Series: Fate's Heart||Story: Embrace of Fate
Characters: Yubel, Juudai||Ship: Yubel x Juudai
Chapter: 1-6||Chapter Words: 4,052||Story Words: 4,052
Genre: Romance||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing, YGO soulmate AUs, L19, 5+ fics; One Ship Boot Camp, Yubel x Juudai, #08, Blissfully; First Kiss Challenge; Chapter Set Boot Camp, GX claim, #42, 6 chapters; Include The Word Boot Camp, #50, sable
Notes: So, soulmate counter AU, featuring Yubel and Juudai. Three chapters in their past life, three in their modern incarnations.
Summary: When the counter reaches zero, soulmates meet one another. What happens after that can be anything at all. Even risking the destruction of the universe from the influence of the Light.
Juudai fidgeted in his far too plushly cushioned chair, trying to smile at the next person in line. He thought he managed it pretty well. He rubbed the back of his head and leaned back, staring at the counter on his arm out of the corner of his eye.
Half an hour to go. He kept the smile plastered on his face. It wasn't a real smile. He didn't feel like smiling, not tonight. Tonight was boring.
Tonight was supposed to be the most exciting night of his life, or at least to rate up in the top ten or so. Tonight was his Soulmate Party. Tonight his parents had gathered all the people in the city and the kingdom and a few from the outlying kingdoms they had friendly ties with, everyone who had a counter that ran out tonight.
One of them, supposedly, was his soulmate. The most important person in the world to him. Probably not the person he'd hate the most – that was the Light of Ruin, or so he'd been told, and that didn't exactly come with arms for a timer to be on – but someone vitally important to him for the rest of his life and probably all of his future incarnations as well.
He didn't need to look up to feel the weight of his mother's gaze on him. Like all mothers, Queen Kaien had that sort of ability. He tilted his head towards her and tried to convey how unutterably happy he actually wasn't.
"Be patient, Juudai," she murmured from her position behind him. "You'll meet them."
He sure hoped so. All the timers had been checked against his and none of them had it down to the same second. As far as he was concerned, that meant none of them were the one and they could all go home or try to meet other people or anything that they wanted to do that wasn't hang around him trying to be there when the fateful moment struck.
This would probably be a lot easier if soulmate counters didn't exist. Or if I didn't have one. People wouldn't crowd around trying to see his wrist or throng up waiting for the timer to strike zero. They'd give him some space!
Juudai jerked himself to his feet, grumbling under his breath. All of those near him stared as if they expected him to declare that he'd just decided who his soulmate had to be. Instead, he turned to his mother.
"I'm going for a walk in the garden." He shot a quick glance at everyone else. "Alone." He hoped they got the message.
Queen Kaien tilted her head. "Of course, son. Do let us know if you meet anyone interesting."
By which she meant 'meet your soulmate', of course. Juudai had no idea of who that person would be, other than someone who wasn't in the ballroom. But as he hurried to the nearest door, aching for some clean cool air, he didn't think he would have cared if he'd actually met them or not.
The silver sphere of the full moon rode high tonight, with sparking darts of stars filling the rest of the sky. Juudai only gave them a cursory look. He wasn't much of one for sky staring, though it could be kind of interesting with the right company.
Tonight he just wanted the peace and quiet that the Soulmate Party wasn't giving him. He breathed in deeply, fighting his jangled nerves down. Everything was supposed to be fun tonight. Everything was supposed to end with him finding that one person for him and being thrilled to the core of his soul for all eternity.
And yet they weren't there. He wasn't sure of where they were. What little he could get from the Darkness – being Haou did have some perks, after all – just said the person that matched his counter, that matched him, was out there somewhere.
He settled himself on a marble bench in the darkest part of the garden. He could still see and hear everything going on at the party, but he wasn't there and they weren't trying to nag at him. That made it all so much better.
Juudai didn't look at the counter. He could feel it going down with every second but it wasn't time yet. He wanted it to sneak up on him, at least as much as the marker of his future could.
