gaps ( and, even more so, yearns be an adult in her life who truly, deeply wants to see her be well ). it’s on a visit to drop off more books that azula hasn’t asked for in the slightest, that she asks him. and when were you going to tell me?
uh oh. it seems he and lu ten have been found out. and, while the stakes are much lower these days, there’s still a spike of nervousness, cold running down his spine. iruka breaths out, long and slow, before answering, like he does when a student asks a difficult question. but he’s always adopted honesty in those moments, and he doesn’t intent to change course now.
“we were waiting until... until we knew what to say.” iruka’s relationship with lu ten is complicated and it’s deeply, deeply personal. he’s scared to involve others in this long and winding romance, scared like he was when he was only a boy. but, perhaps lu ten’s trusted younger cousin is a good place to start. “i’m sorry, azula. we should have told you- i should have told you myself.”
he smiles, and though she’s not a student of his, he’s proud of her for being so observant, so clever to figure them out.
❛ the first time you needed my help, i made the wrong choice. i held you back. i’m not going to do that again. ❜ luther had already apologized, made it clear that what he did was a mistake locking her in that room. restricting her powers, mirroring what reginald had done to vanya her entire life. but actions speak louder than that. and he wants to undo the wrong he’s caused.
❛ last time you were alone. now we’re all together. we got this. ❜ he doesn’t exactly know what kind of trouble vanya’s new friends are in, but she’s clearly torn apart by it. luther had sensed that they were good people, too, when he had confronted her in the barn.
she sits quietly across from the princess, watching entrapta work for a few minutes until she has the guts to speak up. ❛ did you mean it ? ❜ a pause, trying not to give up and run away. she always ran away. ❛ do you ... do you really forgive me ? ❜
𝙟𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨𝙚. he would throw himself and erika straight back into danger to save her. he knows something is wrong, and he knows he has to help her, and that is all he cares about. singleminded as ever, as an underfed boy trading meagre lunches for books, sweeping up for the schoolmaster for extra lessons his parents cannot afford. singleminded in his pursuits — it serves him well. but now, he has hurt erika in the process, and she deserved better from him. he hugs her. she is still in her borrowed finery, though she is rumpled and wrinkled from imprisonment — from the price she pays for julian’s plans — and he is scraped and bruised and filthy. “ 𝚒’𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢, ” he says, hands on her shoulders, tugging back from the embrace to look down into her face. he shakes his head. “ 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝? ”
