Souls Like None Other (Avengers Soulmate Story)

Hope on the horizon

The Avengers wanted to find their soulmates, and to do that as fast as possible, they decided to bring out their best options. Wilhelmsen, as sketchy as he could seem, had proved that there was a way to find Flora with her parent's arrow artefact. The problem just was that their understanding of it was minimal and their technology wasn't good enough, so they had decided to go to T'challa for help. If there was anyone who could understand such things it would be the king of Wakanda, or his sister. Now, Fury wasn't happy when they all wanted to, and they were about to have another heated argument, because none of them wanted to hear any of his orders until they knew where their soulmate was. Luckily Vision managed to find an agreeable solution. The science guys, Tony, Bruce and Wilhelmsen, would go to Wakanda, while the rest would investigate further into the kidnappings of multi-marked. The two boys, who had tried to escape with the dark creature, hadn't managed to escape from Flora's earth prison, and had been recaptured and properly dealt with, so they couldn't use their powers.

Tony and Bruce were still pretty pissed at Wilhelmsen and his seemingly never-ending smugness didn't make it better, but he had worked with Flora, knew her powers in and out, and his insight on the artefact was much better than none. Before coming to Wakanda Tony had sent a scanned 3D version of the artefact, and when they arrived T'challa and Shuri had already created various hypotheses to how it worked and could be used to find their soulmate. T'challa didn't want to promise anything, but he was positive that together they could find their soulmate again.

———

Back in The States things weren't looking as easy or bright as in Wakanda. Fury was paranoid and wanted to go rough on the two boys, and despite still being mad at him, Wanda and Pietro were agreeing on that. Vision and Clint had to talk some sense into the twins, and later Fury. They were only teens, and they had families who missed them and most definitely wanted them back safe and unharmed.

It was all a big mess. Steve wished there was more he could do, but Bucky came first, now that they were together again. He was also his soulmate after all. The man seemed uneasy, and other SHIELD agents were afraid that he might be unstable. But he knew what to do. They had been close back then, and even years of brainwashing couldn't break their bond. There was also something he wanted to tell his friend. He had been so focused on Flora and her mental health, and Bucky had been busy with this work, so communication had been thin between them. So when no one was paying attention he snuck into the living quarters and found his dear friend. He knocked gently on the door, and asked calmly:
"Bucky, I know something happened. Did one of them hurt you?"
There was a moment of silence before the door was opened. The other super soldier didn't look too good. His hair was a mess and looking at him made Steve feel even more exhausted than he already was. When he was inside his room, he was about to say something, when Bucky spoke:
"There's something I never told you. Something I don't think you ever knew, even back then"
He looked away as if he was ashamed. Steve smiled softly and patted him on the shoulder.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure you had your reasons"
"I don't know if they're good enough... and I don't know the right way to tell you"
Bucky looked at his arm, directly at where he knew his weird "tattoo" was. He pulled his sleeve up and showed him the bright colours of his second soul-mark.
"I had the feeling you knew, and I thought you deserved the whole truth now that I've found her"
Steve didn't know what he had expected would happen. Maybe a little laugh and a playful punch on the shoulder, but his soulmate pulling up his shirt to show him the same colourful mark on his back, wasn't it. Now he was the one unsure on how to react or feel.