His stomach rumbled a little. He hadn't eaten anything at the party; partly because he hadn't been hungry then and partly because of how his nerves jangled and twitched.
Having everyone stare at me if I so much as twitched towards anyone didn't help, either.
Maybe once he met whoever it was, they could go get something to eat together. They'd have to talk, wouldn't they? They could talk while they ate. He'd seen his parents doing that before. It shouldn't be all that hard.
Warmth spiraled up from his left arm. Juudai glanced at it in annoyance; he wasn't getting sick, was he? Fevers didn't start in the arm and they really didn't start like that.
A minute left. Only a minute. Where had all the rest of the time gone? He could hear confused noises coming from the chamber inside, and his mother's voice attempting to calm people down. He started to sit up, wondering what the whole problem was. What could it be, tonight?
Footsteps brushed through the grass. Juudai whirled that way, his heart thudding in his chest, forgetting that there were other people in the universe. He knew that was a bad things; he shouldn't do that. But the final minute faded away and he could see a shape coming towards him.
A shape that raised an arm and leaped closer to him, a sudden wild yell cracking, and Juudai found himself on his back, a knife gleaming in the moonlight before it came down towards him…
Yubel didn't know their way around Shadowshaven. That wasn't so unusual; they hadn't been there for more than a couple of hours. They had one goal: find a place to stay long enough so that they could get washed up and changed and go to the palace for the Soulmate Party.
For Prince Juudai's Soulmate Party.
Yubel knew their timer ran out that night. They'd known for months it would be tonight. What they hadn't known, what no one knew, was who they would meet when the timer dropped to zero.
They glanced down again; another hour or so remained until the fateful moment.
I'm not going to meet my soulmate looking like this. After months on the road and limited time to take care of themselves, this wasn't the best that they'd ever looked. Dust in their hair and a thin coating of it all over them – mostly because they'd been passed by carts on the road more than once. Mud splattered their lower legs as well, from some of those carts.
Yubel stared up to where the palace rose over the streets. There wasn't any guarantee that they would meet their soulmate at the party, but since they would meet whoever it was tonight, Yubel thought it was just as good a place as any to check. Soulmate Parties meant that lots of people whose timers ran out at the same time would be gathered together.
Not for a moment did Yubel think that their soulmate would be Prince Juudai himself. Yubel studied history and politics and soulmate theory just like anyone else in their position back home.
Princes usually have soulmates who are nobility at least. Sometimes other royalty. That wasn't always the case, but enough so that Yubel knew that the odds were against them. So they focused instead on what was far more likely: their soulmate was one of the other guests, perhaps one of those rare commoners who would be there for the same purpose they were.
Soulmate counters were quite odd things. Yubel wondered what it would be like once they actually met one another. Whoever their other person was.
The closer it grew to nightfall, the more crowded the streets became, and the more Yubel wanted to find anywhere they could get clean at and then head to the palace. Even with their timer clearly expiring that night, they likely wouldn't be allowed in if they didn't look decent.
Water! Yubel spied a fountain in the square ahead and hurried there, pushing their way through the crowd, most of which ignored them in favor of their own pursuits. Yubel settled by the fountain – there were benches there for that purpose – and hurriedly washed, keeping a quick eye out for anyone who might want to argue with them doing it here.
This did seem to be a public fountain, though. Going to one of the local wells might've been possible, but Yubel had seen the lines there. They'd never get through in time to go to the palace, and they didn't want to stretch how the counter would resolve.
Once all the dust and mud had been washed away, Yubel dug into their bag for the outfit they'd planned to wear tonight. Their eyes widened as they pulled it out.
"What happened?" Yubel murmured, resting a hand on the large rent along one side. They'd kept it carefully wrapped up all this time and there wasn't any reason this should have happened. But there the hole was all the same.
After all this time on the road, Yubel knew how to sew, fixing up minor wear and tear on their travel outfits. But there wasn't enough material and thread in their supplies to deal with this and it would take even the best tailors far, far too long to fix it tonight.
"Excuse me."
