Markless

            Marks are what ties everyone to their soulmate. They’re living, breathing, growing marks. These marks are all extremely unique and special for each person. They always start small and you always have them. The marks are visual representations of your soulmate and their life. As your soulmates life changes the mark will change and grow to represent everything happening to them. You can never really feel them move or grow but it’s always moving, breathing in time with your soul mate. They come in all colors and shapes and change often to fit your soul mate. Something in the mark will always match your soulmates so you can find the person that matches you. Many marks are prized for their stunning beauty and detail, but the mark won’t stay beautiful forever.  The mark will freeze in place and turn black and white once your soulmate dies.

             Since these marks are so unique, it can sometimes be hard for people to naturally find their soulmates without assistance. There have been many companies established to work hard at getting everyone to meet their matching mark. They analyze marks for any signs of where the person could be and compare the unique marks across all their data bases to see if any of the details of the marks match someone else’s. The matching piece of marks could be tiny so it’s very hard to find matches. It is made more difficult by the fact that they only have the marks of people who have come to their companies and had their marks added to the large data base they have. Many people find their matches this way and they also help people understand what the mark means. Sometimes the mark can be muddled and hard to understand so there are professionals who can read and organize the marks. It takes specialized training and years of work to learn how to do this and it is a very difficult job to get, but these companies were incredibly popular. These companies provide many services but a few more conservative businesses refuse to help the markless.

             The markless are those born without marks. It’s possible to be born without a mark, but it is incredibly rare. In many cases a mark will never appear if it did not appear at birth. In certain cases, the markless person’s soulmate will be born a few years later than them and a mark will begin to appear and grow. On the other person a large mark will already be there to show their mate is much older. This situation is incredibly rare and these mates tend never to meet each other or are restricted from being together due to the age gap. These cases are rare but tragic due to the separation and isolation the soulmates are faced with.  

             People without marks were often alienated and shunned. Marks are a highly personal thing so many people wouldn’t show them off, but not having a mark is hard to hide it. Once people discover someone is markless, bullying and cruelty is common. These people are often outcasts of society and could rarely get through school let alone make it out in the world independently. Suicide rates are incredibly high for those without marks. There are also high homicide rates due to radicals believing people without marks aren’t meant to be alive because they don’t have a mate. These radicals are violent and are incredibly organized and no one ever really tries to stop them because people never want to defend the markless. This terrible violence has continued for years until a rare few businesses began to hire markless to work in mark matching companies. These companies claimed that the markless could still help others find their soulmates even if they didn’t have their own. This slowed some of the violence but there is still discrimination that many markless have to face.

             Levi hated school. He hated everyone in the school with maybe a few exceptions he would never willingly admit to out loud. He slammed his locker shut and made his way quickly down the hall trying to get out of the school before anyone had the chance to irritate him further. The bullying had ended earlier in his sixth grade year when he snapped and beat the living shit out of the brats who teased him about being markless since they had first found out in elementary school. It had only been a month or two since the incident, but the bullies had been scared off. Never the less the shit stains would get brave and harass Levi once and a while to piss him off. So he rushed from the school ignoring the shouts of his name from the people who considered themselves his friends. Once he was about a block away from the school he stopped and braced himself as an excited Isabelle and Hanji crashed into him and crushed him in a tight hug. Farlan walked up a lot more calmly and chuckled as Levi got squished by their two friends. Levi grumbled and shoved Isabelle and Hanji away from himself. “Get off me.” He said gruffly and turned from the group to start walking again. 

            “Don’t be so grumpy Levi! It’s finally spring break and we’ve got plans to spend time together you should be excited!” Isabelle shouted in an overly eager voice and started following behind Levi with a bright smile not deterred by the angry behavior at all. Hanji cackled and fell back to walk with Farlan. They chuckled and followed after their friends talking quietly to each other about their own days having faith that the excitable red-head would be able to talk Levi into joining their week long plans.

            Levi sighed heavily and kept walking away. “We don’t have plans. I told you I didn’t want to be involved in your childish sleep over so just leave me out of it.” He grumbled and readjusted his backpack trying to give Isabelle his best glare so she’d take him seriously.

            Of course, as usual she shrugged it off and skipped ahead of Levi to walk backwards and face him as she spoke. “I know you said you didn’t want to come but I think you should come and let us work on finding out more about your Mark or lack thereof. We just want to help you find a way to get one Levi.” Isabelle spoke softer with every word and gave Levi her best puppy eyes hoping it would guilt him into joining in on their plans. They really did just want to help him. The whole group, except for Levi, had been researching about finding marks on those who thought they were markless. There were many new studies every year and the group made it a habit to force Levi into at least considering some of them once in a while. They knew how miserable he was being markless and feeling alone so they tried their best to help but it was hard when Levi always denied getting any help and refused to take any of their advice seriously. Hanji and Farlan listened in but they didn’t say anything knowing how Levi hated being confronted about his marklessness. They held their breath and waited for Levi to throw a fit or run off.

