Soldier didn't take his helmet off often. In fact, if you were one of his fellow teammates, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking he never took the it off at all. He certainly never removed it in front of other people, and even in the private of his own room he preferred to keep it on. A good soldier was always prepared, and Soldier was a damn good soldier.

With the fact that he didn't remove his obtrusive headwear except for showering and sometimes to read this week's Guns and Haircuts, it was no surprise no one saw his eyes often. Not even himself. But he knew what they looked like: his right eye a bright, electric blue, and his left an earthy brown. For the past fifty years, he'd only ever catch them in the mirror every now and again, a practiced habit that didn't have any real thought behind it except the fact it was something you were supposed to do.

So, when he was toweling off after his first match at BLU, he almost didn't notice they'd changed.

Then he stopped, one foot in the air, and processed what he'd just seen. A second later he was sprinting back, slamming against the cracked porcelain of the sink and getting so close to the mirror his breath left a fog on the glass.

"Sweet land of liberty…" he whispered to himself.

His eyes were blue. Both of them, the richness of his soul-eye cooled to match has natural one. Soldier squeaked.

He'd met his soulmate, and for a brief second he swung his head around the shower room, wondering where the hell they were. But then he realized how stupid that was; after all, with his helmet covering 24/7, it could have happened at any time and no one would've told him.

This was bad. Or good. Or great maybe by the way Soldier's heart was pounding in his ears. He knew that everyone got a soulmate, but knowing it and actually seeing it were two different things. He leaned closer.

How the hell had this happened? He hadn't met anyone. His team maybe, but they'd started basic a week ago, and he'd just seen his eyes when he'd showered yesterday… Soldier paced across the bathroom floor, the sound of his feet slapping on the tile drowned out by someone else taking their after battle shower. Could his eyes be on a delay? Or had the "meeting" not counted until now? But he had meet everyone on his team, and a battlefield wasn't exactly a meeting

Unless it was.

Because Soldier suddenly realized he had meet someone today. A lot of someones. RED Team.

He stopped dead. Fucking RED Team. His soulmate was a damn communist America-hating son of a bitch. But which communist America-hating son of a bitch? There were nine of them, and with growing panic, he realized that they wouldn't notice their eyes change color either. Probably not until they got back to respawn and someone pointed it out.

How would he find them? He stopped pacing, clinging to the sink again and staring at his electric blue eyes. What color had it been again? Brown he knew, but he needed to know the precise shade. Oh god, was he already forgetting it? It'd been inside his skull for the majority of his life, and yet he still couldn't picture the exact hue…

How the hell was he going to check every RED? He'd killed or been killed by every member at least once, so no way to narrow it down. Unless he could find out what each of the RED's eye colors were, but that was just as ridiculous as walking up to RED base and asking if anyone there had found a soulmate. He flipped through a mental catalogue, trying to remember the eye color of anyone, but came up with zilch, zip, nadda. Girls remembered that shit, not him. But now it was biting him in the ass, and if only he had some way to see them all again-

The occupied shower turned off. With sound in the room suddenly suctioned out, Medic opened the shower curtain, tying a towel around his waist and whistling to himself.

"MEDIC," Soldier roared.

The startled doctor didn't even get a chance to look up before Soldier was grabbing both sides of his face in the least gentle caress imaginable.

"Ahg!" he yelled, his mouth slightly paralyzed by the meaty soldier-hands on either side of it. He glanced down at Soldier's towel-less. "What in god's name do you think you're doing?"

Soldier looked down at himself, momentarily distracted from his current task. "This is how god made me, nurse! If you can't handle raw physical manhood then get the hell out of the army!"

"Get off of me you dummkopf!"

Soldier didn't bother to reply. He was too busy looking deep into Medic's eyes, the optics for once not hidden by their tiny circular spectacles. It only took another second, and then Soldier dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

Medic swore at Soldier in German, but Soldier didn't pay the doctor any mind. His eyes were both blue after all, like a bluejay's feathers. It was to be expected anyway; someone Medic's age was bound to have found his soulmate by now.

"If you do that again I-"

"I can't stay and talk, doc," Soldier called as he scooped his helmet. "I got eyes to check."

Medic stared after him, clutching his towel and already resigning himself to exhausted disdain. "Fine. Get out of my sight. But if you are going throughout the base please at least put on some pants."

Soldier looked at the inside of his helmet for a moment. "No promises doc." And with that he was out the door.


Soldier wasn't a bright man, not buy a long shot, but even he was able to work out the best way to find his soulmate.

He combed the base for every single BLU mercenary. After all, they were exact doubles of RED team, right down to the natural eye color. (And hell, maybe even the soul-eye too, but that wasn't Soldier's concern right now.) Heavy was the same as Medic, a neat pair of robin's egg blue. Scout's right was a deep navy, a bright contrast against the forest green in his left. Sniper's—after Soldier had ambushed him and gotten the aviator's off—were sky colored, something Soldier didn't get to look at long when the Australian punched him in retribution.