Yubel jerked their head up to see a young woman addressing her. They blinked, nodding acknowledgment, wondering what she wanted.
"Are you here for the Soulmate Party tonight?" The woman gazed at her with kind, gentle eyes and Yubel nodded a bit blankly. "I thought so." Her attention shifted to the tunic in Yubel's hands. "I don't know anyone who could get that fixed for you, but I've got an outfit that might fit you if you want to try it. You shouldn't meet your soulmate looking like you just walked out of a ragbag!"
Yubel tried not to laugh; they'd been thinking the same thing. "Thank you so much." They rose to their feet. "My name's Yubel."
"A pleasure to meet you, Yubel. I'm Claret." Claret bent her head gracefully in a nod. "Do you have an invitation?" A small smile fluttered around her lips. "I suspect not."
Yubel cast a glance at their own disheveled self, even after the quick wash. "No. But my timer should get me in."
"You're quite right. But if you'd like, I can help you there." Claret nodded towards the palace. "I will be attending as part of the festivities – I'm a harpist. The palace can be confusing if you don't know it very well."
"I think it would be even if you did." Yubel admitted, falling into step beside Claret as the other started to guide them through the streets. "I've never been in one, though."
"I've only been in the one here. It's like any huge house that people have built on for centuries. Confusing and cold at the worst times."
Yubel found a laugh tapping at their lips. This would be an interesting evening for certain.
So it proved to be, as Claret helped Yubel get a proper bath and dressed in the outfit she'd suggested: made of warm velvet and fine silk, in shades of deep blue that complemented Yubel's coloring, and well made boots of dyed leather. Yubel carefully cleaned the gemstone adornment for their forehead and settled it back where it belonged after brushing their hair.
Being guided to the palace meant it didn't take as long to gt there as Yubel feared it might. The guards nodded the two of them through after a quick check of Claret's credentials and inspecting Yubel's counter.
Yubel looked over the whole gathering, their heart clenching as they did. They couldn't see the prince, but that wasn't a surprise. They wouldn't have wanted to stick around in this stuffy place either, not when everyone stared as if Prince Juudai were the finest of foods and everyone wanted to keep him to themselves but he'd been made just for one person and no one knew who that was.
Yubel thought they'd gotten lost in that thought a little and decided to just look around and see what they could see.
It didn't turn out to be that much. There were people whose counters were within minutes of running out and a lot of them were trying to introduce themselves to each other, hoping to have that final moment happen and to look into another set of eyes and find that bond flowering.
Yubel could feel their own counter winding itself down to within a few minutes. They wandered closer to one of the doors that led to the outside, which was soaked in silver moonlight. At the far end, near what Yubel thought might be a bench, they could see a shape that made them tingle all over. It was a sensation they'd never felt before.
"Majesty!"
Yubel snapped their head around to see a pair of guards dragging a struggling figure towards the king and queen. At the same moment, warmth spiraled up from their left arm, and a sense of need overflowed through them.
He was in danger. He needed help. He needed Yubel.
Yubel had always wanted to be needed. They hoped from the bottom of their heart to find out that their soulmate truly needed them.
Outside. They slammed the door open and leaped out just in time to see the shadowy figure they'd seen before fighting against another figure, a knife gleaming in the moonlight. Yubel snarled, wishing they had claws and fangs for a single heartbeat before leaping forward, tackling the attacker across the half-seen garden.
The attacker swore, language Yubel hadn't ever heard before and didn't care if they'd ever heard again, straining against Yubel's fierce defense. They brought up their leg as high as they could before slamming it down onto the attacker's stomach. It was a risky move; the attempted murderer could have armor of some kind, or perhaps magical defenses.
They didn't. They'd made such a mistake and Yubel exploited it ruthlessly. Yubel followed that hit with another, this time slamming their fist into their opponent's chest, feeling bone crunch underneath.
One more hit, this time a blow to the attacker's throat, ended the fight, sending them crashing to the ground. Yubel stared for a few moments, breathing hard and fast, before turning around, their arm all but scorching now.
