Growing up, few knew the story of Grouchy and Coco. They knew they were adopted siblings, their twins both agreeing to make a quad set. Everyone knew Hefty and Smurfette were soulmates, and it was obvious Tailor and Vanity were soulmates. However, no one knew Coco and Grouchy's soulmates. One person speculated they were soulmates however the theory died quickly after forming as Papa gave them a sad look, and everyone realized there was something much deeper to this story.
"I felt this…searing pain, Papa?" A young Grouchy, long before having been named this still being called smurfling, had admitted to Papa after being dragged there by his twin brother. Papa looked at his arm where his soulmate mark was fading. Nearly simultaneously, Coco and Smurfette bust in, Coco rubbing her wrist. That day was the day Grouchy became Grouchy. Coco was slightly better, earning her name because Chef made the comment she was like hot cocoa, sweet, but if left to stew too long, she grew bitter.
The quadruplets spent their day in Smurfette and Coco's garden. Coco and Vanity made up a majority of the games they played. While playing one day, Coco took a break and sat next to Grouchy. The two eight-year-olds smiled. Something growing rarer and rarer with each passing week. Coco gasped as Smurfette let out a squeal of delight, and Grouchy inhaled sharply as Vanity let a laugh bubble out of his chest. "I…I feel almost warm.." Coco mumbled.
"Like…the opposite of when they died.." Grouchy confirmed.
"Could? Could it be?" Coco quickly checked her wrist but deflated as it remained empty. "Of course not. Why did I think… never mind."
"It's ok…I thought it too.." Grouchy confessed. The two smiled sadly at each other, and Coco leaned on Grouchy, watching as Vanity and Smurfette continued playing.
What the two didn't know was they did get soulmates. However, marks on the upper back of your thigh aren't easily seen. Especially when you aren't looking for it.
"Tailor is just- he's the only person besides me I've ever found my eye lingering on," Vanity gushed, leaning against his bed. He winced, sitting up and giving Grouchy an apologetic look, "g I'm- I'm so-"
"No- I'm Grouchy, you're not. You deserve to be happy. Be happy with your soulmate." Grouchy nodded.
"T-thank you, brother…." Vanity smiled.
"Of course. Brother." Grouchy allowed a grimace. However, that was as close as a smile he ever got to anymore.
"We- I- Hefty." Smurfette managed.
"Very articulate- now can we try a verb?" Coco teased her, smirking over the cover of her book.
"I just- I- I love him… gosh, I'm sorry, sis…." Smurfette sat behind Coco and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
"I don't like him what do I care." Coco laughed dryly.
"Coco, you-" Smurfette tried to approach this gently.
"My soulmate's dead." Coco closed her book after bookmarking her page. "Plain and simple. They're not coming back. People don't do that when they're dead- but it's fine. I have you and Grouchy and Vanity. I'm fine, sis." Coco smiled up at her.
"Ok…you'd tell me if you weren't right?" Smurfette questioned, hugging her close.
"Yes I would."
After meeting the girls' village, many soulmate pairs clicked into place. One of which being Papa and Willow. However, Grouchy and Coco still had no soulmates. It confused everyone from the previous village as well as the new village. Willow, while trying to help, sat them both down one day. "You know, if you want, I can try to help you guys find your soulmates-"
She should have talked to Papa. First, she realized soon after, both of them flinched violently. Grouchy spoke first, "can you communicate with the dead."
Willow felt all the air leave her body as Coco dryly chuckled, tears misting her eyes, "we don't have soulmates. Haven't since we were kids. You can't look for what you don't have."
"Kids…I'm so sorry…." Willow rested her hands on each of theirs.
"You didn't do it." Grouchy shrugged, his tears harshly blinked away.
"It can't be undone. Can't be fixed. Better to just let it lie." Coco mumbled.
"So why do you two just sit here and watch them?" Stormy questioned one day.
"We lost our soulmates," Grouchy grumbled, crossing his arms stiffly.
"They died when we were young. We couldn't stop it. So we vowed to make their lives happier." Coco nodded towards Vanity and Smurfette, who were both currently talking with Hefty and Tailor.
"Guys…I'm so sorry-" Stormy started.
Coco cut her off with a shake of her head, and Grouchy shrugged, "it's life."
"Do you care if I move out and in with Hefty? I don't want to leave you, but I- I love him, Cc.." Smurfette twiddled her thumbs.
"Go for it, sis be happy." Coco smiled at her, but it dropped after she left eyesight. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat as she made her way to Grouchy's, hearing the tail end of the conversation.
"Grouchy, tell me, no, and I won't move out. "
"Go, Vanity, be happy for the both of us."
Coco sighed as she resigned herself to the life of loneliness.
A harsh cough wracked through Coco's body, and she blinked at the flower petals and blood that came up, "they comin up for you grouch?"
Grouchy rubbed his chest after his coughing fit. "Yep… maybe we should tell someone-" he cut himself off as he looked outside as Tailor kissed Vanity's forehead. "…if it gets worse."
"Yeah…yeah, if it gets worse." Coco agreed.
"I told her," Coco wheezed one particularly bad day, "I told her I would tell her if I wasn't ok…."
"Yeah?" Grouchy wheezed from his own bed. Both of them hadn't left their house in 2 days, and they didn't know what hurt more, the thorns stuck in their throat or the fact their own siblings hadn't been by to check on them.
A sob left Coco as she coughed, "I told her I would tell her- and she's- shes-" coughs left her body, "she's not even here!"
