Multifandom Soulmates

2. The Stamp of Guilt On Your Soul

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow
Ship: Rip/Gideon

Rip had always been troubled by his soulmark. He learned when he was young that the number tattooed on one's body is the age their soulmate would be when they met. While the Time Masters discouraged marriage, Rip was always interested in his soulmate. The numbers on his upper left arm, however, worried him. They straight-up scared him. There were several reasons. The first was that he didn't have one number, he had two. One was below the other. His mother even remarked that in her time with the orphaned of the Time Masters, she'd never seen something like that. Did that mean that Rip had two soulmates? Was he destined to lose one?

The other thing was the numbers themselves. The first one read 217 while the one below it read 2. Rip had no idea what that could mean for him. The first one made no sense. It was nearly impossible for people to live over 100 years, let alone over 200. The second number worried him too. If that soulmate was two when he'd meet her, does that mean he'd have a huge age gap with her? Or had he already met her?

Rip decided to stop worrying about his soulmate when he met Miranda. They weren't a match but they didn't care. They loved each other.

—

It was Zari who pointed out the number 19 on Gideon's arm when she first took form. Gideon hadn't noticed for a long time and Zari only told Sara at first. They debated that for a while. They never imagined Gideon would have a soulmate, but then again they never imagined Gideon being fully human either. That mark on her arm could only be a soulmark.

It was over two months into her being human that Gideon talked to Sara about it. It made sense. A lot of that time was an adjustment and she still wasn't fully at home in her new form. It was a smaller, quiet moment when Gideon sat down with Sara. They talked about soulmates for a long time. Sara comforted Gideon who seemed uninterested in soulmates and uncomfortable with having one. Gideon explained how she still had times she couldn't control her own body or would get overstimulated, that she was still searching for her role on the team now that she couldn't provide information or control the Waverider, and for those reasons, she didn't care to find a single perfect romantic match that was out there somewhere. She has never even experienced love and she was supposed to love someone. Sara placed a hand on her shoulder. Gideon looked up and met her eyes.

"You don't need to find your soulmate and you don't need to be interested. Maybe you will be one day, maybe you'll never be. And even if you meet them, no one will force you into a relationship. You focus on being you now! We can deal with the rest another time."

—

No one expected to meet Rip again. Not Sara, not Mick, especially not Gideon. They had received a distress signal that led them to an old, abandoned Time Masters outpost. The last of the OGs were reluctant to set foot in a place where their former enemies once worked. They went out, guard up, to see who sent the signal. They moved out in pairs to explore the area while Zari and Charlie remained on the ship. It was Sara and Gideon who stumbled upon Rip. It took a moment for both sides to realize who they were facing. Rip, after much time alone, and by his nature, perceived every lifeform other than himself as a threat and despite his weakened state, attacked them. Sara and Gideon, having their guards up and being attacked by someone in an unfamiliar place that could be the scenery of a horror movie, attacked back. It only took a moment however for the three of them to recognize each other. Sara and Rip immediately stood down while Gideon froze completely. Sara lowered her bo-staff and Rip holstered his laser gun while Gideon's hands remained firmly around her weapon from the shock.

"Rip?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I swear, it's me. It's not a trick or a decoy situation. It's me." Rip spoke fast, partly due to the adrenalin that still ran through his veins and partly to make sure his favorite protigé didn't think of attacking him again. There was a beat before Sara spoke.