26th March 2033 - Wrickenridge, Colorado
Soulfinder. Every savant has one. Soulfinders are two people that are conceived around the same time anywhere in the world. They're soulmates, destined for each other and the perfect match; a lot of savants said that soulfinders were reincarnated and found each other again in every life. Soulfinders balanced each other out and most savants could never fully love anyone else whilst knowing that their soulfinder was out there nor could they ever move on if they lost their soulfinder or their other half didn't want to be with them for one reason or another. 60% of savants never even found their soulfinders- the odds just weren't very high and a lot of people lost faith before they even started to look for their soulmate.
Ariadne May Benedict was one of the lucky ones who's soulfinder popped up out of nowhere, an obviously pleasant surprise to her. In September 2032, Tyler Black came into her life. His family had moved from New York to Wrickenridge and Tyler had been praying to find his soulfinder for years. He'd broken down into tears when he realised he had finally found her.
She'd been stunned to say the least. He was tall like her, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He'd worn glasses and had been a bit of a geek, something that Ariadne had never found attractive before but on Tyler she just found it adorable. He was always cracking jokes, always smiling and so full of life. He'd treated her like a princess and Victor, Ariadne's father, whom had always been over-protective of her, had approved of Tyler after just the first time meeting him. At the time Ariadne had been hurting over the fact her grandmother Karla had just passed away and Tyler soothed the pain of that loss that was inside of her. It hadn't taken long for her to fall madly in love with him and on the 19th of February, her 19th birthday, Tyler proposed and she said yes. What else would her answer have been? She knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her soulmate, the one person in the whole world that was absolutely perfect for her, and she dreamed of them dying and then falling in love all over again in other life. Tyler called her a dreamer but she could tell that he hoped for the same thing. Neither one of them ever wanted to live without the other again; the thought of losing their soulmate tortured them both and it was an unspoken rule between the two that they wouldn't talk about losing each other. Because they both convinced themselves that would never happen- they were together for life now, one would never live without the other again.
But that's exactly what happened.
Ariadne would always remember that day like it was yesterday. She'd been in the apartment she shared with Tyler in Denver working on some college assignments when her mother and father had turned up. That was unusual considering they normally called beforehand so Ari had instantly expected to hear bad news. Especially when Hazel started off the conversation with: "Sweetie, we need to talk... I'm afraid we have some bad news."
They'd gone on to tell her that Victor - who still worked for the FBI - had been told that a young man had been shot whilst walking down the street. He'd been shot in broad daylight, a gunshot wound to the chest, and had died almost instantly. The murderer had run away before anybody could catch him. They told her that the victim had been Tyler Black. Ariadne almost laughed in their faces, not wanting to believe that her soulfinder was dead. It couldn't be true, she'd thought to herself at the time. It just couldn't. She'd tried to contact him telepathically but couldn't make a link to his mind. Then she'd felt deep down inside of her, feeling for the soulfinder bond that had always been so strong and just there... And it was gone. Snapped, disappeared; it had died with Tyler. And so had a part of Ari's heart. The moment she realised that his death was real, she'd screamed and bawled whilst her parents held her and cried with her.
And now here she was, a week later, at Tyler's parents' house with all his family and close friends after the funeral. The funeral had been a wonderful send-off, his mother had made sure of that. She'd asked Ari to make a speech but she had declined. A part of her didn't even want to go to the funeral but her parents had convinced her to. She didn't see the point of the funeral. Tyler was gone, she could feel that deep in her heart. He was no longer here. The numbness and brokenhearted feeling inside her was proof of that. He wasn't going to hear their words, he wasn't going to see them grieving, he wasn't going to be there to comfort them and wish alongside them that things had been different. No, he wasn't here. He had left her. Some coward had taken him away from her and she was never going to see him again. Never going to hear his laughter or feel him holding her as they slept. He had been her whole world... And now he was gone.
And Ariadne didn't think she could deal with that.
