#because baby you're a fiiiiiiiiirework

[iamthechocobabe]

We All Have Battle Scars

I am pumping out these chapters like a...I lost it.��

AU based on: We Intertwined

We All Have Battle Scars

~Chapter 7~

SFW

Word Count: 1,662

Alaea stood there for a minute, not registering what was happening before it all began to click, her face falling as the realization hit her. The soulmate mark looked just like hers, except mirrored. Alaea knew her mark by heart by looking through two mirrors to see it and would trace the outline of her mark on the back of her neck every day for as long as she could remember. She never actually believed she would meet her soulmate, not really...

Prompto turned around and looked at Alaea, but she didn't register that he was looking. All she could think was 'this guy-this guy-is supposed to be my soulmate?' 

"You're gonna catch flies," Prompto tried to joke, but Alaea continued to stand there, completely stupefied. 

Finally, she felt herself reacting, though it was like she was moving in slow motion; she grabbed Prompto and dragged him over to the pens where they kept the Chocobos, more specifcally, a mirror that was besides the pen. 

"Turn around," she was talking but she couldn't remember thinking of the words before they came out of her mouth. When you talk, you think of the words, then speak them, but the thinking process was no longer in Alaea's brain. "Hold up your hair-wait, lemme see your phone," 

Prompto looked confused, but did what she said without questions. He unlocked his phone and handed it to her before turning around and holding his hair up so she could see the mark. She pulled up his camera and turned the front camera on, ignoring her initial reaction of flinching at her face and held the camera up so she could see the back of her head in the mirror. 

"I can't believe it, either," Prompto said softly, as if to assure her it was true. "Soulmates aren't very realistic anymore but I always felt like if I met you, we would be...well, we'd be great. I can't believe it's actually-" 

Alaea looked at the mirror through his phone, but she couldn't see the mark very well. Giving up, she saw her dad nearby and beckoned him over, knowing he'd be able to tell. "Is it true?" She turned around and moved her hair so he could compare the two marks side by side. 

"It's true," Wiz said, without really looking at the mark. Alaea turned around, first pissed that he knew without looking, then realizing why Wiz was so sure by the look on his face. 

"You...you knew?!" Alaea gaped at her father, who stood there looking worried that his daughter was about to spontaneously combust. 

"I saw his mark yesterday," 

"We've met before," 

Alaea looked at Prompto, her face still processing what he was saying. "What? When? How?" 

"I don't remember how or when, but I remember you telling me about your soulmate mark. I remember you saying that your soulmate would kill all the bugs in the world for you," 

"YOU," Alaea gasped, her hands going to her mouth and finally recognizing those familiar blue eyes, those freckles. He was thinner and didn't have glasses, but it was him. "That little blonde boy...that was you," 

Her soulmate was real-she had always assumed it was some stupid legend, but it was real. The thing was real, her mark was real...

The thing that tore her family apart was real. 

"This is insane," Again, the words left her mouth, but she didn't register the words in her brain as they tumbled out. 

Prompto laughed a little. "Yeah, it is pretty insane, isn't it? But we're here now, we finally found each other-"

"This is insane," Alaea interrupted him and looked at him, her eyes wild with fear and confusion. "You're insane," 

"Alaea?" Prompto tried to talk more, but Alaea wasn't giving him an opportunity-she ran straight for her house and slammed the front door.

.... .... .... Freaking IDIOT.

Wiz wanted to strangle Prompto Argentum-the kid had blown it, plain and simple. Wiz had assumed that because Prompto was realistic in what he wanted in a soulmate that he would be smart enough to not jump straight into a relationship with his soulmate. Maybe that was Wiz's fault for not being more clear, but it wasn't like this was a few hundred years ago; people just didn't fall into bed with their soulmates anymore!! 

Without thinking, Wiz went up to Prompto and smacked him in the back of the head. "What in the name of Sam Hell were you thinking?!" 

"Of Sam...what?" Prompto looked lost-how could he be lost?! What was with this kid?? 

"You don't just assume that because you're soulmates that you two will be together forever, Gods," Wiz said and left to go after his daughter. 

She wasn't in her room or anywhere in the house and Wiz could only think of one place she would go. 

