(Soulmate Tattoo Alternate Universe)

HESTER:

Hester knew it was going to be a problem when she found out about the tattoos and the soulmates and all of that lovey-dovey rubbish. Everyone knew that when you came of age to start looking for love, a distinct tattoo appeared on your skin. Somewhere in the world, your soulmate had the same tattoo printed on them. Which was, in Hester's mind, absolute bullshit.

Hester always had the same demon tattoo coiled around her neck since she was a child. When her poor, old crone of a mother died, a red-skulled, buckhorned demon appeared out of nowhere. It perched on her shoulder, wiping away her tears and comforting her like her own personal guardian angel. The naive little baby in Hester believed the demon would lead her into fate. Until, that is, she was accepted into the School for Evil.

Hester wasn't as gullible as she was a few years ago. She learned everything the hard way. Nevers weren't supposed to find love, and that was that. The demon wasn't her destiny, it was her weapon. Love was out of the question.

The day Ravan tried to ask her out, she'd released her demon on him, fangs and fire and all. "Have YOU got a demon, prat?!" she'd roared. Months afterward, Ravan was known as Pissbaby. For obvious reasons. Of course, the school rules didn't allow Hester to murder him- but she was pretty damn close. From that point on, Hester was the most feared student in the school, and she liked it that way. For the most part, everyone kept their distance. Dot and Ani were the exceptions, and honestly, the only two people worth giving a rat's ass about. Oh, and Sophie? Hester didn't even want to acknowledge her.

Puzzlingly, Ani was reserved and intense and solemn and snarky all at the same time, and Hester could never figure her out. In contrast, Dot was sweet and mushy and never shut the hell up. Regardless, they were loyal and not totally brainless, and that's all that mattered when it came to friendships.

Hester's issue was that she resented the whole tattoo soulmate idea in the first place. Admittedly, it was fun to watch as the Ever Boys and Girls scrabbled about to find their true match, and a few questionable Nevers frantically attempted to scrub their tattoos off to avoid being rejected by their peers. Sophie even faked a tacky heart on her wrist to prove she had a soulmate. But Hester's demon was nothing more than a weapon, right?

She struggled with the question, going so far as to seek Lesso's counsel in secret. "I can clearly see you have the spine to fight back, and a critical mind to go with it. All you're missing is the heart. Who are you fighting for?" she said. "Myself, so I don't get hurt" Hester answered, too quickly. Lady Lesso eyed her and smiled, like she knew something Hester didn't. Hester muttered a thank you and excused herself from the office.

ANADIL:

Unlike Hester, Anadil chose to hide her demon. She'd always seen herself as the odd one out, even though she fit in just as well as the others. Anadil felt so wrong lined up next to her classmates, with her vampiric white skin, dull red eyes, and pet rats. Villains were born to be inventive and original and exciting, and those were words she thought she could never live up to.

Anadil liked to say she reclaimed her place as a loner, but in truth, she conditioned herself to detest any sort of socialization. (Big words, huh?) It was her only coping mechanism to deal with her insecurities, and yeah, she knew it. Over the years, she locked her emotions up behind invisible doors and stuck her head in an imaginary box. Anadil argued with herself that it wasn't claustrophobic, it was actually comfortable. For a while, she was content to run away from her anxieties and self-doubt, where nothing could faze her.

Then, Hester came barging into her life. No doors, no boxes, and no rules. Her volcanic energy burst right out of her and lit the room on fire. That girl was everything Anadil wanted to be... and sometimes, who she wanted to be with. Hester was simply the perfect villain. But she didn't look at her with jealousy, or resent, it was more like awe. Anadil would go so far to say she was beautiful. God, everything about that sentence was bad, and she was much too aware of it.

Things started going downhill the moment Anadil realized her feelings. At least, referring to the demon's presence. Anadil remembered when Hester called her Ani for the first time (preceding a backhanded compliment, of course) and she couldn't stop blushing for an hour. Nothing but a casual "Ani, you look better with your hair down, otherwise that atrocious braid makes you look like Dimwit Dovey". She was Ani now, and Ani wore her hair down if Hester liked it.

The thing about her feelings toward Hester... it manifested into that ugly, reckless demon.

She didn't want any trouble. Unfortunately, that's all it caused. The demon was a nuisance that stubbornly curled up around her ankle and never seemed to let go. Anadil missed the days when she wasn't burdened with the constant reminder of her stupid, little ... inconvenience, but now, the demon was unleashed, free to do whatever it pleased. Mostly terrorizing her rats, messing up her room, burning down Sophie's wardrobe (who didn't stop screaming for at least three days) and in general making her life harder.

That was the difference between Hester and Anadil. She envied Hester's control over her demon, while day after day, she tried to chase down her own. Hester couldn't know about it. She just couldn't. The soulmate myth had to be a fantasy, and the matching demon tattoos? It was nothing more than a coincidence. Anadil didn't intend on losing a friend over a silly accident.

HESTER:

"Dot, we've been working way too hard on that love potion for Sophie," Hester said. "How's this for a Monday night: get a beer, smoke a blunt, call it a day?"

She needed something to distract her. Getting shitfaced wasn't ideal, but it was less risky than, let's say, dangling Hort from a tree by a wedgie and using his face as a target for a game of darts. Totally NOT from personal experience, by the way.