Spy's were difficult; the man slipping away like someone had tipped him off a mad American was running around the base accosting people. It took some time, but Soldier finally figured that if he the frog to insult him long enough, he could see the faint glimmer of his eyes. They were both an ocean blue, but the left one still had a quarter of it burned red. Spy still hadn't met his soulmate then, but his soulmate's natural eyes just so happened to be the same as his.

Then there was Pyro. Soldier knew they'd be the hardest, but he had to check everyone on the team at some point if he was going to find his suspects.

On the way to where he thought the firebug might be, he ran into Engie.

"Engie!" he demanded, not even bothering to fork up an explanation. "Hold still!"

"What in tarnation-!"

Soldier grappled him, the element of surprise putting him one-over on the shorter mercenary.

"Get the hell off me!"

It didn't get him far. He'd tried to take the goggles off before the helmet, and by the time he'd realized his mistake, Engie had elbowed him in the gut. The wind went out of him entirely, and he was easily shoved against the wall.

"Now you're going to tell me what the hell that was about, or you're in for a world of trouble boy." Engie ground his teeth together. Soldier had forgotten the Texan had one hell of a temper.

Soldier wheezed, pushing himself off the wall. "Checking…your eyes…soulmate…"

Engie's face didn't change, but eventually he let out an exasperated sigh. "Well why didn't just say that?"

Soldier thought hard about that for a minute.

When it became apparent that Soldier thinking hard was going to take a long time, Engie said, "y'know, people would be a lot more forthcoming if you just asked 'em these sorts of things instead of jumping them in the middle of the boiler room."

Engie removed his helmet and goggles, and Soldier groaned in disappointment. Right cyan, left hazel. Both maddeningly unhelpful.

"What is it with the damn team and their fucking eyes?" Soldier roared. "Is this a BLU team or blue team?"

Engie nodded like that sentence made the most sense in the world. Sometimes that was just how you were supposed to respond to Soldier. "I don't know what to tell you Sol. Why're you checking eyes anyway?"

Soldier made a frustrated noise, but pushed his helmet up just enough so Engie could see the electric blue. "Damn…soulmate crap. They switched and I missed it. I need to find who on RED team-"

"Hold up! Slow down partner. Are telling me your soulmate is a RED?"

Soldier hesitated. He hadn't given much thought to what that might mean, to busy trying to find them in the first place. Sure they were a communist, but they were still Soldier's soulmate. He had to reach them.

"Engie." Soldier shuffled his feet. "Hypothetically speaking, how bad would that be?"

Engie frowned. "I…I don't know Sol. But just be careful alright? And don't go spreading it around to the rest of the team. Some folks might not be as…understanding."

"Hiim hunderdaning!" Pyro said, suddenly appearing from the bowels of the boiler room.

"Pyro!" Soldier yelled immediately, preparing for another tackle.

"Soldier," Engie warned him. Soldier looked up and saw the dark threat Engie was giving him with those mismatched eyes.

"Um, right," Soldier said, remembering what the hardhat had told him not a minute ago. He pushed himself out of his tackle stance. "Pyro. What. Color eyes…do you have?"

"Huh?" Pyro said, tilting their head. But then they nodded in understanding. "Hoo, hii hatcha! Hi hurta hoo hurg heee, hand hi hwole hun hiss hown."

Engie and Soldier exchanged a look.

Pyro realized this wouldn't get them anywhere. They ran back into the dark, and returned a moment later holding a handful of crayons and some paper.

Soldier leaned over to Engie. "Does Pyro…live down here?"

Engie shrugged, just as clueless. It didn't mater, because all the sudden Pyro was lying on their stomach and scratching out a drawing of a human face. Feeling excitement rise in his chest, Soldier walked around behind the pyromaniac so he could see the drawing better. The thumping in his chest threatened to shake the whole room when he saw Pyro reach for the brown crayon, but quieted just as quickly when they began to fill in the soul-eye. It all but stilled when the natural eye was turned a lime-green.

Pyro forgot what they were doing halfway through the drawing. They completed the rest of the face, and then handed it to Engie proudly.

"Hare! Hudda hoo hink?"

"It's…real nice Py." Engie smiled wryly.

Soldier thought the eyes looked too big in proportion to the face, but didn't say it. He was not art critic, and besides, he had places to be.

There was one person left to check after all.


Demoman was sleeping in the rec room armchair when Soldier walked up to him. If only he slept with his eye open—that would save Soldier one extra step.

"Demoman," Soldier said, poking Demo in the cheek. "Wake up."

A knot coiled in Soldier's stomach. If Demo didn't have it then…well there really must be some mistake. Or his eye was on a delay or…something awful like that. It happened sometimes. You'd read all about those tragic stories in the paper, but never thought it'd happen to you.

