I've always wanted to try my hand at a soul mate au, and I haven't written anything about Cardin and Velvet in a while. Sorry if you don't like the ship. Remember this is unedited. Disclaimer!

Disclaimer: We don't own crap.

Soul mates. Two individuals brought together by fate. They say when you first see them; just that one look is all it takes. The whole world just seems to bleed away until they are the world, just you and them, alone together

It's a concept widely accepted across the whole of Remnant. Since before Dust it's been the same thing: The entire world around you turning to darkness until that one person who caught your eye is the single beacon of light. It could be anyone; man or woman, young or old, Human or Faunus, the soul doesn't care, it knows what it wants.

Most people tended to get it in their heads that when you find your soulmate it ends with the whole get married, have kids, and spend your life with them spiel. Sure in most cases that does happen, but not all the time. Just because your souls are connected doesn't mean you have to find the nearest janitors closet and go at it. Some soul mates are best friends and nothing more, some are family, and some just aren't interested in their partner that way.

That does not mean that they don't spend their lives together no. The thing about having your souls connected like that, it makes being away from each other really difficult. You get the feeling of emptiness whenever they aren't around, like half of you is missing and in all honesty it is. Add that to the fact that you can practically feel them, like a thought in the back of your head, whispering into your ear constantly, begging you to come back. And you feel their pain. No that isn't a metaphor, you literally feel their pain. Hence why most soul mates tend to stick close together.

But then there were those kinds of people who didn't actually like their soul mates. The kind of person who denies what their soul tells them. Could be for any number of reasons from their personality to just the way they acted. In the case of one Cardin Winchester, a huntsman in training recently accepted into Beacon Academy-

She is a Faunus.

The whole world faded out from his view. All he saw was that one girl at the other side of the hall past the quickly disappearing crowd, a beacon of light in the dark just like his father described to him. She stood with the older students watching the new initiates but he hardly noticed them. He focused all his attention on her, completely ignoring the Headmaster's speech. Her pale flawless skin, her long smooth brown hair, and the two rabbit ears that bobbed on top of her head. They twitched slightly as if she knew she was being watched, which of course she did. She turned towards him and their gazes locked. In that moment, both their fates were sealed. He could feel the connection form in the back of his mind, her thoughts whispering to him and mixing with his own. It was official.

They were soul mates.

"Augh fuck me."

-0-

The fork began to bend in his hand, groaning under the strain. The other students in the cafeteria filled the large room with menial white noise, talking about things he didn't care to wonder. His team was speaking as well but their words were in one ear and out the other for him. It had been a month since that day and the pull was starting to get to him. He'd gone this long without going anywhere near her and he was feeling it. Constant headaches, aches in his chest, God damn it, it was causing him physical harm to be away from her and he didn't even know her name! He tried his best to hide the effects as well as possible. He wasn't stupid enough to think he fooled any of the professors, but none of the other students realized anything was wrong, and anyone who did decided not to pry. But even with that, the symptoms would get worse and worse as time goes on, he can't keep this a secret forever and eventually it's going to slow him down in the worst possible situations. He shuddered to think what might happen if he went into a fit while fighting Grimm.

'And she's still looking at me!'

For the past twenty minutes she'd been sneaking glances at him. He didn't even have to look to know she was watching him. He just knew. He could feel the sadness, the longing, the small amount of frustration that struggled to the surface of her conscious but it was loud and clear to him.

Finally he took a chance and glanced back at her. She immediately averted her gaze and her ears curled in slightly. After the strain it went through the fork in his hand finally snapped. He didn't hurt him in any way with his Aura protecting him but he could feel the metal pinch his skin. He saw her hand twitch in surprise. He slammed the broken utensil down on the table and left the cafeteria, ignoring the calls of his teammates. He stomped into an empty hallway and growled. He needed to hit something bad. He raised his fist to strike the wall but stopped. He didn't realize why at first but growled again when he did. It was because of her. He knew that hitting the wall would probably hurt his hand despite the Aura and in turn hurt her.