He brought himself to his feet, his eyes wide, staring in surprise at the wreck of the attacker before he looked towards Yubel. Yubel's throat dried at the dawning realization that their counter had just hit zero and they looked into the face of Prince Juudai.
Juudai stared at the new arrival. He'd seen only a few moments of the fight, but that was enough to know he'd been saved. He'd barely realized he was being attacked in the first place before whoever this was came out of nowhere, slashing into the person trying to attack him.
He swallowed. He stared into eyes that shone bright as gemstones, staring back at him. He could feel the warmth on his left arm and slowly raised it enough so he could see it glimmering in shades of blue.
"Hi," he whispered, not lifting his eyes. He wasn't sure if he'd ever look away from them again. He couldn't think of why he would want to.
"Hi," the strange murmured back. They were about his height, with hair of turquoise blue green and eyes that all but glowed as they looked back. A gemstone shimmered in the center of their forehead – a symbol of knighthood from a distant kingdom that Juudai couldn't remember the name of at the moment. That would probably explain how they'd fought so very well.
Juudai swallowed. He started to reach his hand out, then pulled it back. Every part of him thrummed to the idea that this was his soulmate, someone that he'd waited for ever since he'd come into this life.
But he wasn't going to touch until they wanted him to. Until they both wanted to. That was the rule – or at least the custom. A soulmate bond wasn't solidified until the people involved made skin to skin contact with one another. And it wasn't considered right to do that unless both wanted it.
What if … they don't want to? But they'd come here. They'd saved him. They stared like he stared.
The other's hand twitched towards him as well. They swallowed, a small brief terrified smile flickering over their features. "I'm Yubel."
"I'm Juudai." Juudai wished that he could offer his hand like he'd been taught. He tilted his head instead. "Are you all right? You didn't get hurt, did you?" He glanced to where some of the palace guards had appeared, taking the intruder into custody. He could see better now, and the one who'd tried to attack him bore the marks of Yubel's displeasure.
Yubel shook their head. Juudai wasn't sure of why he didn't want to think of them as 'he' or 'she', only an awareness that was what they would have wanted.
"I'm fine, really. What about you? You're not hurt." Yubel stepped closer before freezing in their tracks, hands pulled closer to them.
"No. You got here in time." Juudai smiled, warmth flooding through him. "I didn't think this was how I would meet you, though."
Yubel's cheeks tinged red for a few seconds. "I didn't either. I mean, I didn't think that I would meet you like this. Maybe not at all. I mean..." They wrapped one hand around their left arm, where the marker still shimmered zero, and ducked their head. "I'm sorry."
"That's all right!" Juudai had to yank his hand back to prevent himself from reaching toward them. He'd never been so glad to see his parents arriving, both simmering with rage. "Mother! Father!"
"Juudai!" King Aodh enfolded Juudai into his arms a heartbeat or two before Queen Kaien did the honors as well. "Are you all right?"
"Sure. Thanks to Yubel." He gestured over to his soulmate, who raised one hand in a tiny wave, their smile a bit strained. "They're my soulmate."
Aodh and Kaien both gave Yubel measuring looks before Kaien spoke. "A pleasure to meet you, Knight Yubel. I don't recall seeing you on the guest list, though?" Only curiosity tinged her words at the moment.
Yubel shrugged. "I only got into town today. I knew my counter was running out and I heard about your Soulmate Party, so I thought I would get lucky."
"And so you did." Aodh chuckled briefly. "But we have someone else to thank as well. One of the harpists we hired for the event recognized that we had intruders." He gestured behind himself and Yubel's eyes widened as a woman moved closer.
"Claret! Are you all right?" Yubel moved closer to the strange woman, freely reaching out to her. One of the guards – Juudai thought his name was Burgundy – stood beside the harpist in a protective stance.
"Yes, I'm fine." Her gaze flickered over to Burgundy for a few moments before darting back to Yubel and Juudai. "So it seems that you are as well."
