A Bond Must be Fostered
For as long as you could remember, your soul bond had always been partially complete. The doctors had called it a stunted bond , a type of bond deformity stemming from either you or your bonded or both. Something was wrong with the genetics of your bond and the only thing visible on your sun-kissed skin was the word "Summers" written small along your left forearm. Optimal placement for someone who wanted to see their mark, but in your case, after you had learned all about your lack of what was assumed to be a first name, it was only a painful reminder that there was something wrong with you.
It had been explained in detail when you turned twelve and other children were slowly but surely coming into their own marks, all of your friends whispering late into the night at slumber parties at how wonderful "Bobby" would be and "What kind of name is Remy?"
And you?
You would smile for their benefit, laughing at all of their jokes about how their bonding tattoos were written in odd places across their bodies. Someone had "Reed Richards" quickly jotted down on her lower back, just off to the side of the curve in her spine and another had a soul mark that was smudged over, the name "James Barnes" pressed into the back of her left knee. You began covering up your mark soon after, simple telling people that you didn't have one because it was better received than having a half formed one. Those without soul marks were rare, but not uncommon, and the pitied looks from your friends and teachers through middle school were so much more bearable than someone finding out it was incomplete.
High school was insufferable. Changing in the locker room had become your worst fear everyday and you had proactively found new ways to avoid having to lay yourself bare among your peers. They were cruel and passive aggressive, most having long since located their soul mates some how. But with one part of the name to go on, how were you supposed to find them?
You were everything he could've wished for in a bonded. In fact, you were better than that, so much more than any word he could possibly uncover in any language of the world. He watched from his vantage point across from your high school, binoculars never leaving his face as he watched your every move, every smile that could flit across your features. His part of the bond ached with the need to be by your side every moment your smile began to fall, but that was not a part of the mission the professor gave to him. From secret intel, the professor had uncovered a plot against the X-Men through their bond mates and potentials. It was with clear instructions that he told your bond who you were and where you were, so much closer than either of you could have expected.
Alex Summers. Younger brother of Scott Summers, the leader of the X-Men, had been hoping he would never find you. As Havok, he was unstable and afraid of what he could do at any moment. Controlling and dispensing cosmic energy was too dangerous and he felt that it was best that he ignored the vast hole on the left side of his chest from his lack of a bond. It didn't seem to matter how much time the professor took out to help him hone his powers, he was too angry, too moody, and even with a good heart, it didn't cover up the fact that he was dangerous. If anything ever happened to you because of him, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
There was a reason he was given the name Havok. The rings of energy that protruded around his arms the moment he grew angry and the destructive energy that flowed out had killed many people by now and- It's not fair. It's not fair that he was born this way, that after all of his loss, one of the biggest ones was something he had never had the chance to have. He can feel his soul bond tattoo give a small twinge as he stares at you through baby blue eyes the color of the endless sky. Your name is a gentle caress around his left hip and he hardens his grip around the binoculars to stop himself from reaching down to touch it.
He doesn't deserve you and he probably never will. You're sweet, yet so soft-spoken, vibrant and alive and he just wants to hold you once without the fear of tearing you to shreds.
.x.
"Havok, status?" Scott's voice makes a bitterness rub at the back of his throat. Scott is the leader, pretentious at best, older, he has his bonded, Jean Grey, and he's happy. Why did Scott get to be the one with his life on course? With a bonded who could fight her own battles and her way back to him?
"She's.. laughing. Safe. Surrounded by other students outside.." Alex said grudgingly, trying to keep the contempt from his tone, but it's hard. It's too hard. He looks away for a brief second, tries not to watch a male rest his arm around your shoulder, a small red band already beginning to form around his wrist- he could throw it- it would hit its mark- stop . He takes in a deep breath and counts back from ten to calm himself down.
"Keep watch. We have no information. Mister Sinister is going to try and attack today, we're sure of- Havok! Get out of there! Get to- Hurry- " The com suddenly goes in and out before Scott's voice is replaced by silence. The only thing he can formulate is that Dr. Sinister is going to attack and you . You're in danger and he needs to protect you. He'd been told a long time ago that because of his mutant genes, there was a chance your bond would never be completely formed until touching for the first time, but it was often hard for a partial bond to find their other half. But Alex had found you and as much as he didn't want to be a part of your life, he needed to protect you at all costs.