            Levi stopped walking and looked down at his feet, a heavy sigh shaking his frame. “Fine. You know what, if it makes you fucking happy and gets you all to leave me alone fucking fine.” He said sternly and kept his head down. Secretly he had always wanted for his friends to find a solution to his problem, but he never let himself have any hope. He had gotten used to the idea of being alone forever. Even though he was young, being markless meant growing up and facing a harsh reality quick. He didn’t like his friends trying to change those plans but he was tired of constantly denying them. He didn’t have the energy to fight his friends, who would force him along whether he agreed or not, so this time he figured he’d go along willingly and see where that got him.

            Isabelle jumped up and fist pumped in the air shouting happily. Hanji joined in and the two danced around just happy that maybe they could finally get their friend willing to get help. Farlan chuckled as Levi face palmed trying to ignore his weird ass friends. “Thank you for going along with our plans.” Farlan says softly and sets a hand on Levi’s shoulder stepping closer.

            Levi shrugged and looked up as he pushed Farlan’s hand from his shoulder to start walking down the street. Farlan sighed but started to push a still excited Isabelle and Hanji after Levi so he couldn’t skip out and go back on his words at the last second. Levi walked quickly to his uncle’s house forcing his friends to stay outside while he packed a bag of clothes and some necessities for the week. His uncle never really minded when he left the house and was with friends so he didn’t feel the need to tell his uncle where he was going. When he came back outside with his bags, the three brats were laying on the grass watching clouds and pointing out shapes. Levi let himself smile a little while they weren’t paying attention. These three idiots were wrecking his plans of loneliness but he didn’t mind too much knowing that they would all find their mates and leave him eventually. Levi forced his face back to something bland and grumpy and yelled across the yard. “Get up you dirty pieces of shit. You all need to bathe.” He grunted and started walking towards Hanji’s house ignoring the loud giggling from behind him.

            It didn’t take long for them to all get their stuff and settle into Farlan’s room. They put all their bags away having assigned spots and places for all their things due to the frequency of the visits the friends made to each other. Levi laid down on Farlan’s bed letting himself look around the room taking in all the familiar band posters covering the light blue walls and white ceiling. The other three sat on the floor pulling out laptops and recent book finds from the library and started chatting about their marks and how they had all been progressing.

            Isabelle and Farlan’s marks had been steadily growing across their arms and shoulders and had recently started shifting across their collar bones. The two were close as can be and it really wasn’t all that shocking when they starting noticing just how similar their marks were. They both had a steady growth of vines with full blooming flowers and an array of green shades shifting across their arms and shoulders. At times it seemed the vines were shifting in and out of shade and they never seemed to still, always shifting in a nonexistent wind. They both also had a small simple bird that seemed to grow but stay just as simple on the inside of their left wrists. The newer section of their mark that was spilling onto their collar bones was a dark patch of purples and blues but it was covered in white speckles almost like freckles. It was practically the night sky across their chests and the two enjoyed star gazing together so it only made sense to be part of their mark. The two were no longer shy about sharing their marks and could often be found tracing the bird on each other’s wrists.

            Hanji’s mark was covering her entire stomach and her entire left side. It was of the inside of a room that appeared to be one straight out of an old falling apart castle that was somehow still inhabited. The windows were much more open and arching allowing for a clear view to the outside world which was full of rolling hills and in the far off distance the beginning of a forest.  The room itself was covered in pillows and various silks and fabrics hung from the walls and ceilings. Hanji had found after observing her mark for ages that as her soulmates mood changed the weather outside of the room would change. Of course this was still more of a guess because she hasn’t found her soul mate yet but Hanji had done too much research not to know what her own mark meant. The fabrics inside the room also changed frequently changing in color and size and shape. Hanji would also often see small pure white foxes running around in the room full of pillows just playing around relaxing. On top of that sometimes there are deer and doe running around outside the room grazing on the lush fields.

            The trio sat on the floor happily chatting away about their marks. They showed each other little parts but nothing much because even with friends this close, marks were very private. They still liked talking about them though and giggled over the moving marks and talked about what they thought their own marks looked like on their soulmates.

Levi shifted uncomfortably and rolled over to face away from them all. He felt an ache of loneliness in his chest when his friends talked about their marks like they were their entire world and nothing else mattered but that beautiful and ever shifting mark. He sighed and curled up in the blankets on the bed, shutting his eyes and tuning out his friends made it easy for Levi to drift into a light sleep.

