Chapter Text
The first time Lucy learns of soulmarks, she is very small.
Her mother stands with her in her arms, a bright light of warmth and color. Her father stands behind them with an amused look on his face, but no less loving. Michelle is tucked underneath her arm, safe and sound.
Her mother turns Lucy around so she can see the soulmarks. A beautiful rose gold, as a stripe where her mother held her for the first time; where their skin connected between her neck and the beginning of her back. And a small brush of a thumb shaped mark on her forehead, beige and almost blending in with her hair. Where her father could reach and run his thumb over her skin for the first time.
Lucy smiles and laughs, twirling with her favorite dress on as she tries to see both soulmarks at the same time. She can still remember her mother's words, clear as a bell.
"These marks are a reminder that you're loved, baby. Even if you can't see it, it will always be there."
When her mother died, Lucy didn't even think about her soulmark. She was still very little, after all. But one day, only a few days after the funeral, she caught a glimpse of her back in the mirror.
Smooth, unmarked skin.
The maids had to tear her away from the mirror, sobbing and screaming.
As the years went on, and her father got colder and colder, his mark on her skin faded. Not disappeared; but to the point where it was barely visible. Barely a blip.
She didn't care. The day she noticed, she was already packing her bags to leave.
—--
The first time she touches Natsu Dragneel is when they're running away from the magic council.
Natsu's soulmarks are strange.
He has a ton of them, more than she's ever seen on a person. Most of them aren't vibrant, though.
Most of the ones that are vibrant are normal, like the very dark blue he has on the tip of his cheekbone that looks like a pair of knuckles; or the deep, scarlet but somehow silvery red he has on the tip of his ear. But he has one that he showed off quite proudly, claiming it was from his father; a mark the shape of a claw that burned a bright, fiery orange (almost unnatural, as she finds out later it doesn't adhere to the laws of lighting) on his forearm.
(She still doesn't believe that Natsu's father was a dragon, but that lends more credit to his statement.)
When Natsu grabs her wrist and starts running, she doesn't even process the zing she feels through the skin on skin contact, only focused on running and then the thrill of learning she's going to actually join Fairy Tail. Only when they stop to breathe does she notice.
A bright red band that wraps around her forearm like a bracelet.
"Hey, Luigi! What's the holdup?" She hears Natsu's voice call, but she barely processes the words, nevermind the fact that he called her the wrong name again. She can't seem to care that much right now.
She looks up at him, and opens her mouth to say something instead of just flapping it like a fish, before Happy interjects. (She is still not used to a flying blue cat , but what can you do?)
"Woah, Natsu! Look! Your hand!" He says, his own bright red soulmark on the top of his fur barely visible underneath the streetlights.
Natsu makes a little huh? noise, before looking down at his hand. His hand, of which the palm is now painted with a bright, glittering gold.
His eyes widen, but his smile almost rivals the gold.
"Well, hey! Would ya look at that! Looks like we're soulmates, Loopy!" His tone is bright and happy, infectious. He holds his palm out like a child. It occurs to her that she hasn't seen her soulmark on another person in a very, very long time.
It startles her just how calm he is about this. Like his whole world isn't being flipped on its axis.
Why would it be different? He's covered in enough soulmarks, though dull, to show he's loved by many, many people.
She shoves down her amazement, her old bitter feelings of loneliness and hurt, and glares at him with no real heat. "We won't be for long if you can't get my name right, asshole!" She's surprised her voice doesn't shake.
Natsu laughs and shrugs her off, starting to run towards their destination again. Happy soars above her, doing a little spin in the air.
Lucy swallows, staring at her brand new soulmark again, before finally allowing hope to settle in her heart.
She has a lot of catching up to do, with soulmates. With being loved. She thinks this is a good start.
"Wait for me!"
—-
Fairy Tail is loud. Every single member is loud and angry and drunk, and she loves them already.