Under the bandage, your bond mark gives a small tingle, something that had been happening recently at the oddest of times. You tried to ignore it, but for some reason, you could feel a little bit of fright and fierce compassion somewhere deep in your chest. As a friend of yours hung off of you outside during your free period, you couldn't help but look around. The sky had begun to darken after a few minutes of playful banter among your friends and a chill ran down your spine at the change. Something was wrong; everyone else seemed oblivious to the ominous sign the sky provided, but you looked up, suddenly feeling out of your skin and a little afraid. You swallowed dryly and opened up your mouth to suggest they go back inside.
Everything happened too fast for you to remember. People were approaching, flying even, towards you at a pace you could barely keep up with, and you recoiled back in instinct, everyone around you beginning to screaming because something is off and they're different and their mutants. You'd never seen one up close or known when you were by one, and the government had written them off as being monsters. You didn't agree with it, but these people looked terrifying, glaring or smiling with a sinister look in their eyes. Everyone turned tail to run, crying out and dashing for the school entrance, you a part of the growing mass. Bodies pushed against each other in a fight for survival and because of your small stature, you were shoved down and out of the way.
"Don't run kids, we only want to play with one of you." A male voice called out as a girl laughed and cracked her knuckles. Full of dread, you tried to push yourself back up, scraping your palms and fingers as you pushed yourself up. It was hard to breath with your throat full of fear and the taste of terror pungent in the air.
"There you are." A hand reaches out to grasp at your (H/L)(H/C) hair, gripping tight and giving a pull hard enough to make you shriek in pain. You fight against it, tears brimming in your (E/C) eyes as you thrashed around for some sort of break. He only grips tighter and pulls you close, a clawed hand pressing up under your jaw and just against your throat.
"I wouldn't move again if I was you. I'd hate t'have ta slit yer pretty little throat." You could feel talons gently dig into your jugular as a warning and you swallowed dryly, big eyes widening even more as shock paralyzed you. People were staring through the school doors, some crying and others being held back from trying to get to you.
"Heh, good girl. Now Havok, I can smell ya. Wanta come an play?" Havok? Who?
"Sabretooth. Let her go." A voice calls up from on top of the building. You glance up only to see a body jumping down from the roof with ease to land on his feet. Something in you stirs, quiet and weak, as he stands, clad in a uniform with a circular piece slightly protruding out. He's blond, the color vibrant and you're sure that if the sun was still shining it'd look like he was an angel, the thick blond locks a golden halo. He's staring past you, taller than ever with blue eyes that remind you of fresh water off the coast of an island. A weird analogy but- You're a weird one. You're shaking and too afraid to speak up for fear of the claws puncturing your skin, but Sabretooth tosses you aside to a girl decked out in all black. Her hands grasp at your shoulders and everything grows dark.
"That outta keep'r quiet." Sabretooth leers, lips spread wide to reveal sharp teeth. "How's it goin, Havok?" He's teasing and Alex tries to count in his head, to keep calm or else he'll lose focus and Lady Mastermind might hurt you.
"Sabretooth, stop fucking with me. Let her go." He's sure of the answer, that Mister Sinister wants you to get to him, and it makes him sick to his stomach. Even Lady Mastermind looms over your small figure, and you're shaking, even as your eyes flutter closed. He did this to you. If not for his name being marked into your skin, you would be free to live a different life, a happy one without him in it.
Ultimately, Sabretooth doesn't take orders well, lunging at Alex with a snarl. It becomes a tango of tooth and claw, Alex having enough calm left in him to maneuver his shots away from the school and his mate. He catches Sabretooth in the face but sustains claw marks running down his arm, nearly mangling it. With one arm out of commission, he began to swing the other, conjuring up a disk and shooting it at his target. All of the training was made for this, the shot pelting both Lady Mastermind, Sabretooth, and someone else. It keeps going until it cuts into a tree halfway, Alex's arm lowering as Sabretooth gave a hiss of pain, teeth still bare. The battle continues, Alex sustaining cuts across his jaw and even more tears in his uniform. The school grounds are desolate and ruined, dirt and concrete laying all over. There are sirens in the air, but neither care.
"I'm giving you one more chance. Give me my fucking mate or I'll kill you." There's blood splattered on the floor from Sabretooth and Alex alike, but even he knows that he won't win this. They sent in the wrong people for a mission like this, even with another handling Cyclops. Taking a step back, Sabretooth gestures to the female foe and Alex is ready, energy spewing and building up in his chest.
"Let'r go. Sinista was a dumbass for sendin' us on this mission. I'm done with this." Lady Mastermind denies it, and Alex steps forward, red sparking in his eyes, energy building up until it's tangible. She drops you, quickly, and falls back with the rest of the Marauders, leaving you bunched up on the ground. Alex powers down, clamps down on the cosmic energy inside of himself and takes a cautious step forward. His arm hangs limply at his side, blood drip drip dripping to the ground below. You must have passed out and he surveys your form, thanking every form of God that he could save you.
