Co-Written by Whiskers da Catfoosh (the only account I know you can annoy her on is her Wattpad, soooo)Soulmate AU where you get every scar your soulmate does, whether it be right away or a little delayed.
TW: There are a few mentions of self-harm.
Kai traced the scar over his eye. He still hadn't found his soulmate. He knew that everyone's soulmates developed over time, but- He sighed. He doubted that his soulmate was anywhere near him at this point. Or that he even had one.
He saw no one with a scar over the same eye. His teammates hadn't either. No scars had appeared, and for all he knew his soulmate was careful.
Or just that they hadn't developed that connection yet.
He knew that Jay had joked about him not having a soulmate yet either, but Kai had mostly dismissed that, as Zane was speaking with him about it one night. For all Kai knew, Cole didn't have one at all.
The night the first scar came in was jarring. Kai was in his bed, asleep, when the stench of blood woke him up. He sat up and used his arm to wipe his eyes.Bad idea. Something wet was on his arm, and some of it got into his mouth. It tasted like metal.
It tasted like blood.
He quickly dashed out of the room, bumping into Jay, who seemed to be tired himself, walking back to the shared room. Jay didn't seem to notice and/or care that there was blood on Kai's face.
As the fire ninja made his way into the bathroom, he turned on the lights. He squinted, the light was a stark contrast to the dark hallways. He looked into the mirror, a faint red streak across his face. He quietly washed it off, the water cool against his warm skin.
Kai looked to his arm, the blood coming through his pajamas. He cleaned as much out as he could before rolling up the sleeve. A bleeding cut, clear and easy to see, right across his wrist. He was sharing the pain with his soulmate.
He rinsed it with water once again, before wrapping it with a bandage. He exited the bathroom, one thought raging in his mind.
Why was his soulmate doing that?
Kai was up a little later than usual the next few days, blaming it on missed sleep. Jay seemed to be out of it as well, but it wasn't as far-fetched.
He clenched his hand, punching the punching bag used for training. He had gained the first scar from his soulmate. And it wasn't a small insignificant one. He punched the bag. Not a cool battle one. Another punch. No, it looked like self harm.
The first one could have been a mistake, but the other ones, the next ones were in succession. All straight across, all in a line. They were purposeful. They weren't going to fade any time soon. So, Kai made a promise to himself to when he found his soulmate, he would help them through it.
But that was only when he found his soulmate. It could be a long time off from now.
He punched the bag once more, his teeth gritted. As Cole entered the room, Kai looked over, the punching bag hitting Kai and making him fall over. "Cole, really?"
"Why are you so mad?" The earth elemental pulled him up, looking him in the eye.
"I'm not mad," Kai grumbled, getting a glare from Cole. "Fine, I am, but it's nothing, just something small and-"
The black ninja grabbed the red ninja by the shoulders. "I can tell that something is bothering you. It's not nothing."
The fire elemental looked off to the side, a frown on his face. "Fine," He mumbled, pulling up his sleeve, waiting for Cole's reaction. He felt the other grab his arm, tracing the scars.
"You've been... Cutting?" He was quiet, watching Kai.
"No! I haven't- It's just that.." Cole still looked at Kai skeptically. "... It's, my soulmate. Something's wrong with whoever he or she is. They have been hurting themselves on purpose, and I don't think they have realized yet that they have a soulmate yet."
"You mean?" Cole whispered.
"I have a soulmate, and now..." Kai shook his head.
"Ok, ok, stop right there." Cole said. "One. YOU HAVE A SOULMATE...? Two. Your 'soulmate' is trying to hurt themself. Ok, What?" Cole asked, his face twisting into a perplexed look.
"I just realized this- The first mark was from self harm." Kai hugged himself. "I don't want it to get worse. Ya know what I mean?" His eyes glistened with unshed tears. He normally wouldn't let this stuff show, but now it was coming out.
"Of course! We need to find who your soulmate is, and fast! Never know what they could do next. I'll help you out, don't worry." Cole patted Kai's back. Kai never cries, unless if it's over his sister."We'll find them, don't you worry. Do we want to keep this a secret? Or do we want to have the others help?"
"I don't know yet, maybe keep this to ourselves for now?" Red asked, brushing a fallen strand of hair out of his face.
Black nodded. "For now, do you just want to train?" With a curt nod, they began to train for a while in a comfortable silence, only their thoughts and the sounds of the equipment to fill it.
K
ai didn't know how soulmates worked. At all.
He didn't know how the scars worked. He knew nothing.
That was Jay's thoughts when he saw the mark across his eye, the makeup rubbing off, pretty much identical to Kai's scar. He had recovered it with makeup, to keep anyone, especially him , from seeing and knowing.