Mirajane (and she can feel herself blushing, oh my God, is her huge crush that obvious?) smiles at her sweetly, asking her all types of questions about what she wants to do with her magic, what she could hope to contribute to Fairy Tail. After the interrogation is over, she asks where she wants her mark to be. She's a little surprised that it was that easy.
Lucy chooses it on her hand. She wants people to know she made it into the best guild in Fiore.
When Mirajane softly grabs her hand, she feels a familiar zing and she can't hold back her gasp. She watches as on the bottom of her palm, five soft white strokes appear on her hand.
Mirajane's smile only gets softer, like she was expecting this to happen. The tips of the hand she was using is now stained with gold, just adding another color to the many Mirajane already has.
Apparently, she better expect to be a fucking rainbow soon if this continues. Everyone in Fairy Tail is evidently soulmates.
Afterwards, she can't decide which is prettier; her new soulmate mark, or the bright pink Fairy Tail mark on her hand.
—---
Loke is… strange. Not that every member of Fairy Tail isn’t their own brand of crazy, but Loke is different.
She was a little bit embarrassed to meet one of her Sorcerer Weekly crushes in person, but that embarrassment soon went away when she learned how full of himself he was.
A few days after she joins the guild, when she’s sitting at the bar and chatting with Mirajane (and come on, you useless bisexual, stop focusing on how gorgeous she is), Loke sidles next to her and, in what she thinks is supposed to be a smooth motion, settles his arm around her shoulders. His bare hand covers her shoulder and she feels that ever familiar zing she’s starting to associate with Fairy Tail.
“Well, hello there. I couldn’t help but notice that during all the craziness of your first day here, I never got to introduce myself. The name’s Loke.” His voice is all smooth like warm butter, but it’s a practiced tone.
Lucy carefully shoves him off of her and smiles, a little strained. “Hi. I’m Lucy.” She’s going to be kind to him, even if he is an incorrigible flirt.
Loke’s flirty smile widens. “Lucy… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Oh, and would you look at that?”
He kind of.. Leers at her shoulder, and when she turns her attention to it, she sees a new mark on her skin. A bright, beautiful orange color that looks iridescent in the light. She notices the bright splotch of gold now against two of his fingers.
“Looks like we’re soulmates. The universe has destined us to be together, my dear. It knows I could show you such a good time.”
Despite herself, Lucy lets out a sardonic laugh. “You use that with all the girls?”
Loke’s smile turns just a tad bit more genuine. “Nah, just the ones that–”
His words cut off, staring at the lower part of her body. His face drains of all color, rapidly, and Lucy feels a jolt of alarm behind her sternum. “Hey, are you–”
He interrupts her, which she would normally view as very rude, but she can’t seem to care right now. “You’re not a celestial wizard, are you?” His voice is frantic, and now she realizes he must have been staring at the keys she has on her hip.
“Yeah, I am… Are you okay? You look like you’re gonna be sick…”
She reaches out a hand to put on his shoulder, but Loke jumps away from her like he’s been burned, sweat beading at the point of his brow. Now that she looks, she can see him almost swaying on his feet. Is he about to pass out?
“Sorry! I just– remembered I had to do something! Away from here! Right now! Gotta go nice to meet you Lucy! ” And just like that, he’s sprinting away like his life depends on it, and Lucy is left blinking in the empty space.
What?
“Do… do you know what that was about?” She turns in her seat to look at Mirajane, who was watching the entire thing silently. The barmaid shrugs, with a smile that says, what can you do.
“Loke has bad experiences with celestial wizards. I heard he dated one and it really didn’t end up well. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Mira’s explanation makes sense, but something about it makes Lucy feel uneasy. She doesn’t like the feeling of people being afraid of her. Sitting in contemplative silence, Lucy looks back at her newest mark on her shoulder.
It really is beautiful, but now that she’s looking harder, she notices it’s… behaving strange. It’s flickering rapidly, going from opaque to see through faster than she can process. Almost like it’s flickering in and out of existence.
Lucy frowns, staring at the soul mark. She doesn’t stop thinking about it, and, by extension, Loke, for the rest of the day.