Wiz went into the back pantry where there was a large grate that covered an air duct that lead to the AC unit out back; the grate was pushed to the right and air flowed freely into the room without the grate to catch any dust particles. Alaea hadn't gone in there since was eight, but it was large enough to fit an adult so he figured Alaea could still fit in there. 

He bent down and saw Alaea curled up into a ball in the air duct, dust bunnies melding with her hair. No questions asked, he sat down and reached out to touch her shoulder to comfort her. 

"Soulmates are bullshit, dad," Alaea said and he could hear her trying not to cry. "I know that's how you met mom, but it's true, okay? It's total and complete bullshit; soulmates don't exist, at least not the concept we know of," 

Wiz patted her shoulder gently and sighed. "Chocobee, just because it didn't work out between your mother and I doesn't mean soulmates are a dead dream-" 

"Didn't work out? Didn't work out???" Alaea looked up at her dad, two streams of tears on her face and her nose running like crazy. "Is that what you call it? I think stealing whatever money you have and abandoning your daughter at a gas station after doing so isn't called 'not working out', it's called completely fucked up!" 

"That's not what I meant, Ali, and you know it," Wiz sighed. "Just like there are bad people with soulmate marks, there are good people with soulmate marks-you have to find out for yourself if your soulmate is a bad or good person," 

"What kind of person automatically assumes I'll fall into their arms just because of a similar birthmark? That's fucking insane-" 

"It doesn't make him a bad person, Chocobee-makes him a little naive and maybe a bit stupid, but it doesn't make him a bad person," Alaea shook her head and wiped her face, so Wiz reached into his pocket for his handkerchief and handed it to Alaea. "How do you know if you don't give him a chance?" 

Alaea shook her head and rubbed her temples. "But dad, he's so...so..." 

Wiz raised his eyebrow and looked at his daughter with anticipation. "So...?" 

"So...dad, he's so blonde!" 

Wiz paused and thought this out before smiling a little. "He is pretty blonde, isn't he?" 

Alaea laughed a little, now looking slightly cheered up. "He is the blondest motherfucker I have ever met," 

Wiz pat her shoulder comfortingly. "It'll work itself out, Chocobee. It always does," Then he held out his hand for the money. "Swear jar,"

Alaea woke up that morning feeling peaceful, feeling happy that another bright day on her dad's Chocobo ranch was in full swing. The Behemoth was gone, the Chocobos were back out in full force, maybe soon they'd have enough money to get the renovations for the resturant like originally planned. It was going to be a great day...

Then Alaea remembered what happened yesterday-the soulmate mark. 

Alaea groaned and pulled her pillow over her head; she was gonna have to face him. Was he still leaving today? She wondered if she could just stay in her room until he eventually left...by the Six, she didn't know what to do. 

She left the room and found an old face she hadn't seen in awhile-Ms. Lonnie. She had been over the Chocobos when Alaea was young, but had left the Outpost when Alaea was fifteen. She only just recently came back with her daugther, Libby, but Alaea had really been too busy to see them or even acknowledge their return. 

When Alaea walked in, Lonnie's grey eyes lit up with excitement. Her kind face would always brighten with the idea of gossip, but Alaea was quick to shut her down. "I'm not telling you anything, so you might as well leave," 

"You found your soulmate, though!" Lonnie patted Alaea on the arm. "And he's so cute too! Gods, you are lucky-" 

Alaea poured herself some coffee and grabbed a bagel from the pantry. "I don't feel lucky-confused, irritated a little...not lucky," 

"You are gonna have the cutest blonde babies!" 

"Gods, no, ew," Alaea shuddered. "The only thing worse than blondes are blonde babies,"

Lonnie frowned and pointed to her own greying strawberry blonde hair. "I was a blonde baby, thank you," 

"No, I thought you were a redhead," Alaea said sarcastically as the doorbell interuppted their bickering. "Who would that be at this time of morning?" 

"What are you gonna do?" Lonnie asked. "You should talk to my daughter, Libby, she'd love to plan your wedding-" 

"Six, Lonnie, will you calm down?" Alaea went to answer the door and continued to talk over her shoulder. "No one's said anything about weddings-he's leaving today, he's probably already left," 

Alaea opened the door and was greeted with a handful of wildflowers that Alaea recognized from a grove not too far away. They were practically shoved in her arms and Alaea stood back to see Prompto standing nervously but still managing to bounce excitedly on his toes. 

"Morning, Alaea! How about a date?"