No use in hurting the other ninja any more than he probably already was. It could even be unrequited. Jay couldn't tell at this point. He would soon discover as his eyebrow scar would most likely appear soon, if it wasn't only him, of course.
Jay looked at his arm once more, sneering at the marks. Kai most likely would have started to see them by now, it was most likely that his first scar from Jay would be one of them.
Jay's first scar was of course the eye scar. It had started to bleed in the middle of a mission, sticking his eye shut. He had tried his best to excuse himself, as he was partnered with Zane at the time, the nindroid giving him an odd looking before waving him off.
Jay had ducked behind a tree, tearing off his mask. He used the nearby stream to look at this reflection, the water clean and clear. A long scratch was through his eyebrow, and down to under his eye.
He did his best at cleaning it off, the scrape still red and angry. It must be the first scar from my soulmate. He would most likely be questioned by Zane, so he took the headband from his mask, wrapping it around his head so that it covered his eye and the scratch to hide it from the ice ninja and so the blood could stop flowing.
He walked back, Zane welcoming him almost immediately. "You alright? And why did you cover your eye up?"
Jay shooed the white ninja off quickly before he could notice. "I just hit a branch, that's all. Nothing to worry about!" With an odd look from the nindroid, he added, "Well, the branch snapped back and hit me."
"Are you going to be okay for the rest of the mission?" Jay knew he would be fine, but he needed to cover up the scar before anyone else could see.
"I'll be fine, just we might need to hurry up, that's all." He shook Zane off of his shoulder and they continued the mission quickly.
The scratch still stung.
The night after the mission, it turned out that he wasn't the only one who had damaged their eye. Kai had a long scratch in the same place, dried blood around it. Apparently, a sword had pierced him there, barely missing his eye, keeping it for another day.
Kai gave him a wave and an odd look, pointing to his own eye and then to Jay's. The lightning ninja waved him off, hoping he would not realize what the marks really were. Jay had hurried to the bathroom, ignoring the recognizable calls of the others, and covered the long scratch with basic foundation.
A knock was heard on the wall outside the bathroom.
"Hey Jay, you okay?" It was Cole. What does he want? Just to bug me about the mission?
"Ugh, do you have to bother me now? I'm busy." Jay snapped at the Earth ninja.
"Jeez man, chill out. How was the mission?" Cole came in and leaned on the wall behind Jay, looking at him through the mirror. He looked ready to ask what the lightning ninja was doing, but kept his mouth shut, waiting for a reasonable answer.
"Fine. Nothing really happened though, and it was pretty boring."
Cole knew there was more to the story. Just by a skeptical look of Cole's, he could get just about any information out of a person. "Stupid twig got my eye, so I gotta cover it up."
"Why?" Black prodded Blue. He couldn't tell him, not in a million years.
"Because it kind of looks like Kai's scratch, but it's not. I don't want anyone to think incorrectly that I have a soulmate, you know?" Jay's palms started to sweat. Please no. Do not tell him anymore!
Cole raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Youdon't have a soulmate."
"No! I mean, yeah! Uh, I don't have a soulmate, OK? Now just go, I don't feel like talking right now." He shoved the Earth Ninja away, threatening him to keep his big mouth shut, and continued covering the scar up.
Cole narrowed his eyes at the lightning ninja, before leaving the bathroom grumpily.
He heard the fire ninja explaining the fight from outside. He leaned against the wall, listening, sliding down into a sitting position.
Kai really didn't know how soulmates worked.
Jay found himself hiding on his bunk one night, the darkness enveloping him. It was quiet, except for Cole's snores. He began to hum, hoping that maybe it could help him sleep. It didn't. The room kept the same way for a while until he heard a rustling from one of the other beds.
Kai jumped down, shuffling out of the room, maybe to the bathroom. Jay rolled his eyes, sitting up and holding his legs. Not much he could do. Creating a ball of lightning in his hand, it emitted a slight blue glow, calming the ninja who controlled it slowly.
After a small amount of time, the door creaked, the fire ninja entering the room again. He gave Jay a look seeming if he was asking if he couldn't sleep. Blue nodded, and Red came over to his bunk, climbing up.
"You alright?" Kai's whisper made Jay look up, snuffing out the ball of electricity.
"Y-yeah," Jay stuttered, hoping the makeup on the scar was still there.
"I'm good, just can't sleep." He moved his legs, resorting to hugging himself.
"Ah, me neither." The fire ninja sat there, his legs crossed. Jay would have made the joke 'criss cross applesauce' if it wasn't such a quiet moment.
Almost melancholy.
Jay sniffed, looking at Kai. Red probably didn't notice, but Blue noticed that a scar was lining its way right next to the one from the sword, an eyebrow notch. He resisted the urge to reach out and trace it, to see if it really was true.
They sat like that for a while before Kai jumped back down and returned to his own bed.
