Soulmates AU: Had to Be

Had to Be
By Misha

Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.

Author’s Notes- This is the next in the Soulmates AU series. The Endless Summer ending presented a bit of a problem for me, but then this idea suddenly popped into my mind for Sean. It’s set in an AU where soulmates are born with matching tattoos.

Pairing- Sean/MC

Rating- PG

Summary- The mark disappeared like she’d never existed and then a new one appeared like they’d never meant to be, but Sean knew that wasn’t true.

Words- 571

Sean’s soulmark disappears the day he returns from La Huerta, which just adds to the agony he feels. Not only did he lose Stephanie, but now his mark was gone too?

He also doesn’t understand it. The mark didn’t turn black like soulmarks normally do when one half dies, it just disappeared as if it had never been there at all. As if none of it had been real. Sean plays Stephanie’s voicemail a dozen times in a row as he stares at his reflection, just to prove to himself that she was real. That they had been real.

Hearing her voice, her final words, reassures him and breaks his heart all over again.

But if she was real, then why had his mark disappeared? It hadn’t only existed on the island, he’d had that mark all his life. Hadn’t he?

He remembered Michelle commenting on his soul mark, her disappointment and his assurances that it was just a mark and it didn’t guarantee happily ever after. After all, his parents were soulmates and look at how that had ended up.

But meeting Stephanie, seeing his mark in her skin… Well, it had made him realize it did mean something and now it was gone.

The mystery deepens on their first trip back to La Huerta. The first anniversary. tI was Michelle who notices, staring at his back as they hang out by the pool.

“What’s wrong?”

“You have a soul mark, on your shoulder,” she told him, gently touching it with her fingers. “But your mark was on your hip.”

It was.

“She’s right bro,” Craig commented, “I just thought that you’d gotten some new ink.”

Sean immediately headed inside to the nearest mirror and sure enough, there is a mark on his shoulder, very different than the previous one. When had that had appeared? How had it appeared? Was it the universe telling him that Stephanie wasn’t his soulmate after all?

Because he refused to believe that.

Four years passed and he never met the person with the matching mark, which was ok, because his heart still clung to the memory of Stephanie. He listened to that voicemail every day, hearing her last words and remembering her smile.

The fifth-anniversary trip came and passed and they headed back to Costa Rica for the night, before going back to the States in the morning, and that’s when it happened.

That’s when he saw her. She was standing at the bar, laughing at something someone said, her beautiful face lit up.

Raj saw him staring and followed his gaze, his jaw dropping in shock. “Is that….? How?”

Sean didn’t know. It wasn’t possible. But at the same time, he’d know that face anywhere.

“Go talk to her,” Raj encouraged, giving him a push.

Sean stepped forward. “Stephanie?”

The woman paused and then smiled regretfully, “Sorry, my name is Kate.” Her eyes widened in recognition.

“You’re Sean Gayle! I’m a huge fan.”

Sean smiled politely, disappointment gathering in his gut. He’d been so sure. Still, he held out his hand, shaking hers and it was then, that his eyes landed on her bare shoulder and the mark there. The same mark that was now on his shoulder. Somehow, it was her, even if it wasn’t.

“Well, Kate, it’s always nice to meet fans,” he told her, knowing he needed to at least explore this possibility, “can I buy you a drink?”

• End