He wanted to hit the wall even more now. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist trying to take control of his arm, try to force it to move.

"Damn it Cardin, what the hell are you doing? Who cares if that freak gets hurt? She's just a damn Faunus, that animal doesn't know what you feel."

He tried to move his fist again. His knuckles lightly tapped the cool, smooth surface of the wall. Damn it. He just couldn't do it. He stomped down the hall again, going back to his room.

-0-

Velvet let out a deep sigh as she buried her face in her pillow. She didn't know what to do, what was she supposed to do?! She finds her soul mate, the one person she's supposed to spend her life with, either as a lover or a friend and he avoids her entirely! She knew from the moment the bond was made he didn't like Faunus but that didn't help her. A splitting headache caused her to whimper slightly. She had heard that it was actually painful when soul mates where separate for a certain amount of time but they were usually separated by business trips or the like, how much worse is it when your soul mate intentionally avoids you? She groaned and let her head fall into her pillow again causing a small *thump*.

'Why am I getting the strangest sense of déjà vu?' Coco thought as she watched her teammate groan again. "Lien for your thoughts?" 'There it is again! What is with that?'

The rabbit Faunus just groaned again and shook her head into the pillow. Her leader sat close to her on the bed and began stroking her hair.

"Come on bun, you can tell me. Is it because of your soul mate?"

Velvets head shot up quickly hearing that, staring wide eyed at the beret wearing girl. "How did you know?" She said anxiously, her face reddening with a blush.

Coco smirked seeing that. "With the looks you gave him in the cafeteria, it wasn't that hard to figure out." There was a groan followed by another *thump*. "So let me guess. Doesn't like Faunus?" There was a shift in the pillow she assumed was a nod. She sighed deeply. "Look bun, I'm not going to pretend to know what you're going through. Fox and I aren't really separate for long. Truth is I don't really know how to help you. Can't exactly kick him in the junk can I?"

She giggled slightly at that, the small muffled noise making Coco smile. Her smile fell as she breathed deeply. "Look, I think your best bet would be to just go confront him."

"I can't do that," she said sitting up on the bed. "He doesn't like Faunus Coco, I don't know if he'll-"

"He's not gonna hurt you bun. I know from sparring matches with Fox, it's almost impossible to hurt your soul mate. He won't do anything to you."

Velvet lowered her head for a moment, thinking about what she should do. Could she do it? Just . . . walk up to him? Just like that? She flinched as another spike of pain went through her head. She sighed deeply. She didn't need to be soul mate of the year, at the very least she could get rid of these forsaken headaches. She looked up to her leader and nodded.

"Alright, I'll go see him then."

-0-

Cardin leaned his head back into his pillow, messaging his temples to get the headache to go away. Painkillers didn't work, of course they didn't. He groaned heavily. It literally could have been anyone else and he would have been happy, he'd even take a guy at this point. He could live with a guy friend couldn't he? It'd be better than what he was going through now. Another sharp pain struck his head. He swore the damn thing was getting worse.

Wait. They were getting worse. He could feel her through the connection. She was heading towards his dorm. He wasn't surprised she knew where to go, bond and all that crap. The pain was getting worse because she was getting closer and the connection just knew he would refuse to see her. It stabbed at him again, trying to get him to go out and meet her, but he gritted his teeth and kept his resolve. He refused to be soul mates with a God damned Faunus.

That's when he sensed something else. It wasn't pain of separation again. It was fear. It was her fear. He could feel it. She was in trouble. He scoffed. He didn't care. He wasn't going to go out of his way to help a-

"Agh!"

He clutched his head tightly, feeling ghost pains of a limb he did not have. He felt it being pulled and squeezed and it hurt.

"Agh!" He cried out again as he felt another pull. "God damn it!" He charged out the door, nearly taking it off its hinges and sprinted down the hall. He turned down the corner and saw what was causing him such pain. His team was laughing as his partner was pulling on his soul mate's ear, calling her a freak. He didn't even bother to notice his thoughts or the situation any further. He just grabbed Russel by the shirt and threw him off her, causing him to stumble before righting himself.

