Chapter Text
Mrs Shroud was a happy and cheerful woman. She loved her husband, she loved her job at STYX and she loved her children. She strolled down the halls of STYX, enjoying every step, and on her way to tuck everone into bed. Because it seemed everyone in their household, besides her, forgot when bedtime was.
She started off by making her way to her husband's office, he was sat at his desk, still wearing his STYX uniform and his helmet, scribbling a report of the experiments done that day. She took off her own helmet and placed it on his desk, tugging at her hairband, her long curls cascading down her back like a waterfall. Now, everything was a little bit brighter, and she could feel the air in the room directly on her face. She sighed contently with a smile of her face, her smile widening as she turned to her husband.
"It's time for bed darling, this can be finished in the morning." She said pressing a kiss to the side of his helmet.
She heard a long sigh come from him. "But-" he tried to interrupt, but she wasn't having it.
"I'm going tuck Idia and Ortho into bed. If you are not washed, in your pyjamas and in bed within the next-" she checked her watch, "-30 minutes, you will be in big trouble mister."
He chuckled lowly, "Alright my love, I won't be late."
"Good." She said turning to leave, but was stopped by him grabbing her hand as gently as he could.
"Wait-" he said urgency colouring his voice. He then let go of her hand and carefully removed his helmet revealing a long thin face, tired yellow eyes and dark flaming blue hair that went just past his shoulders, he gripped onto the helmet in his hands, not quite putting it down as he turned his cheek towards her expectantly. She giggled at the gesture, but nevertheless pressed a kiss to his cheek, his skin was cold but his hair was warm. His cheeks flushed and in an instant, and in a poof, his hair was pink all over.
"So cute!" She giggled, threading a hand through his hair which was warmer now, the heat intensified slightly and the colour went darker along with the pink dusting on his cheeks. He was about to protest to being called cute, when his wife pressed her lips to his. He set his helmet down on the desk instead using his hands to craddle her warm face as he tried to deepen the kiss, however she pulled away.
"We can carry on with that later," she smirked, "right now, I have to tuck in my two precious sons." She then skipped out of the room, pausing at the door. "I love you." She said.
He smiled shyly. "I love you too."
They held each other's gaze of adoration for a moment, before she turned to leave. "Oh and by the way, your 30 minutes has already started and has been running."
"Shit." He exclaimed, suddenly pushed back his chair, shoving his helmet back on, grabbing her helmet too and running down the hallway to their bedroom. She chuckled at the sight of her husband running, pink tufts of his hair that he had forgotten to tuck back into his helmet, sticking out stark against his otherwise dark attire. She loved him so much, she only wished he would feel confident enough take off his helmet slightly more. The helmet, his one at least, did serve a function, however he had gotten used to using it as a way to hide.
She approached Idia's door, Ortho most likely being there too. She knocked on the door, but when she got no response, she pushed the door open to see her children were huddled under the duvet of Idia's bed, feigning sleep. Mrs Shroud was not one to be easily fooled, especially as the duvet did little to hide the cool blue light from the tablet and she could hear two sets of muffled giggles underneath the covers.
"Oh my!" She she mock exclaimed loudly. "My two beautiful children have fallen asleep already, I have not even had the chance to give them goodnight kisses or tell them a story, whatever shall I do?" The giggling under the duvet intensified.
"Maybe I should just leave, since they are so clearly sound asleep, how lucky am I to have smart children who go to bed on time." She continued while creeping up to the bed, and then gasped loudly as she yanked the duvet back, revealing her two giggling sons. "Idia? Ortho? You're awake and playing on the tablet I took earlier? I thought you were asleep." She said in mock surprise.
"Mama," Ortho chirped happily reaching up with grabby hands wanting to be picked up. "Idia was teaching me to play this game, he's really good at it." He giggled as she picked him up and began smoothing a hand over his flaming blue hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead.
She sighed playfully. "I blame your father for teaching you how to use these devices so young." She opened her arms wider accommodating space for Idia to snuggle up into her arms as well, also pressing a kiss to his forhead.
"So," she began trying to look at them both sternly, "I bet it was your dad who gave you the tablet after your bath. You were really going to play on the tablet until you fell asleep without giving your mama a kiss and cuddle?"
"No, no." Idia said frantically. "Of course we want kisses and cuddles mama." She smiled widely attacking both of their faces with kisses and drawing them in tighter as they all erupted in a fit of giggles. She was truly the most blessed woman in the world.
The giggles began to die down but the smiles remained. "Mama," Ortho said peering up at her, "can you tell us a story please?" Mrs Shroud nodded thinking carefully about what story she wanted to tell.
"Ok, but both of you get your hair brushes so we can brush your beautiful hair before you go to bed." Ortho rushed out of the room on little legs to the room next door, whilst Idia rummaged around in a box until he found his. Not long after, Ortho was stumbling into the room with a hairbrush tight in his fist as he attempted to climb back on the bed. He didn't struggle for long before Mrs Shroud picked him up and places him in her lap as she began to brush his hair.
