Chapter Text
John
“Go on, John, it’s your go!” The teacher was smiling softly, trying to reassure the eleven year old child. “Your turn to present your research in front of the class.”
“Yes, Ms. White.” Taking his time, he really doesn’t like speaking in front of his classmates, John picked up his papers and walks to the front of the room next to Ms. White.
“What are you talking about today, John?” She asked kindly.
Looking down at his feet, the boy murmurs, “I’m going to talk about soulmates’ history and stuff.” The boys in the class whisper snarky comments about how stupid it is but he got all the attention of the girls! He frowns at his friends who stop nagging instantly. John was a beautiful blond boy, loved by everyone, good at school and in sports. After a deep breath, he starts his presentation.
“Hi. Today I’m going to talk about soulmates. Soulmates have been known since the beginning of the world and nobody know exactly why they exist. First, they come in pairs. When two people are soulmates, that they have a bond that links them together. They are usually feeling the emotions of the other and knows when the other is hurt. When the bond is really, really strong, one cannot survive if the other dies!” At that, few girls start crying. Girls are silly… “An es-ti-ma-ted of one person for each thousand have a soulmate. If you don’t it doesn’t mean that you can’t love as much, it’s just that you don’t have that extra special connection. Some couples are soulmates while others are not.” He carefully shows on a map the repartition of soulmates around the word. “Sometimes your soulmate can be a continent away and it’s nearly impossible to find them! If someone is supposed to have a soulmate but can’t found them, they won’t be able to settle with someone else. Because something will be missing.”
John look at his teacher, a little sad. “This is horrible, don’t you think Ms. White?”
“Yes, really sad.” She smiles reassuringly, “Go ahead, Freddy is waiting for his turn.”
“Yes m’am. So… How do you know if you have a soulmate? Of course, if you met your soulmate you usually get a sign or something so you know it is him or her. The first signs are usually showing up at 16 or 17. Sometimes sooner, depending of the age difference between the two. If you want, you can be tested at 18 years of age. Humm…. Also, it’s a personal question to ask someone, because it’s… personal. It’s usually runs in a family, like red hair or such. When you parents are soulmate, you’ve got 5 times the chance of having one.” He looks at his papers, not knowing where he was in his text. “Oh... yes. It can be great to have a soulmate, except that when you know you have one but don’t know who it is, it can drive you CRAZY! Like feeling you are ultra-sick but it’s the other one! Or knowing that he or she is in great pain but unable to do something about it. The Association for Helping Soulmates keeps a bank of the people that came down with strange symptoms, to help match the soulmates together, but it doesn’t always work. So even if it’s romantic and everything, I think that having a soulmate would be more of a curse than a blessing.”
“Thanks John, really well done. You can go back to your seat now… Freddy? Your turn!”
While listening to Freddy's presentation about how he wants to become a fireman, John's thoughts fly back home. His mother is a kind woman whose soulmate, John's father, died in a car accident. A few years later, at her family and friends’ insistence, she starts dating again and met John’s step-father. They were enough happy at first, but he quickly felt inadequate knowing that his wife had the chance to be with the love of her life before. The resentment brought loud fights and his step-father left, leaving his mom alone with John and his half-sister, Harriet. Yes, being one of the gifted is a curse when you can’t find your soulmate. But the light in his mother eyes when she talks about his father, about how their love was perfect… It can't be that bad if your soulmate is with you. It must be wonderful to know that you will never be alone. And if it runs in a family, maybe I’ll get the chance… He turns his attention back to the front of the class where his friend was showing his father’s fireman helmet. Cool!
Sherlock
“Sherlock!” Mrs. Holmes was trying to get her youngest son's attention to no avail. “Honey! Come here!”
The young boy ran down the stairs, clearly exasperated. “Yes, yes… What? I was in the middle of an experiment and…” he stops on the spot when he saw the strange woman in the entrance.
“Don’t be shy love, this is my friend Ms. Hudson. She’s here for tea and she would like to meet you.” She nudges the seven year old boy in direction of her friend. “Martha, this is Sherlock my youngest. Mycroft is off at boarding school currently.”
“Oh, what a sweet boy! Hello Sherlock. How do you do?” She extends her hand as if he were an adult, which he likes. A lot.
“I’m doing fine, thanks. Ms. Hudson.” His silky curls were all over the place, his polo shirt stained with earth.
“Were you working on a big experiment? You mother told me that you were quite a curious young man.” Her smile was comforting and warm. She was probably fifteen years older than Ms. Holmes but they became good friends when they met in a reading circle few months ago.
“I’ve got an ant farm in my bedroom and I want to know what happens when a tunnel collapses.” His tone was really serious. “You know that human are often acting like ants?”
“I know… always the same who work while the other just stay put and relax.” She shuffles his hairs playfully, thinking that with eyes like that he’s going to break some hearts later on! “Go back to your experiment, we will call you when I open the tin of biscuits I brought.” Sherlock turns his expectant gaze toward his mother, with a big smile.
“Yes, yes… Go!” She laughs “I will call when it's time for tea.” Sherlock grins and runs back to his room. “That kid… Sometimes - I don’t know what will become of him!”
An hour later, Sherlock was sitting between his mother and her friend, eating as many biscuits as possible without his mom knowing. They were talking about adult stuff anyway… The subject was boring until the world ‘soulmate’ was brought up.
Ms. Hudson asks quietly, nearly murmuring as if it was taboo. “Having soulmate parents, the odds for your boys to have a soulmate are great. Do you wish it for them?”
“I don’t know Martha… it’s marvelous when you find yours, but… the search, the deception, the longing when you know you have someone for you somewhere but can’t found him!” She puts her empty cup down, a big smile on her lips as she was thinking about her husband. “You know, I always know how he feels. I know that this morning, his knees were a bit funny. I know that he’s stressed out about the conference he’s giving. I know that he longs to be near me as I long for him…” Her voice had an eerily tone, full of affection.
“I think you are lucky! And I hope for both your sons to have one!” With a smile, the older lady pushes the biscuit plate in direction of the little boy. Taking one last biscuit, Sherlock returned to his room, he had a lot to think about.
Once alone, he opens his encyclopaedia and look until he found the word ‘Soulmate’ and read the definition out loud to memorized it better.
“Soulmate. First Known Use: 1421. A person who is perfectly suited to another. They share a part of their psyche which causes one to feel when the other is hurt or has violent emotions. The hormone that cause the effect, soulanium, is detectable in the blood the day of the 18th birthday, sooner if the soulmates have already made contact. There’s no clear reason on why only 0.01% of the population have soulanium in their blood, but the most common explanation is that’s one of the last gift that the druids left us when they were annihilated by the Romans. So only the descendants of those druids has this gift. The fact that British citizens, soldiers and civils, conquered the world starting in the 17th century cause a propagation of what it sometime view as a defect as it controls the emotion of those who are, as they are often known, ‘gifted’. Discrimination against or preferential treatment of the ‘gifted’ is clearly illegal but, even today, some high responsibility positions are specifically unavailable to soulmates, the possibility of being completely destroyed if something happens to the other and, furthermore, the risk that the other half will be used as leverage to force someone into an action.”
“Oh… A defect. Risk of being forced into doing something to protect the other… No. I don’t want that.” And he closes his book, going back to his experiment, putting that notion far away from his mind.