Stepping closer, he bends down and pauses- He'd just fought members of The Marauders- had just spilled blood. There's literally blood on his hands. How can be bare to touch you?
"Havok. Havok. Do you read?" Scott sounds breathless over the com and Alex uses the voice of his brother to calm him down. There's a difference here, he isn't angry, he's so anxious his entire body is shaking and his heart won't stop palpating in his ears.
"I- y-yeah..."
"Is your bonded safe?" Yes. I saved her. He realized he hadn't voiced it and said as much, taking in hollow breathes as he reached a bit closer. What if he hurt you? The thought has crossed his mind every millisecond and it fucking sucks that you're the closest to happiness that he'll ever get and he can't even- he won't. He just won't. The thought of putting you through this again is too much to fucking handle and Alex doesn't handle things well.
"Take her to the mansion. Professor-X is waiting." Fuck me . He thinks as he takes a breath and finally reaches down to carefully lift you up with his good arm. Jesus, she's so small and light and she smells like cotton candy and- fingers trembling, Alex began to run. He ignored the sirens in the air or his heart punching him in the chest with every step as he made his back to the tower, only picturing you safely tucked away. Unbeknownst to him, the moment your cheek pressed into the junction of his neck, everything changed.
By the time he arrived at the mansion, his mutilated arm was almost fully healed and you?
"Alex Summers" was written over again in your forearm, small as if it's your best kept secret and dark, bold, brash against the russet tone of your skin.
"Why won't she wake up?" Alex Summers is a man of many oaths; he'd sworn to himself that he would stay out of his bond's life, but here he is now, at her bedside trying his best not to touch her hand. She's so small . He can't stop thinking, can't quite get over the fact that this little thing is bonded to someone like him. He's done things, despicable, awful things to people that didn't deserve it and he can't take any of those actions back. He's a monster. He's trouble. People had beaten it into his head that he was lower than dirt and there was nothing he could do to change it.
"She's.. healing? It's a peculiar thing, really. There's nothing physically wrong with her, but her mental capacities are off the roof. It's as if she's still awake." Hank explains in a hushed tone, jotting down more notes and reaching to check your pulse, "And another anomaly. I've looked at earlier samples of her blood, it was normal, human. There were no outliers of any kind. But I've taken a new one and now her blood has the X-gene. Alex," The soft call of his name pulls the male from his aching thoughts and his gut wrenches as he forces his eyes away from your face to look at Hank, "she'd never had a full bond before, but now your name, it's there. I've never heard of anything like this happening before. Touching you kick-started her gene mutation and now she's one of us, but.what power-"
"She healed me." Alex cuts off Hank's quickly growing tangent, hand reaching up to touch the arm that his enemy had damaged, voice soft and in a sort of awe. "Sabretooth fucked up my arm and I had to carry her with one.. But by the time I got back here, I felt fine. I thought I could keep her from touching me, but she-” His hand slid up to gently stroke over his neck and the last place you touched, still able to feel your quiet breathing against him. He’d caused this. First he’d put you in danger and now you were different and less human and you’d probably hate him and the finished name scribbled angrily against your skin. Alex clenched his hands into fists, anger bursting under the surface and a small ring of energy curling and coiling around his wrist before it died down instantly when he turned to look at your face.
You're so beautiful that it's almost hurt to look at you, but how can he stop when you're so close to him? When he carried you to the mansion, it took all his strength not to touch your soul mark, his name so blatantly there, thick and dark and proving you to be his the same way he had always belonged to you. Your soul mark made you the only thing he'd ever been sure about in his entire life.
.x.
The headache splitting across your brow is stifling and wakes you with a start. Stars explode across your vision as you reach up to touch your head, trying to remember what happened.
A monster- no monsters were at your school and you'd been taken captive- but-
Blue eyes. Hair the color of sunshine and gold spun and then you remember fainting. Not the best move. You sat up slowly and tried to get your bearings. It smelled clean, antiseptic, as if you were in a hospital. You looked around the dimly lit room before peering down at yourself to access it. You're not wearing your old clothes-
"No worries, we had Jean Grey change you out of all those bloodied clothes. And your bonded wouldn't let anyone touch you, save me." The voice is soft, but still frightening to you as you cringed back into the sheets.
"Mine? I-I don't have one?" You said as you looked over to where the voice came from. You came face to face with a tall boy, glasses sliding down his pale nose as he stared down at a clipboard. He looked up and gave the semblance of a smile. The lab coats wrapped around his lean figure were much too big.