Grouchy dragged himself out of bed and over to Coco's, maneuvering onto the bed both shuffled until they were side by side, face to face. Tears freely sprung from Coco's eyes as Grouchy let a few slip out. "We…we said we wanted them to be happy…."
"But what about us!" Coco screamed, "do they not give a smurf anymore!?"
"I-I don't know…." Grouchy admitted.
"If she comes by today, I'll tell her. I'll tell her I'm not ok. I'll tell her that since she drifted away, I've gotten sick. But if she doesn't. We don't tell her until…until…." Coco trailed off, the truth hitting her.
"We're going to die." Grouchy finished. "We can't survive this."
"We're gonna die…." Coco dejectedly muttered.
Smurfette never came that night. Nor did Vanity. The two were oblivious as their siblings' conditions worsened. The day they finally made it out of their house, they could barely swallow the thorns that scratched their throats so badly. But what hurt worse was the fact their own siblings didn't notice their suffering. Grouchy and Coco set their decision in stone.
They wouldn't tell Vanity and Smurfette until it was too late. There was no sense in ruining their happiness for something that couldn't be fixed.
When Storm found the petals, she didn't immediately Put two and two together until later when Coco opted out of swimming and instead went to her house with Grouchy. She grabbed Willow and Papa and walked to the house with them. "I just feel like something is wrong…."
The three didn't know what to expect, but Grouchy and Coco coughing up flower petals was not one of them. Papa and Willow had seen it before. Very rarely contracted in a world with soulmates. Even rarely survived. Papa swore under his breath, "I thought this wouldn't happen to them…they survived the initial year I thought they were safe…."
"Yo-you know what this is, Papa?" Storm questioned.
"Hanahaki," Willow confirmed. The two adults entered the room, and Coco flinched.
"I-it's worse-than- than it seems-" Coco mumbled.
"Oh, kids…" Willow breathed out as they both winced through another cough.
"Don't tell Vanity and Smurfette."
"They deserve happiness…."
"….very well."
"Why are you guys putting yourselves through so much pain!" Storm shouted at them one evening after she walked into them both coughing up more petals.
"You don't get it Storm! As long as they're happy, we're fine." Grouchy argued.
"Whenever she smiles, that's what I'm after," Coco mumbled.
"The smile in his eyes, the sound of his laughter." Grouchy continued.
"I'm happy to watch her. I'm happy to play. I'm happy to watch her drift away if it means she's happy." Coco finished.
"You guys know it might- it might get better-"
"Hanaki. No cure for us."
"Guys…"
"It's life."
The month leading up to their death was the time it really hit. Whole flowers were being coughed up. And then, only then, was it revealed one day as Stormy was helping Coco change into a looser dress. "Coco, what's this on your thigh?"
"I-" a cough and a flower left Coco as she winced, "I don't know…."
"I'm…I'm getting Willow," Stormy muttered, exiting the mushroom.
Coco exhaled shakily, sitting on her bed.
"…you do…you do have a soulmate." Willow finally breathed out after a minute of silence.
"…that's impossible. There's…there's no- no way?" Coco turned in disbelief.
"Soulmates…they aren't just romantic. Platonic soulmates for one-" Willow started. She swallowed as Papa and Grouchy entered equally shaken. "Familial soulmates are another."
And just like that, Grouchy and Coco felt their worlds crash down around them for the third time in their life.
"I thought you Smurfette Vanity Grouchy- you were all ok?" Papa prodded further.
"They…they have lives-" Coco wheezed out. She knew it was drawing closer to the end. Today was particularly bad. "They have soulmates- they deserved happiness."
"When…when we were…eight…." Grouchy leaned up on his elbow, "we felt this warmth."
Papa smiled sadly, "this was it. You four became familial soulmates."
"When…when Vanity and Smurfette…grew further apart?" Coco questioned.
"That probably sealed it, yes." Papa nodded.
"Don't…don't tell Vanity…he'll…he'll blame himself." Grouchy frowned and grabbed Papa's wrist in a pleading grasp.
"Ok…ok, rest now, you two."
"NO!" The heart-wrenching scream that left Smurfette was not one Papa or Willow could ever erase from their memory. "They can't- they can't be dying- they- how?"
"Too-" Papa swallowed around the practiced lie, "too many years without a proper soulmate… however…you and Vanity are their familial soulmates."
"Then we can save them," Vanity prodded, "if we're their soulmates, we can save them we- we have to- I-"
"There's…there's no saving them, hon.." Willow held Smurfette as she sobbed as Papa took Vanity.
As they walked back from where they laid the bodies in the forest, Hefty held Smurfette tight, "will…will they…if they were all soulmates…."
Trailer gulped a similar question on his mind. Willow answered quickly, "no…you two provide a link that will keep them alive. However, they won't…they won't be the same."
"How… how so?" Tailor asked, watching Vanity's blank face.
"They…may grow dull." Papa sighed.
Smurfette blinked away the tears harshly as she turned towards Blossom and Lily, who questioned where Grouchy and Coco were. "They don't exist now."
"W-what?" Blossom questioned.
"They died." Vanity choked out.
"They're gone, and we didn't stop it. We- we- we watched them die- we couldn't- we couldn't save- oh god-" Smurfette sobbed as she broke.
"They're…they're gone… they're- our sister and brother- are gone…." Vanity sobbed, closing his eyes tight.
Stormy swallowed the lump in her throat as she walked to clumsy's house. The last words she heard from Grouchy and Coco still echoing in her head.
Happy to watch them, happy to play, happy to watch them drift away…
Gargamel smiled with pride as he walked back from his latest journey into the forest. "Very, very excellent," he smirked with malice, "Morale will be low in smurf village. Very. Very. Low."