Hester answered her own question before Dot could answer (who was currently trying to eat a chocolate stapler without getting staples stuck in her teeth). "You should go find some of your little 'friends' and invite them" Hester offered with a sly smirk, knowing full well Dot would tell every student in Evil. Dot instantly spit staples in every direction and scurried out the door. "DON'T INVITE HORT" she shouted after her. "OR SOPHIE EITHER"

In a mere thirty minutes, everyone was drunk/high and dancing (including Hort and Sophie, together?). As for Hester, she was a bit cross-faded. No, more like a lot. Hester couldn't comprehend what was happening, but at one point, Ravan set off a firecracker down Vex's pants, and she could've almost sworn she'd seen Arachne and Mona make out beneath her bed. Dot was somewhere ranting about how no one was good OR evil (what was THAT all about?). Even her demon was long-gone. All she knew was the relentless earthquake of music pulsing through her bones, skin-on-skin contact with people she forgot the names of, and the paranoia bouncing around inside her.

Hester suddenly became face to face with Ani, who somehow looked more dead than usual. Her red eyes filled up with tears. Hester, who wasn't in the best mental state right now, jumped to the conclusion that Anadil's eyes were bleeding. "What happened, sweetheart? Catch ya in the Doom Room again?" she drawled, not exactly sure of the words slouching on her lips. Ani dodged past her and headed straight for the bathroom. Hester quickly caught up with her, one sloppy footstep at a time, and grabbed Anadil's hand about to shut the door. "Ani, talk to me, why won't you talk to me?" Hester slurred, still holding on to her best friend's wrist in a death grip.

"I don't want to talk to you while you're like this"

"I don't care, I don't careeee, I'm staying... with you, I'm staying with you right here"

"Okay, fine. In the bathroom, where no one can hear us"

Anadil pushed Hester's staggering body into the bathroom and locked the door behind them.

"You're full of crap today, Ani"

"I just need to say something"

On cue, Anadil's demon peeked out. Slowly, it inched closer and closer to Hester and swiped its tail on her nose, like a weird demon greeting. At the same time, Hester's demon materialized between them, hissing affectionately. Hester and Anadil watched, dumbfounded and speechless, as the two demons playfully nipped at each other's horns and chased each other's tails around in circles, like two old friends.

Hester stared at Ani, trying to think of something to say. "You believe in that thing, that- what's it called? What is it? Souls? Soul-love? Soulmates!" Hester said, desperately trying to make a coherent sentence. "We're in love?! Okay, Ani... I'll be in love with you... if you want- okay? I am. Love. You and me. Souls. Okay? Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?" Neither Hester nor Anadil was okay. Hester's mind was going a thousand miles per hour, and maybe if she tried hard enough, she could will her mouth to go faster.

Before Anadil could react, Hester flung open the door and screamed as loud as she could, "I'M IN LOVE WITH ANADIL!"

The party stopped.

She blacked out.

ANADIL

It was quite an ordeal dragging an unconscious Hester back into the sanctuary of the bathroom, with Sophie banging her fists on the door demanding answers to the stunt they just pulled.

She just left Hester sitting in the sink with the tap running all night, letting it overflow in questionably dirty water.

Anadil didn't know what to do next, the hurricanes already at war inside her mind. Everything hurt like hell. It was one thing revealing her feelings to a drunken girl who'd forget about it in the morning, but it was another to announce it to everyone.

All Ani could do was stick her pointed nose in a textbook like always, and just wait.

Hester woke up a little after sunrise, instantly meeting Anadil's tired eyes.

"You, Hester, are never partying, ever again" Anadil said, cringing inwardly at the sandpaper laugh scratching its way out of her throat.

"For the love of Satan, tell me why I feel like Ursula just crawled into my stomach" Hester rasped.

"Hmm, I don't know. Guess" Anadil answered dryly. She slammed the book shut.

"No, tell me what happened"

"You had a party -extremely irresponsible, by the way- and you basically confessed our love to the entire School of Evil"

"Confessed our WHAT?!"

Anadil rolled her eyes as Hester promptly fell out of the sink and hit the floor.

She pointed to their two demons, unashamedly cuddling in the corner, their spiked tails knotted together. Hester looked like she was having a stroke (maybe she was, who knows?).

"Class starts in five minutes, and they're all waiting for us. Let's get out there and face the world, babe" Anadil said nonchalantly, slicking out the word "babe" on her tongue. It felt nice, and perhaps brave to say it.

"What the f* did you just call me?"

"Play along with the game and pretend we're dating, love. Or else, you'll be utterly humiliated" Anadil said shrewdly. Her plan was coming along perfectly. She whistled for the demons to sit on their shoulders, still wrapped up in an embrace.

Anadil seized Hester's hand and opened the door to a crowd of people, trying not to think so much. Usually this terrified her, but Hester was here. And that was all it took.

A horribly hungover Sophie perked up. "Slip a love potion in Hester's whiskey, did you, Ani darling?" Sophie tittered.

Hester smiled triumphantly and swiftly stole a kiss from Anadil's cheek, getting a few gasps from her goggling peers.

She retorted, "Ani didn't need it anyways"