Dressed in her little black dress and black heels, she sat on the sofa in the living room and tried to ignore the chatter and the sobs of those around her. She looked up and saw Victor and Hazel talking to Tyler's parents, looking sad and solemn- Tyler had been like a son to them and they were affected by the loss too. Her eighteen year old sister Cadence and fourteen year old brother Jaxon were stood by the table of snacks, silently picking at the food and looking like they didn't know what to do with themselves. On the other side of the room Julien, Ari's twin brother, stood with his eight months pregnant soulfinder Jemima. He caught Ari's eye across the room and mumbled something to Jemima - a short woman with curls of blonde hair and big blue eyes - before striding across the room.
He sat down on the sofa beside Ari, sitting up straight like he always did. Julien was a lot like their father: light brown skin, dark hair that was slightly past his neck in length, tall and muscular. He was also very organized, tough and brilliant at hiding his emotions just like Victor was but he'd inherited a softer side from Hazel. Ari, Julien, Cadence and Jaxon were all confident and strong like both of their parents, but Julien was the one who showed it the most. He was even training to be in the FBI just like his father. He smiled sadly at Ari, his dark brown eyes full of emotion. "How are you holding up?" He asked his sister gently.
"I'm not," she replied honestly, her voice weak. Ari had barely spoken to anybody since Tyler's death, mumbling just the odd few words every now and then. Hazel insisted that Ari stay with them so that they could keep an eye on her - it was obvious to everybody that Victor and Hazel were terrified Ari was going to do something to hurt herself - and Ari hadn't argued. She'd curled up in the single bed in her room and had barely even moved.
"Everybody loved him," Julien spoke. "Tyler was a great guy, he didn't deserve to die so early in his life, especially like that. I can't even imagine how much you're hurting right now, Ari. I tried to think about what it would be like to lose Jem but it just isn't something I can ever picture. She's been in my life for six years now, you know? I can't even remember what life was like without her anymore. You're my twin sister, Ari- it's killing me to see you like this.
"All I can say is that we're all here for you. We will all help you get through this. Tyler wouldn't want you to do something stupid, like hurt yourself or worse-"
"Why is everyone so convinced I'm going to kill myself?" Ari snapped angrily. "Just back off, Jay."
"We're just worried about you. We've all heard the stories of people not being able to cope without their soulfinders, it's so common these days. What makes you an exception to that? I'm not trying to start an argument, Ari. I'm just telling you the truth like we've always done with each other. I love you, I just want to see you happy again."
Ari stood up and looked down at her brother with a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes. "I lost my soulfinder. I'm never going to be happy again. I'm gonna go home, it's been a long day and I'm tired. Tell mom and dad, okay?" She knew that she could easily just go over and tell them herself but she just wanted to get out of there. Photos of Tyler growing up were all over the walls; his mother was sobbing loud enough for everybody to hear; people were sharing stories of Tyler, talking about him in the past tense as if he'd been dead for longer than a week. It was too much for Ariadne to deal with and she felt like if she stayed a moment later she would scream at them all to shut up. It was all good and well saying how Tyler shouldn't have died but it wasn't going to change a single thing. It wasn't going to bring him back to her.
"Sure," he nodded understandingly and stood up too. Julien and Ariadne had always been close, so close that when they were little they created their own 'twin language' and had always had an intuition about what the other was thinking and feeling without using any of their powers. Until Tyler came along, Julien was the only person that understood Ariadne completely. "Do you want a lift or anything?"
"No it's just down the road," she rolled her eyes, referring to her parents' house. "I can walk."
She turned to walk away but Julien reached out to grab her arm before she could go. "Dad's working on finding the guy that killed Tyler," he said. "I thought you should know, dad wasn't going to tell you yet. This person get what he deserves for this, okay? He's going to suffer for making you hurt so much."
"Still not going to make anything better," she shrugged and pulled herself out of his grasp before walking away.
26th March 2033 - London, England
"Noah!" He heard a voice shout his name as he entered the restaurant through the staff entrance and turned to see his best friend heading towards him. Miles was short for his age, with thick eyebrows and a mess of shaggy dark hair. He was dressed just like Noah in their waiter's uniform: smart tuxedos with a black bowtie to match. "You're late! Three of the guys are off and we have a bunch of rich businessmen arriving in a few minutes, what could possibly have made you turn up to work ten minutes late?!"
