NOOR DHAWAN FIGURES that fate has it in for her. Abusive household? Check. Chaotic teenage years? Check. Freaking Greek God linked to her? Triple check. Someone, up there, wants to see her struggle. She thinks it's Zeus. He sounds nasty.
If her life were normal, it wouldn't be half bad. She works as a waitress to pay for her PhD in Mythology – guess who gave her the idea – and the other half of her time is spent studying. She knows someone who'd find it pathetic, her being 34, still trying to get a PhD. Not much of a social life, yes, but she never did have any. No, the nail in the coffin that makes her life hell (it's punny), is Zagreus begging to put on the replays for Love Island. She's aware she speaks about that a lot. That is because it's her greatest pain in the ass.
"I so do not care who's throat Brandon stuck his tongue in..."
"His name is Kevin and he just cheated on Kimberly!"
"Whatever!" She turns in her chair, lifting her nose from her notes. Zagreus is pouting. "I'm not putting Love Island on while I'm learning my lessons."
He huffs, visibly displeased. "You know, you used to be nice."
"Yeah, and you used to be a God, so who really lost there?" He stares at her, too stunned to speak. "Exactly. Now shut up and let me work."
Contrary to what they usually show each other, Zagreus and Noor do care about one another. Otherwise, life would have been a tad more complicated, considering that Noor is stuck with him.
This, of course, was not an easy realization. Once her first instinct – thinking that she was having an aneurysm – had passed, she had to come to terms with the fact that Zagreus was real and here to stay, as he said. A realization that came with a gift basket of free tickets to the psychiatric hospital. Her mother immediately checked her in the second the words 'I have a Greek God linked to me but don't worry, I'm not insane', passed her lips. Her father is a whole other story, one that Noor wouldn't handle thinking about, right now.
All in all, Zagreus' arrival turned her life upside down. Her relationship with her mother grew tenuous, she lost her friends, and had to cope on her own for a long time. Well, on her own, with Zag.
But, thing is, Noor loves Zagreus. The stories he tells her to help her go to sleep, his snide remarks that only she can hear... She loves him a bit less when she puts on Love Island for him, but there's the spirit.
"Do you believe in soulmates?" Zagreus asks out of the blue, hours later, when it's dark outside.
Noor raises her head to see that two people on the show learned they were soulmates. "Of course I do. It's a thing. It'd be like asking me if I think chairs are real."
He rolls his eyes, tired but used to her usual sarcasm. "I mean, do you really believe that someone out there is just meant to match you in all ways, shape or form? Like, your true perfect half."
He always had a knack for asking deep questions without further context, so Noor is used to being taken aback. She sets down her pen, and looks out the window in deep thought.
"I guess so, yeah," she answers. "Though the idea that we're not complete without a soulmate is a bit sad isn't it? Maybe it's not about being complete and more about being understood and loved fully. Unconditionally. That thought is nice."
Zag hums. "Yeah, I suppose. It'd suck if the bond was wrong."
She frowns. "Why would it be wrong? That's the whole point." She tilts her head to the side, seeing him play with the huge ring on his ring finger. "Did you have a soulmate?"
He doesn't answer. He never does, not when she asks personal questions. She doesn't push either. Billions of years alive, you have to carry your fair share of trauma, and she doesn't want to force it out of him.
She wishes she did, though, sometimes. When she catches him staring in the void like he's doing now, playing with his ring, big sad eyes filled with whatever memory he's having. He opens his mouth, and for a second, she thinks he's finally going to speak up about whatever is haunting him, but it's never the case.
"You should go to work before you're late."
Noor sighs through her nose, and stands up. "Yeah, you're right."
He looks back at her, frowning. "Don't you have to meet up with Steven too?"
Steven is, outside of Zagreus, Noor's only friend. They met after he ran into her trying to catch the bus, a few months ago. Then they realized that they always went to the same place to eat lunch between Noor's classes, and Steven's breaks at his work. He's nice, in a way you rarely see nowadays. If the breaks between her classes are long enough, Noor usually goes to the British Museum, where he works, and to his gift shop. It's a way for him to rant about Egyptian mythology without anyone interrupting. And boy does he like to talk about it.
