Ink Blossoms
Chapter One: Swirling
A short and sweet beginning. I'm super in love with this pair and there isn't nearly enough fic out there for them. I don't know how long this fic will be or how long it'll take me to write, but I'm hoping you guys will like it!
It happens at age five. A black mark begins to bloom somewhere; for some, it's their palm. For others, a bold handprint is splayed across their cheek. For Hitch, the blackness blooms across her fingertips on her right hand. She remembers the day the inky blossom had appeared well. She had been sitting at the dining room table, her mother smiling as she cut a piece from the cake she had made for Hitch's birthday. As her mother set the cake carefully in front of her, she watches the ink begin to cloud around her fingertips when she reaches for her fork.
She remembers staring in awe. It was captivating to watch. The ink swirled around for hours, eventually settling into a matte black. Her mother explains that the blossom would stain her fingers until she meets someone special, and when the touch for the first time, her fingertips will meet a part of them. She remembers the fond smile on her mother's face as she tells Hitch the blossom will turn to a brilliant, swirling blue that lights up the room when you first touch your soulmate.
Eventually, however, the black and blue will fade away, with nothing but memories of the marks. She says that some people have stronger bonds than the rest. Sometimes, for these people, the blue hue will stay forever ingrained in their skin, always glowing softly when their soulmate is nearby.
Her mother doesn't say much else, instead patting her daughter's wavy, amber locks and leaving her to happily eat her cake.
If only life could stay this easy.
Jean is slower than his friends. It's not his fault that his mother insists on feeding him so much food, but it makes it hard to keep up with the others. But on his fifth birthday, he remembers coming to a halting stop, feet pushing harshly into the dirt. This time was not to catch his breath, but instead to stare at the black mark, beginning to swell on his right wrist. He furrows his brows, blowing air through his lips. What is this? he thinks, running his fingers across the inky mark.
One of the other boys calls out to him, but when Jean doesn't answer, he marches over to ask if he's too tired to play. When he sees the inky color clouding the other boy's skin, he states loudly, "I have one, too!" The boy pulls up his sleeve, showing off the the marks that lay along the inside of his elbow, similar to fingertips digging into skin.
Jean's don't look like that, though. They head straight for his hand, like inky black veins that only appear for an inch or so. Ignoring his friends, he runs home to wave his wrist in his mother's face, eyes full of questions he doesn't know how to ask.
His mother sits him at the table and she rests in the chair beside him. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she holds a damp dish rag in her hands. "Has anyone ever told you about soulmates, Jean?"
The young boy shakes his head.
"Hm, I see," his mother says softly, setting the dish rag on the table. "When you turn five, ink blossoms appear on your skin." She taps his right wrist, causing his attention to shift to the black marks again. They're hardly swirling anymore, instead settling into a matte. "These blossoms are where your soulmate will touch you for the first time."
With his head tilted, eyes moving to meet his mother's once again, he asks, "What does a soulmate do?"
He watches his mom pause and her lips purse for a moment before she answers, "They care for you." She doesn't say anything else, but judging by the glint in her eye, Jean feels like there's more.
"You don't have a mark anywhere," he says.
"Mine disappeared the day I met your father," she smiles softly, "Mine was here," she points at her right palm. "Mine was much more blotchy than yours."
"Why is it gone?" he asks, staring at the blank skin of his mother's palm.
"When you touch them for the first time, everything lights up in this bright, swirling blue. If you could light up water without the candle going out, that's how it would look. For some people, it will still light up when you're with your soulmate. Some say those people have visions of each other, too, but I've never met anyone like that before."
That night, he dreams about a small girl with wavy amber hair and eyes to match. He imagines the color is similar to the grain fields he's heard about in villages far from Trost. She reaches out to him, her fingertips a brilliant blue.
Are we off to a good start? What do you guys think? Future chapters should be longer. This was mostly to introduce the concept of the story. I live and breathe reviews and comments, so let me know what you thought!