            It wasn’t until it was about eight o’clock at night that any of the three friends dared to try and wake Levi. When they did dare to poke and prod him gently into consciousness they brought peace offerings of tea and dinner. They let him eat and drink his tea while they all demolished their own piles of food. After Levi was a little more awake he talked with his friends about simple things like homework and teachers. Levi of course helped with the dished claiming that the others were dirty savages who couldn’t wash plates properly. After helping cleaning the group settled back down in Farlan’s room but Levi felt gross, like he was covered in sweat from his nap. He said something quiet to his friends about being disgusting and needing to clean off and they let him already used to his clean freak habits. He took his bag to the bathroom while his friends plotted more about his mark talking quietly so Levi wouldn’t overhear any of their plots. He took his time in the shower fully scrubbing himself. He heaved a sigh when no mark was to be found on his body where he could see so he got out of the shower quickly just throwing on his boxers and a comfy pair of pants. He felt comfortable enough around his friends to not tug on a t-shirt. He knew they’d want to check on his back for a mark anyways so a shirt was pointless.

            When he walked into the room Hanji was absorbed in a book and Isabelle was chatting away about how marks could be forced to be shown by some strange combinations of chemicals that made Levi cringe as he sat down on the floor with his friends just letting them talk to each other. Isabelle turned to him and smiled. “So Levi, has your Mark appeared yet?” she asked softly wanting Levi to be more comfortable so he didn’t regret his choice to join in willingly for once.

            Levi shrugged and shook his head. “I haven’t seen it so unless it’s on my back, no my mark has not shown up.” He grumbles the words and hunches over on himself feeling three sets of eyes raking over his body to see if he’s telling the truth. Isabelle bounces where she sits clearly eager to look on Levi’s back knowing exactly what to look for but she waited for Levi to relax some from their stares and turn around on his own.

            “Levi lemme see your back.” She smiles and bounces more as Levi turns around with her poking. Levi’s pale back is turned on his three friends and he isn’t expecting much but when all he hears is silence his worry grows.

            Levi tries to shift but Isabelle’s hand stills him. “What? Why are you all quiet? Is there a shit stain on my back from something on the floor?” He asks trying and failing to hide his nervousness as his voice shakes a little. “It’s not like it’s my mark or anything.” When Levi’s comment is met with silence his worry doubles and he tries to crush any growing hope that threatened to rise up. “Right? Someone tell me.” Levi demands cooly.

            The next thing Levi knows all three of his friends have launched forward tackling him down to the bottom of a dog pile kind of hug. He grunts and groans in protest causing them to move off of him suddenly breaking out in a mess of words and maybe a few tears from Isabelle. Levi turns to them now even more confused and once they all manage to stop trying to speak all at once Isabelle says clearly with a bright smile that spreads from ear to ear. “Your mark. It’s there. It’s on your back!!” She cheers in joy and hugs a Levi that’s frozen in shock.

            Levi’s heart is slamming against his ribcage and he hasn’t heard anything the people around him are saying because he can feel it. No matter how small Levi can feel the small mark moving. He only feels it for a fleeting second before its gone and he shoots up off the floor running to the bathroom. He pants heavily looking over his shoulder into the mirror as his friends followed after. He panicked when the feeling left having thought he lost his mark as quickly as he got it but to his relief the small mark on his lower back was still there. The small white rose bud was the most beautiful thing Levi had ever seen. He watched the small bud sway and seem to breathe. It was settled on his lower back right on his spine. It was small and pale and nothing impressive but Levi never wanted it to leave. He nearly screamed as it bloomed open into a large white rose. He watched in amazement as the rose came to full bloom becoming more beautiful.

            Levi hadn’t noticed the tears running down his cheeks until Hanji gently hugged him and wiped his face. Levi turned to face his friends and quickly yanked them into a hug so they couldn’t see his face in his moment of weakness. They held him tight and hugged him until he relaxed and stepped back from the embrace ready to look at the mark again.

            When he looked over his shoulder the mark had settled nicely and was moving normally as any other mark would. He shivered and wondered what his mark looked like on his mate. He wondered if his mark would ever grow or if it would move anywhere else on his body so it was easier to see. He ran a hand along his back awkwardly due to the angle and the skin felt no different but it was so strange to see the mark he was sure would never appear there staining his skin oh so wonderfully.

            Isabelle giggled and smiled brightly. “I told you it would show up. Oh and Farlan you owe me thirty bucks. I knew he would cry.” She laughs at Farlan’s responding groan and Hanji joins in laughing loudly.

            Levi just looked mildly insulted. “You made bets on whether or not I would cry?” He asks turning his attention back to his friends who all looked a little guilty until Levi gave a soft smile. “Next time include me in your bets. I’ll enjoy taking all your money.” Instantly they all smiled and loosened up.

            The rest of the night went well. Levi let his friends teach him about marks and his head was filled with useless facts by the end of the night. Levi spent a lot of the night in a daze with his hand on his back gently rubbing the mark where it shifted. He was so shocked that he wouldn’t be alone. He had a purpose. He wasn’t fated to be an outcast and a loner anymore. His soulmate was somewhere with his mark that surely wasn’t as beautiful but he was sure the person that had his mark had to be beautiful. He wondered when he would meet this person. What would they be like? Would they even like Levi and his terrible personality? His mind was reeling with questions that there were no answers for so he focused on his friends tuning his own mind out.