Usually, before work, she meets up with him to grab a bite. "Not today, no. He sent me a text earlier." It's the third time this week, and being a naturally worried and overthinking person, she can't help but wonder if something is wrong. "I'm sure everything is fine."
Zagreus takes a good look at her before nodding slowly. "...Yes. Do you want me to come with you?"
She snorts. "Yeah, so I can talk to thin air and get locked up again, sure."
He doesn't seem to find it very funny. "Or you can use your earphones like you always do."
She grabs her bag, sighing. "I know, I was being funny."
"That's you being funny? I'm scared to see you being serious then."
"Shut up and let's go."
NOOR IS WAY too early. She always gets there a bit earlier, but thirty minutes earlier is a bit too much. "Why did we leave so early?" she asks in her headset.
Zag, next to her, shrugs. "You left, I just followed."
She scoffs. "You told me I was going to be late."
"You didn't check."
She takes the risk to look at him, glaring. "Were you always that much of a pain in people's ass or am I just the lucky one to experience it?"
He shrugs again. "I'd say you're experiencing about half of it."
She looks away, sighing. "I'm telling you, someone up there likes to see me struggle."
They stay there in silence for a few minutes, sitting on a bench near Noor's place of work, a restaurant that apparently serves the best steak in town. Noor isn't sure about that, she hasn't checked the other places.
Until Zagreus frowns and gestures to their right. "Isn't that your friend Steven Grant over there?"
Noor follows his gaze, and notices Steven, walking to the restaurant, looking around, apparently thinking or searching for something. "What's he doing here?" she asks out loud. "He said he wouldn't make it tonight."
Before Zag can say that, maybe he just didn't want to see her, Noor is already standing up and walking to Steven.
She knows him, after those months where they spent practically every afternoon and evening together. This wouldn't be how he acts, if he wanted to stop being friends with her. Something is up, and she wants to know what.
When she reaches him, she puts a hand on his shoulder, and ignores the weird warmth her palm suddenly radiates. "Steven?"
Steven turns to her, eyes wide. "...Noor?" He seems hesitant. Noor is now convinced that something is up.
"He looks weird," Zagreus says next to her. "Usually he looks like a harmless lamb ready to be sacrificed." Lovely picture. "He looks more like a wolf now."
Ignoring the very concerning image that came to Zagreus' mind, Noor has to agree. Steven's facial traits usually aren't that set, and tight, and the look in his eyes is softer. Noor is used to analyzing people and gauging their reactions before talking to them so she doesn't risk getting yelled at, and the visible difference between the usual Steven and this Steven sets her off.
"You said we couldn't meet up tonight," she finally manages to blurt out after staring at him for probably too long. "That something came up, yeah?"
He stammers for an answer, struggling to come up with one. "Yeah, it uh... it un-came up."
Noor makes a face, a confused smile on her lips. Even his voice sounds weird. "Why the American accent? What happened to your accent?"
Steven (?) blinks. "What happened to yours?"
She stares at him. "My accent is fine, you're the one who's changing your accent."
He starts to walk away, very visibly uneasy. "Yeah, uh, I gotta go, you have work anyway, right?" He doesn't wait for her to answer. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait!" Noor steps forward, grabbing his bare wrist, their skin touching. "What's wrong with you...?"
Her sentence dies out in her throat as warmth blooms in her palm once again, radiating through her entire arm, before concentrating on her ring finger. The man in front of her stares, and takes advantage of her confusion to walk away.
"Well he was weird," Zagreus says, unaware of his friend's shock. "He was weird wasn't he?"
"Zag."
"That fake American accent thing – it wasn't even well done."
"Zagreus."
He finally looks back at her. "What?"
She holds up her ring finger to his face, and he stares at it, eyes slowly widening. The letters M and S are marked on her skin, proof of the soulmate bound clicking into place.
Except the letters M and S have nothing to do with Steven Grant's initials.
"The soulmate bond is wrong."
Author's Note: I started work yesterday and evidently didn't expect it to take up so much of my time so updates might be a bit wonky, but we'll get there??? Also this is just an introduction and I can't wait for the actual plot to begin in the next chapters hA