Demo blinked away his hangover, sitting up in the armchair. "Huzzut? Wuddaya want?"

Soldier couldn't say anything back. His throat was closed up, the brown of Demo's remaining eye so maddeningly familiar. Beautiful. Earthy. Soldier's.

Except not. Soldier remembered what Engie said about having a soulmate on RED, and felt guilt creep up on the edges of his skin. Why couldn't he have gotten this Demoman instead? Life would be so much easier. Plus, there was the fact that RED Demo would be missing his eye too…

"Oh no," Soldier muttered aloud.

The RED probably didn't even know Soldier was his soulmate. Not without his soul-eye telling him they'd found each other. That is, if the Demoman was the right one. Without Demo's other eye there was no way to double-check, no fallback plan.

But…

Dammit, he had to try anyway.

"What the bloody hell did you wake me up for?" Demo demanded, still shaking off the bits of sleep.

Soldier had almost forgotten about him. He looked down and barkws, "sleeping on the job is shameful, private! I want twenty laps around this base as proof you're not a meat-sack!"

He didn't check to make sure Demo complied, turning on his heel and leaving the rec room. If he wanted to make sure of his suspicions, he needed to plan fast.


The day of the next battle left Soldier light-headed and a little giddy. It wasn't much of a plan, and relied heavily on luck, but it was the only thing he could think of that might get some answers.

RED won the midfight easily enough, but couldn't get into Granary's second point for the life of them. Usually Soldier would be more intuned with the battle, but the thought of meeting his soulmate left butterflies in his stomach. He told the butterflies to stop flapping around while he was trying to concentrate, but they didn't listen.

Crouching in his hiding spot near the vents, he blasted several unsuspecting REDs to gibs. None of them were the Demoman, and he was becoming increasingly nervous the scot would never come this way. Maybe that was a sign. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be, the universe telling him it'd screwed up and forgot to give him a soulmate-

Demo walked through the door.

In a heartbeat, Soldier dropped his weapons, throwing his plan into action. Then he brought out one of his best moves: the patented Soldier-tackle.

"HUTAH," he screeched, launching himself at the unsuspecting Demoman and slamming into him full force. He pulled the sticky launcher from his foe's grasp, pinning the struggling RED to the wall. "RED! What color is this eye!" He pointed at the eyepatch.

"Wha the- get the bloody hell off of me!"

Soldier was getting really tired of everyone yelling that at him. "Fine! But you have to tell me what color your soul-eye is first!"

"I don't have a bloody soul-eye!" Demo snarled. "It's gone, alright?"

The butterflies in Soldier's stomach were bats now, drinking his blood from the inside and leaving him a pathetic raisin. "O-okay! But what was it before? You have to know…"

"I don't fucking remember!" Demo said, still trying to shove Soldier off him. "I was just a damn kid, and it was years ago!"

Desperation cracked the edges of Soldier's body. He ripped off his helmet, throwing it to the side. "Was it this color?" he demanded, pointing at his painfully exposed eyes. "P-please. If you tell me you can do whatever you want but please just…was it this color?"

And for the first time, Demo stopped struggling. He looked Soldier directly in the eyes, a form of human contact that Soldier usually avoided at all cost. But at least Demo didn't look quite so murderous anymore, almost like he was actually seeing Soldier.

"It was years ago," Demo repeated, averting his gaze. Soldier's stomach sank, but then suddenly Demo was glaring back at him once again. "But let me get this straight. You thought I might be your soulmate, and you thought it would be a good idea to hold me prisoner?"

"I…oh." It did sound like a bad plan when you said it like that. "I'm…sorry. I'm not very good with people."

"Yeah. I noticed."

When Demo didn't say anymore, Soldier backed up. The RED went for his sticky launcher immediately, aiming it at his opponent. But Soldier didn't react, too crushed to bother even raising his head. Demo hesitated, and then lowered his gun.

"You know," he began, then sighed as though wondering if he was really doing this. "It, er, might have been blue."

Soldier lifted his head, his eyebrows perked in hopeful curiosity.

"I'm not saying it was," Demo backpedaled, putting up his hands. "Just…it could have been."

A small smile found itself at the corner of Soldier's mouth. Even if it only could have been, that was better than nothing, and his spirits rose just a tad.

"And er…" Demo stepped in closer, dropping his voice and looking around. As though their shouting match wouldn't've already brought any passersby to their location. "There's a bar. Just outside of town. Called The Musty Duckling."

"That's a bad name for a bar," Soldier pointed out simply.

Demo rolled his eye. "And you can find me there sometime. Aye?"

Realization crossed Soldier's mind. "Oh! A-Affirmative!"

Demo allowed a smile back. But then he said, "now if you'll excuse me BLU, I have a point to go capture."

The last thing Soldier saw before he was blasted to smithereens was Demo's eye winking at him. It was such a nice color. Rich. Earthy.