"I have a story that I can tell, listen carefully though." She said gently running the brush through Ortho's flaming hair. It was short, a lot shorter than Idia's, but Ortho was younger and didn't seem to like his hair being too long anyways, his straighter flames, well as straight as flames could get, took more after his father.
"I know just the story." Mrs Shroud said. "This is a story that originated from the Kingdom of Heroes, the place where I was raised. The story tells of a time when humans had two faces, 4 arms and 4 legs."
Ortho giggled at the prospect. "Two faces must have looked so weird." He said, Idia also began to laugh.
"Settle down now." Mrs Shroud gently chided.
They settled down once more, eagerly looking at her to continue. "So, these humans with 2 faces, 4 arms and 4 legs, were much stronger than humans today, so much stronger that the gods thought they would revolt against the heavens. Fearful, the god of the sky, created a plan to end all humans, however upon realising there would be no one left to worship him, he changed his mind and decided to split the humans in half. From that day on, humans have sought out their other half so they can be reunited, and they are called soulmates."
"Are you and dad soulmates?" Ortho asked. Mrs Shroud smiled thinking about her husband.
"Of course we are, and we love each other very much."
"You both have different faces though, wouldn't the two faces look the exact same?." Idia said confused.
"That we do, but the purpose of the story is romantic love, not an identical twin you were seperated from. At STYX we researched it, and after thorough research of humankind, we have concluded that humans never did have two faces, 4 arms and 4 legs. Humans have always looked as we see them today with two arms, two legs and one face."
"Ok Ortho," she said abruptly, "I'm done, switch with your brother so I can brush his hair." The two switched with Idia now sat in her lap as she began to brush his hair. His hair was long, longer than his fathers and was a lot more unruly and wavy, it took after her own long curls.
Ortho pouted slightly at the prospect of the fake story, the gears turning in his head. "So it was all made up?"
"Not completely," Mrs Shroud said, "Think of the story as a fun way to the truth, some of the details are not factually correct, however the overall message is true that soulmates do exist."
"How?" Idia asked.
"Well, as you boys know, every mage has intrinsic magic, similar to that of a magical fingerprint and we call it the inscribe." She said encouraging them to look at the unique grooves on their own little fingers. "Just like fingerprints, there are no two inscribes that are identical in the world, everyone's is unique. The inscribe is like a magic code written upon a mage's soul from before they are born, it gives users their signature magic and helps the user when creating and casting spells and makes the mage's magic unique to them. The inscribe establishes the bounds of a mage's magic as well as the possibilities."
"Is the inscribe split in half and one part goes to one mage and the second part goes to the other mage?" Idia asked craning his neck to look back at his mother.
"That is a good line of thought Idia, but not quite, before a mage is born, their inscribe exists, waiting to place itself of the mage's soul, however, if you imagine a little world where inscribes live before they become apart of a mage's soul, two inscribes connect, go their separate ways, become one with a mage, and the two mages become soulmates because their inscribes are connected. Their inscribes will then push them to come together."
"How will they make sure the two get connected?" Ortho asked concerned. "What if the soulmates never make it to each other?"
"Inscribes leave a soul mark, sometimes there can be sharing of the senses, you may feel what your soulmates feels at times both physically but also emotionally."
Idia frowned. "But what if my soulmate stubs their toe, will I also feel like I stubbed my toe?" He asked cringing at the mere thought.
If your soulmate stubs their toe, your toe may feel a bit itchy but that's about it, the idea of the sharing of the senses is not to hinder or hurt you, but help you find your soulmate." Idia looked relieved. "However, times when the sharing of the senses gets more stronger than others has been documented, but it doesn't last too long. There have also been cases of people breifly seeing what their soulmate sees or hearing what their soulmate hears. I once could hear you father being lectured by your grandmother whilst he was here at STYX, and I was still living in the Kingdom of Heroes.
"Wow." Ortho breathed, enamoured by the idea.
Idia frowned again. "That seems very annoying."
Mrs Shroud also frowned before smothering Idia in kisses. "Don't be so pessimistic," she giggled. Idia and Ortho couldn't help giggling too at the attack of kisses. After a while more of giggles and hugs the laughter has died down and they all sat huddled together on Idia's bed in comfortable silence.
Ortho must have been quite tired, because he was now fast asleep. Mrs Shroud decided it was time to get serious for a moment. She didn't like being too serious, especially as her husband was serious enough for the both of them, but she could sense Idia's worries. She gently put down the hair brush and turned Idia around to face her. "I know the curse weighs heavy on you, but you are special and deserving of love, there is someone out their who will love you and cherish you Idy." She said holding him tighter.
"Don't be silly like your father and try to give up on the idea of soulmates too soon like he tried to. I really had to work to get him to even accept that he deserved to have a soulmate in the first place. I promise that you deserve a soulmate and there is someone out there who will love you unconditionally."
"Even though I'm..." Idia hesistate. "Cursed?" Idia asked in a small voice.
Mrs Shroud grimaced, she really didn't like that word. Cursed.
"Unconditionally means that they will love you regardless of everything else. Promise me you'll remember that Idy."
"I promise."
She pressed a final kiss to his forehead and tucked him under his duvet.
"Good night Idy." She said scooping up a sleeping Ortho.
"Good night mama."