Chapter Text
Lance hated his soulmate. He hated every part of him.
Well... he didn't really hate his soulmate, but he hated what his soulmate put him through. He hated that they shared marks and emotions. He didn't want that.
Most people would call him crazy for hating his destined mate without even meeting them yet, but he didn't care. He was tired of the pain, sadness, and bruises. The crushing pain in his chest every time his soulmate did anything. The feeling of wanting to die, when he was completely happy and content.
Lance can still remember the first time the marks began to appear. It was when he was 7...
Flashback-
"Mommy!" I scream as I awake to the feeling of being punched in the stomach. I scream in pain, and my body starts getting littered with bruise after bruise.
I can feel each punch crushing my small body, each bruise searing into my skin as my body flails in pain, and each second pass like an hour as my body filled with fear. I saw black as spots danced across my vision from the overwhelming pain. The punches feeling like cement blocks being dropped on my body. I feel the very moment my wrist gets stomped on, screaming as it feels as though it has shattered. Feeling as though my bones were disintegrating and being crushed into a fine powder. It hurt like hell.
My parent's rush into my room to find me writhing on the bed, bruises coating my face and body. My eyes squeezed shut as tears flow out of them. I feel the pain slow down to a muffled whisper as my parents freak out. The whole time my body shook from the burning betrayal I felt racing through my veins. The feeling as though someone close to me had stabbed me in the back. My heart constricting at the overwhelming feelings. The betrayal and sadness didn't leave my thoughts, even after the pain seemed to stop coming.
I start to calm down, but soon enough feel the overwhelming fear in my stomach resurface. My legs start to sting as though I'm getting carpet burn, and my whole body jolts with pain as I feel like I've been thrown down the stairs. I feel the fear, betrayal, and sadness come back tenfold as I feel hands gripping the sides of my legs like someone is holding them in a death-grip. I recognize the feeling from when I'd crawl into the fetal position and grasp my legs when I was sad and scared.
My parents rush me to the hospital as I stay in the backseat crying. Everything passes me in a blur as I watch everyone giving me sympathetic glances.
'What do they know? Why are they looking at me like that? What's going on with me?' The thoughts swarmed my head as I felt the fear gripping me again as the doctors are checking to see the damage. I start hyperventilating in fear, and I knew the pain wasn't over.
I felt a burning sting in streaks down my back. The feeling of leather whipping my back, leaving angry, red welts across it. The doctors quickly gave me some sort of medicine, and I felt the pain becoming muffled again. The lashes no longer feeling like much more than a tickle down my back, but the fear and sadness still took over my brain the same way it had been. I drift off as I heard the doctor whisper just one sentence more.
"I'm worried about his soulmate"
Soulmate? Is he the reason this is happening to me?
End of flashback-
I remember that day like it was yesterday, and that was a great day compared to what has happened since. I woke up with new bruises and pain every day. Sometimes it's at 2 or 4 am, other times it's in the morning before school or the second I enter my house after school.
Weekends were surprisingly peaceful most times. The muffled relief my soulmate felt always felt good for me as well. I didn't know why the weekends were like that, but I didn't want to jinx anything by questioning it.
The worst day, however, was on October 23rd when I was just 15...
WARNING- THIS SCENE WILL CONTAIN SLIGHTLY GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF RAPE. I WILL NOT GO INTO TOO MUCH DETAIL, BUT IF YOU GET TRIGGERED BY THIS PLEASE SKIP TO THE LINE MADE OUT OF DASHES. I WILL USE THAT AS A SEPARATION SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO RISK READING SOMETHING TRIGGERING.
Flashback-
I was woken up by the feeling of the hand shaped bruises holding my arms down, and the suffocating fear as I felt a heavy pressure against my thighs like someone was sitting on me. I gasped as I sat up in fear, and glanced at my clock. The time had read only 4am, and I felt the sleepy nausea start to fill my stomach. I felt something sink into my neck after bruises had started littering it, and I soon realized what was happening.
The weight pinning me down, the handprints on my wrists like someone was restraining them, the hickeys and bite marks littering my neck and collar bones. I knew what was happening, but I didn't want to. I'm only 15, which meant he's probably only 14, 15, or 16 since soulmates were always born in the same year. He's only a child.
I had had sex ed earlier this year, and I knew what was going on. I felt handprints forming on the insides of my thighs, like someone was forcing them open, and I ran to the bathroom to throw up. I felt my chest constrict with utter terror and betrayal as I threw up every bit of the meals I had eaten just yesterday. The pain of the bond was too strong for me, and I almost wished I could get rid of it. As I felt the fear beginning to overwhelm my soulmates emotions, I quickly took the safe amount of sleeping pills to escape what was going to happen to them.
I could feel my chest constrict with each breath knowing what was happening. Knowing that I couldn't help my soulmate... and knowing that there was no way that the man hurting him didn't live with him. Knowing that this man could be related to my soulmate made me sick, and I almost had to return to the toilet.
I felt the muffled feeling of my insides tearing apart, and the burning pain of what was happening to my soulmate. I nearly screamed at the pain and fear I felt through our bond. Soon enough it was over, and I was crushed by the sadness I felt. As I drifted off to sleep, I felt something sharp sliding against my thigh for the first time.
When I woke up the next morning, I glanced down at my thighs to see one cut across the right one. I cried for hours after that.
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I shuddered at the memory of that day. Those events continued until I was 17. For some reason, a few days after I had turned 17, the bruises stopped.
They just... stopped, and never started again. The fear and sadness stayed, but the marks didn't show up anymore. In fact, after I graduated from high school and turned 19, my soulmate even started feeling happier. He seemed to have good moments and bad moments, instead of just bad ones.
It made me happy, but I still harbored hatred towards the whole soulmate thing. I mean, who wouldn't after what I had gone through? It's not like I truly hate HIM. I mean, he's been through what I have, but in person. He's the one that's actually had all of that happen to him. Obviously I care and worry about him, but I can't help but to still slightly despise him.
I wonder what he's like though? What's his name? What does he look like? What's he like behind all of the fear and bruises? How's he doing? Does he want to meet me?
Little did I know, when I entered college all of those questions would be answered.