"Back off!" He barked at them. Like cowed children they backed away from them. He didn't give them a second thought as he grabbed the girl by the arm and marched the other way.

-0-

He felt leagues better. Just being this close to her alleviated his headache. He sighed slightly as the pain passed and from the girl's similar reaction he could tell she felt the same. He clenched his teeth again as he realized through the bond he was holding onto her arm rather tightly. He eased his grip but did not stop his march. They continued to walk until they began to leave the main campus. Upon reaching the fountain in the front of the school Cardin finally let go of her arm and sat down, her following suit. It was quiet for several minutes, whether it was awkward or not he couldn't tell nor did he care. It was eventually broken when she spoke up.

"Thank you."

He didn't want to admit it, and if anyone asked he would smash their face in, but feeling her appreciation just made him feel so much better. A whole month of pain just washed away to be replaced with euphoria. He grunted in reply to her thanks, allowing silence to settle between them again. Again it was her to break it.

"My name is Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina."

He glanced at her though the corner of his eye. He could feel it through the bond but there was a certain satisfaction in seeing her blush. He shook that thought away quickly before replying.

"Cardin Winchester."

They both sat there for who knows how long, only going back when the sun began to set.

-0-

The semester passed quickly for them. Their headaches didn't return as they always met at the fountain. They did anything beyond small talk; mostly they sat close in silence. Cardin's team didn't bother Velvet again, surprisingly understanding about Cardin's situation. Velvet's team didn't much care for Cardin's neglect, but they were glad Velvet was no longer suffering so they had let it go.

And now well into their second semester, Velvet got ready for the dance that evening. She looked over herself in the mirror as Coco finished tying the back of her dress. The dress was sleeveless and went down to her ankles. It was a dark blue that Coco had said looked really good on her. She didn't see it herself but she took her leader's word for it.

"Not sure why you're going to this dance, but you are going to look good doing it."

Velvet smirked at Coco through the mirror as she looked over herself once more. "You and Fox should go to, it'll be fun."

"We'll have plenty of fun here while you're out bun," she said laughing at her blush. "I suppose you do need to get out. Who knows, you might meet someone nice."

Velvet sighed lightly. In truth she wanted to go with Cardin, but the boy was just so distant and hardly said a word to her. Not exactly what she expected from her soul mate but she supposed she had to make due.

"Yeah," she stated evenly. "Maybe."

-0-

She watched as others entered the hall used for the dance. Couples of friends, soul mates, or casual dates all walked in with smiles on their faces. She smirked as she saw two first years, a boy with blue hair and a monkey Faunus with golden hair, walked in with swagger. The two boys were at ease with each other and winked at the girls they passed. She couldn't help but frown. Even two soul mates who chose to be friends were happier than her. The girl supposed she should be grateful she had a soul mate. There some who never met their soul mate at all, either never meeting them or losing them to the Grimm. She couldn't imagine that kind of pain.

But . . . she just wanted . . . she closed her eyes tightly and held her hand to her heart, feeling the tears beginning to sting her eyes. She wished she could feel the same happiness they did.

"Velvet?"

The Faunus girl jumped at the familiar voice and turned to face it.

"Cardin?!" she squeaked. The taller boy was dressed up sharply, a nice tux and bow tie. She gaped as he held out his elbow to her.

"Well, are we going in or not?"

She looked up to his eyes, staring into them, trying to find any deceit in them. She knew that it was pointless, the bond told as much. He was completely genuine. She reached out nervously, wrapping her arm around his. They walked arm in arm into the hall, joining the other students in the dance. Velvet glanced up at Cardin and noticed how at ease he seemed. How content. Velvet smiled.

Maybe she could have that happiness after all.

I'd just like to point out that I am willing to take requests if I like the ship so feel free to leave a suggestion in the review. Waiver, if you will.

Waiver: Please review.