Yubel's flush deepened. "I guess." Their eyes darted to Juudai and his parents. "I didn't expect this."
Kaien cleared her throat. "Regardless, you're part of the family now. Did you two wish to confirm your bond now or wait for a later date?"
Juudai and Yubel's eyes met once again. Juudai tried very hard not to get lost in them and didn't think he did that very well. He swallowed again and jerked his gaze away.
"Uh… yes?" He had no idea of what sort of answer he gave with that. Yubel's lips twitched for a fraction of a second.
"I think we should get to know each other a little bit first. Maybe a few days, at least?" Soulmates needed the same time as anyone else to really get to know each other. Just because the Gods or the Darkness or whatever it was designated certain people to be with other people didn't mean they would get along all the time, or that there wouldn't be problems to overcome.
Sometimes there were even more problems than the non-soulmate types of pairings. At least that was what Juudai had heard.
But his parents both nodded at that. "We've kept a room near to Juudai's ready for his soulmate. Do you have any possessions to put there?"
"A few. I've been traveling light." Yubel sent a darting glance towards the queen that somehow diverted itself towards Juudai. "It's been a long trip."
Aodh nodded his agreement. "Then we'll make sure that you can rest." He turned his own penetrating gaze onto Yubel. "And eat. I don't think you had time to before everything started to happen tonight."
Yubel's stomach didn't rumble, but from the way they ducked their head down and refused to meet anyone else's eyes, Juudai wouldn't have been surprised if it did.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Yubel murmured. Juudai wished more than ever that he dared to take their hand. Every instinct in him screamed to do it but it wasn't right. Not in the slightest. He'd learned enough manners to know that.
King and queen both turned away, with Kaien dropping another look onto Claret. "You're welcome to stay overnight if you like as well. Your timely warning and the fact you brought Yubel to the palace tonight will be rewarded."
Claret ducked her head as well. "It was my pleasure, Majesty." Her eyes darted up to the guardsman Burgundy as he loomed high over her. "More than my pleasure."
As she raised her left hand to rest on Burgundy's, Juudai spied a shimmering mark, a harp and sword touching one another, intertwined by a chain of rich violet: the mark of lovers. He blinked; he hadn't even known Burgundy had a soulmate. Truth to tell, he'd been so involved in worrying about meeting his, he hadn't thought about anyone else's.
Well, it was a good thing he did, since that ended up bringing Yubel to him. They would have met somehow – that was what being soulmates was all about – but Claret's presence just made it that much easier.
Juudai followed his parents out of the ballroom, which was slowly being cleared, and through the corridors until they reached the royal suite. He stopped outside of his room and looked back at Yubel.
"Your room is there." He tilted his head towards the doorway across the hall. "If there's anything that you need, let us know?"
Yubel looked as if there were something on their mind, but they didn't say it. Juudai wondered if they would need clothes or to go get their clothes or something. What they had on didn't quite look like theirs.
It looked good on them, but not quite theirs. Juudai looked forward to helping Yubel fit in around there. The more trey got to know each other, the better.
Yubel only smiled, an expression that looked far more tired now than anything else. "Thank you, Your Highness."
Juudai tried to glower. He would have done better at it if he wasn't as tired as he was. After hours of meeting people who weren't Yubel and then actually meeting Yubel, he wanted to get some deep sleep, and as much of it as he could manage. Then food, reak, solid, delicious food instead of the little bites laid out at the party. If he could decide what he wanted, he would already make the request for it. At the moment, he just wanted food.
His stomach rumbled to the point he almost forgot what he wanted to tell Yubel. Oh, that was it. Right.
"Call me Juudai. We are soulmates, you know!"
To Be Continued
Notes: Did you ever think I wouldn't write a soulmate fic for Yubel and Juudai? I have another thought in mind for Yubel, Juudai, and Johan, but this series is just for them. It will be a series that features Juudai and Yubel in many universes with soulmate marks of varying kinds, and stories within those universes. So, other stories here will feature them in other points in this timeline, or other worlds altogether. Whatever my imagination comes up with.