Jay was alone again.
Kai was oblivious and didn't notice the scar inking itself on his eyebrow.
He wasn't as oblivious when Jay vanished.
The day after the night they had sat together on the bed, he had straight up disappeared. Not a trace. No clues, no nothing. He was gone.
They sent out a few searches, all coming back completely negative.
It was then he saw another mark on his wrist, and a long scar on the other arm. It was new, and it obviously was not self-harm.
He also noticed that another part of his eyebrow was losing hair. Another scar, he assumed, but it was familiar.
Kai dismissed himself, going out on his own to find Jay.
Jay had left on his own accord, dashing through the snow in an attempt to escape. As soon as he knew Kai was out, he filled a tiny handbag with his makeup and snacks and left the house.
Where am I going to go? Jay stopped. He never thought about where he was heading off to. He thought of places he could go, but nothing stood out to him as a place to go. The ninja would find him too easily.
So, he ran. He quickly summoned his dragon to stop his tracks and headed towards the forest, not knowing that his father's was just up ahead. He passed a house, alone in the dense woods, and figured that was where he could hide. He landed his dragon, more branches scraping his arms, and jogged up to the large property. The house looked almost brand new. Whoever lives here looks rich...
Jay hoped someone was home, the house looked warm and comforting, a fiery glow emanated from one of the windows, and he thought of Kai. He had just left him there, not knowing that none other than the depressed Blue Ninja was his soulmate. He knocked on the door, now able to see his faint breaths in the cold. A shadow zipped through the comforting glow, grabbing hold of the door on the other side from where he was standing.
"Hello?" A quick flashback was triggered by the new voice, or was it new? A faint picture of a movie. It was the one he had watched with Nya and Cole, starring Fritz Donegan. Jay looked up, the door was open just a crack, not enough to see what was inside.
"Uh, hi! This is J-Jay, master of Light-tning. Mind if I stay the night?" The door opened a little more, revealing none other than... "F-Fritz Donegan!? Oh my gosh! I am so sorry for interrupting you! I-"
"Jay?" Fritz's voice sounded curious and longing. "You, you have returned..." His eyes widened as he said those words, and the lightning master froze.
"W-hat? What do you mean by 'returned' perhaps?" Jay felt a flush of importance suddenly.
"Oh! You must be freezing out there, come on in son ." Jay immediately perked up and rushed inside towards the warmth of the house, it smelled like freshly baked cake. He looked around the neat house, pictures of all of Donnegan's movies and shows were proudly displayed on the walls, and a giant figure of Donegan stood next to the stairs, occasionally yelling " Fear isn't a word where I come from!"
Jay blinked, the odd feeling of dread easing away. This was just the movie star. He was nothing special, but when he had said ' You have returned...' What did he mean by that?
"It's been a while," The man asked, Jay looked over his shoulder to find fresh cupcakes, all in a shiny blue coating with a lightning symbol across the middle. His ears started to burn.
"Been a while? What do you mean? What am I supposed to know here?" Donnegan's warm and gentle face then slumped into sorrow.
"I'm sorry, I guess I haven't introduced myself fully. I am Cliff Gordon, your father." The man held out his hand for Jay to shake it, the younger slowly accepting it.
"So, wait. I don't know if I believe you. How do I know you aren't lying? My parents would probably have told me at this point, and you just telling me thisout of the blue just doesn't help your case."
"I'm sorry, I guess I just left you there. In front of the trailer. I was scared, especially after Libber-" Cliff cut himself off. "Well, after your mother disappeared, I was scared that I wouldn't be able to take care of you on my own, so I left you with the couple in the junkyard. They must've kept you," He rubbed his arm, "If you don't believe me, I guess it's fine. If you need me to call them we can-"
A crash sounded from the other side of the house, almost as if someone had broken in through a window. The sound of glass shattering.
Cliff froze, placing down the plate on a table, and Jay's hands lit up with lightning.
They stalked around the mansion, looking for the culprit, an icy chill drifting around the empty house. Cliff had a flashlight, Jay had his lightning, casting eerie glows of their own.
Another Crash.
A pot being smashed, presumably. Jay stepped ahead of the movie star who was claiming to be his father and cried out, "Who's there?"
Something dashed by them, a slight breeze blowing by.
"I just asked, who's there?" He yelled, the chill overcoming him.
There was some uttering, before everything went by in a blur. Some people attacked. Jay didn't get a good look at them in the dark, but he managed to shock a few of them.
He heard Cliff scream.
The last thing he knew before blacking out was the feeling of something going into his arm, twisting, and then cutting down...
Oh? A cliffhanger?Thank you for reading! Drop a review if you liked!You can annoy at my tumblr: ineedhelpwithmylifernor you can annoy either of us on Wattpad.