"Don't be scared, I'm Hank. I'm the closest to a doctor we have at the moment and the only one that would be able to tell you you're, uh, different."
"D-Different how?" You were still trying to wrap your head around everything and felt stiff in your skin, your toes numb.
"There is no easy way to say this, (Y/N), but your genes mutated once you finally completed your soul mark. Your soul mate is a mutant and, as it would seem, you are as well. We aren't sure what type just yet, but we're working on it.."
The only thing that mattered in that moment was the fact that your soul mark, "Summers" was finally complete and that your soul mate was here somewhere. You cleared your throat, hating how weak and small you sounded before.
"Where is he..?" Pushing at the covers weakly, you tried to shift towards the edge of the bed.
"No, no, don't move yet- please- I'm not sure what will happen now that you're awake. It's not safe for you." Hank could be a killer. A murderer. But for some reason you knew that he could be trusted.
"Fine, but can you bring him to me?"
-
"Fuck no. You need to get her out of here. I can't be near her or else who knows what the fuck could happen." Alex spat, arms crossed over his fit red shirt as he ignored the look on Hank's face.
"Alex, she's one of us. She can't go back to her life before and I don't think even you can make her. She wants you. Not me telling her that you won't see her or even talk to her. Just stop running away from it because it's here. She's here." Alex really fucking hates Hank, especially when he's saying everything he knows is true but doesn't want to hear.
"What if I'm wrong for her..? I've already done enough damage."
"If not you, then who else? You can't blame yourself for her genes already being mutated. It was going to happen sooner or later. You can go in there, be with her, or you can push her away and leave her vulnerable. It's your name written in her skin. Remember that." Hank McCoy, fucking prick, smart ass, turned and left. For the first time, Alex was speechless, nervous, at a loss. He took in a deep breath and steeled himself as he turned to step into your room, opening the door and marching in with a heart of steel.
"It's you?" His stomach bubbles and boils at the sound of your voice; it sounds soft and sweet like the tinkering of bells and heart grounds internally. Fuck the universe for giving him someone worthwhile. Just fuck it all.
"Yeah. I saved you from that fuck- guy from before," Try not to curse in front of her- yeah, right . Like that's going to change. "I was going to rip him into fucking pieces if he hurt you." You bit at your lower lip and squeezed the covers in closer to yourself. Now that you're not afraid out of your mind (debatable) and you can breathe (also debatable considering your soul mark is burning so it punches the breath out of you.), you can really see him and those eyes that stare so deep into you that it makes your heart feel too full. This is it, the moment of impact that you've wanted and waited for. Your soul mate is lovely, blond head and blue eyes, skin pale except for the red of his cheeks as if he's blushing or upset, face hardened, too harsh for such boyish features. He's different and better than anything you'd expected. In fact, you didn't know what to expect.
"What's your name?" Alex wants to say Scott, to throw you off and leave this part of your life untouched. But he won't. He won't leave because he loves you and he's a stubborn motherfucker.
"Alex Summers." You listen and feel that thing in your chest, that sensation of ' oh, it's you I've been waiting for' and finally raise up your arm to look down at the mark.
"Alex Summers." You repeat softly, it feels good on your tongue and exhaling your mouth. Even Alex can feel the effect, digging his nails into his palms to calm down.
"Can you... come closer?" It doesn't matter that you're somehow different because of the bond. It doesn't even occur to you that this bond could be bad for you because of his life. No, all you can feel is happy and full. Alex is cautious as he takes the few steps needed to reach your bed. Closer, but not close enough. You reach up and invade his personal bubble, cupping warm, pinked cheeks to draw him in. It's caused by your newly found soul mark that you need him so close to you or else you won't feel safe.
"Alex.." You breathe out, just for yourself, and if your vision is mistaken, his eyes look glassy. He won't cry, Alex isn't a crier, but if he was, he'd be bawling by now. Your touch causes separate marks to burn at the same time, but it's a cool warmth that trickles down your spine and tickles your toes. You giggle from the sensation and Alex cracks a smile. It makes everything inside of you come alive and your fingers glow faintly as you touch your bond's face. All you could see were his baby blue eyes coming closer and it only took a split second for you to choose where you wanted to be.
Right here, with him.
Your lips meet in a oddly perfect dance, chapped meeting lips too soft for words as you both smile into the meeting, your souls curling in tight as the bond solidified, allowing you to feel emotion of the other.
A Bonded who goes without their bond for too long will have to foster it slowly once they come in contact again.
It would later be figured out that your abilities transcended the heart and the body. You'd not only healed Alex's physical injury, but you had smudged out his fear of touching you with hope that he could .