"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact I have a three year old daughter and I have to make sure she has somebody to look after her whilst I'm working?" Noah asked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "I've left her with my aunt Wilma even though she's still not happy I had a child at sixteen."
"What did the crazy woman have to say today then?" Miles asked as they headed towards the kitchens. "Another lecture about teenage parenting? Or perhaps another vision of the future?" He wiggled his fingers in the air, laughing. "Ooh, did she mention us getting any expensive tips tonight?"
Noah laughed with him and shook his head. "You can't really expect any tips from those guys, you know that. They're too involved in their own lives and getting as much money as they can into their banks. They're not going to give that away to a few waiters like us."
"You make a fair point there my dear friend," Miles joked.
Their conversation abruptly stopped when they joined their colleagues and the bustle of the other waiters and waitresses preparing themselves for a busy Saturday night of customers. It would be a long night but it would be worth it- the pay was decent enough for Noah to live off due to the fact this was a pretty fancy restaurant. It was expensive here so almost all of their customers were rich, some of them even being the occasional celebrity.
Noah grabbed hold of a small, plain black notepad and a black biro pen before plastering on a fake charming smile and heading out to the first table of the night he was serving. The table was one of the larger ones in the restaurant, sat at by seven businessmen dressed in suits. They were talking amongst themselves, probably about business Noah guessed, and looked solemn and serious. He caught a snippet of their conversation as he approached their table. The man sat at the head of the table - a pudgy man with a short grey beard and thinning hair - was the one speaking. "-and then the son of a bitch tried to blame it on me! I swear, the nerve of him. He's already gotten rid of three of my children and my wife, did he really think I'd let him get rid of me too? I wasn't going to let him get away with that! I swear, if I ever get my hands on any one of the Benedict bunch I will-" He cut off when he noticed that Noah had reached the table and snapped his fingers. "Finally! What took you so long, boy? We've been waiting for over half an hour now, this is completely bad service."
"I'm so sorry about your wait sir," Noah replied falsely, used to dealing with difficult customers. "My name is Noah and I will be your server tonight. Have you gentleman decided what you would like yet?"
It was nearing eleven o'clock at night when Noah finally arrived back at his two-bedroomed flat. Wilma's chubby frame was curled up on the sofa dressed in one of her floral maxi dresses that she favoured so much, her frizzy red hair sprawled around her head. She was watching repeats of some reality TV show and smiled at Noah as he closed the door behind himself. "Sorry I'm so late. We were swamped," he said, followed by a yawn. "How was she?"
"She was a little angel," Wilma said as she sat up. "She's fast asleep. Don't worry, I've checked on her every hour before you ask. You really are far too cautious with her. Well I'm going to head home Noah because I feel just as tired as you look."
"Ok," he replied with a smile. "Thanks for looking after her, I appreciate it. I don't usually work on Saturday nights but the boss asked me to, some kind of flu going around so a few people are off sick."
"It's fine, I don't mind. I might not like the fact you had her at such a young age and you're a single parent but... You're a good dad and she's a perfect little girl." She clamped a hand down on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "There's just one more thing I need to tell you before I go. I had a vision earlier."
Noah rolled his eyes over-dramatically and took a step back, her hand falling from his shoulder. All of his life Noah had had to deal with his aunt Wilma being a little crazy. She seemed convinced that she was some sort of psychic, making predictions and saying that she had visions of the future. Sometime she was actually right but Noah thought those times were just lucky guesses. She sold psychic readings to people as a job, including using tarot cards and a crystal ball. Noah basically thought that she was full of rubbish but he loved her so of course he didn't say that to her. But he made it pretty obvious that he didn't fully believe in her 'talent'.
"I know you don't believe in it," Wilma added, "but this is true Noah and you will see that. Something's coming that will change your life forever... I keep getting the words "Most Holy" into my mind when I try and see what it is. I still don't know for sure what this "Most Holy" thing is, but I know that it will change you. You will find things out about the world that you never even guessed before and I cannot say for certain whether this will be a good or a bad thing. Be careful, Noah."
Noah stared at her for a long moment before smiling. "Something holy, okay then. I'll try and keep that in mind," sarcasm was evident in his voice. "Goodnight, Wilma."