Everybody had a soulmate.

Some had more than others, of course, and not all of them were romantic. But they all had one thing in common: when one of the soulmates received a wound, the other would bloom flowers. Of course, while everybody had a soulmates, some were dead before they met their significant other. For a long time, Shiro thought that this was his case. Which wasn't bad, but he did feel like he was missing out on something, cut off from everybody else as his friends set aside vases to hold the flowers from their soulmates as a way of hoping that they got better and healed quickly. When he got into a fight in school he'd stared at the split lip in the mirror for hours wondering if there was anybody, anybody at all who was sprouting flowers from their lips right now, if somebody even existed.

And then, when he was in his teens, it was like a garden was blooming from his knees and elbows. Flowers of all colors were placed in vases all around the house, and many nights Shiro was would wake up and cry as he looked around his room, knowing that he wasn't alone, that there were people out there for him and he just had to find them.

When he went to Kerberos, he thought it would be a short trip. He had waited years to learn know he had soulmates, and that had made him content enough to wait to find them. Fate always had a plan, and these days almost nobody would put their lives on hold just so that they could find one person lost in the crowd of the world, so Shiro didn't either. At this point in his life, he was no longer sprouting bouquets at any given time, but that was a good thing. It meant that whoever his soulmate was, they were okay right now. So he would be okay during the trip to Kerberos.

He was not okay.

Bruises never became flowers, and for a while Shiro was comforted by this or his soulmate would be covered in flowers by now.

As time went on, as Shiro became the Champion and fought for his life daily, he eventually forgot to think of his soulmate. Then again, for a while there, he seemed to forget himself too. He was terrified constantly but never willing to give in, keeping his honor throughout the entire torturous year.

And some nights, he'd wake up and the cells would be quiet and the guards would be patrolling a different hall and he'd look down to see a small flower in the dark, bloodstained world that was his life and he'd weep for what was left of the rest period, knowing that it meant something important, something about love, but not knowing why.

oOo

When Lance started coming home from school looking like he'd robbed a flower store, his mother had sat him down and explained soulmates to him. A hopeless romantic, even at such a young age, he became enamoured with the concept. He dried the flowers and pressed them in between books, sorting them by color. Red, yellow, green, purple. Lance was certain that he had four soulmates. Four amazing people who were probably amazing and would think he was amazing and they'd be beautiful together. He couldn't wait to find them.

Lance had known Hunk for months before they found out they were soulmates to each other. They'd been eating lunch, Lance chatting about girls while Hunk listened politely.

"Uh, Lance?" Hunk had said, something weird in his voice.

"What, I'm sorry, I just honestly think that all girls just are pretty, period. Sorry for not having much of a preference."

"Yeah, that's great, but you have some…" Hunk scratched at the bridge of his nose to point out where something was on Lance, but Lance was more interested in the small purple flowers spreading across Hunk's face.

"You might want to check yourself first." Lance had responded, but reached up to see what Hunk was talking about. His picked a flower off of himself, the same color as the ones on Hunk. Of the four different colored flowers he had, the purple ones came most often. Lance figured Purple was probably some daredevil saving the world or something at the rate they racked up cuts.

This had lead to an insightful conversation on soulmates as the two teens talked about flowers and how Purple needed to take better care of themself. There had also been an interesting event that night when Lance had curiously - when Hunk wasn't looking, of course - grabbed a knife and made a quick and mostly painless cut on his arm and watched as blue narcissus flowers bloomed on the other boy's arm. Hunk had promptly freaked out when he spun around and saw Lance with the knife, which lead to another insightful conversation, this one about how self-harm helped no one and there were others things to do that would actually make things better before Hunk saw Lance grinning and looked down at the flowers spread on his arm.

Lance didn't find out which of his flowers Hunk was until Lance was being picked on for how he wasn't 'supposed' to be in the Galaxy Garrison and Hunk had tried to diffuse the growing tension. The other guy threw the first punch, and Hunk had punched back in self-defense. Then the guy had a knife.

Lance stared at the yellow hibiscuses in the waiting room as Hunk got a few stitches. But, as they say, you should've seen the other guy.

Pidge was forced into the Soulmate Squad when the three of them are researching about theoretical planets and what to do when one gets into the atmosphere or lands on it. This time, it's Lance who notices it, and at first he doesn't point out the purple flowers on Hunk's right arm. It's purple, it happens all the time. But then as he watches, Hunk babbling on about protocol, the flowers keep growing, getting bigger than they ever have, more and more blooming and showing no sign of stopping. Lance feels something crawling across his skin and his hand shoots to his own arm and is greeted by petals.

"Shit."

While the word was on the tip of Lance's tongue, it was Pidge who said it. Pidge, who wasn't directing the word at Hunk or Lance, but instead at his own arm that was in the exact same condition as theirs. It was now that Hunk seemed to realize what was going on and fell out of his seat. Pidge took one look at Hunk and Lance's arms and walked out of the room. For the first time in years, Lance and Hunk dry their flowers and press them and place vases all around the room, wishing and hoping and praying that Purple is okay. Later, Lance cornered Pidge about it and Pidge declared that he has more to worry about than his soulmate.

When Pidge gets a papercut, Lance blooms green cymbidium orchids.

It isn't long after that the other two soulmates make themselves known.

They arrive at what must be Keith's house and place Shiro (The Takeshi Shirogane!) on the bed.

"Hey, Hunk, Pidge, looks like we're not the only one doing wild and crazy stuff tonight!" Lance all but sings and his gestures to red anemones on his hand.

"Yeah, but Red's always getting scrapes and cuts." Hunk says back, gently rubbing the petals between his fingers. Pidge plucks the flower off altogether.

"Why." Keith deadpanned, and there is anger in his voice. The other three conscious people look over at the dropout. His hands are paused in the middle of cleaning and bandaging a scrape on his hand. Keith's eyes dart to Shiro, and the others look too. His flesh hand has the red flower, and it is only now that Lance realizes what a scar across the nose, a missing arm means.

oOo

Shiro wakes up missing nearly a year of his life and his right arm. In the empty space left by both he has a robotic prosthetic and terrible memories that haunt him in every shadow and within the lids of his eyes. He's also not alone. There are four kids, and recognizes he one of them as Keith and his eyes stay too long on another that looks just like Matt.

It is only once they start hiking to the weird energy signature that one of the new ones, Hunk, steps aside and holds up a pressed flower. He keeps them in a book, he tells Shiro, the flowers from his soulmates, and he never leaves his room without it. He explains to Shiro that the purple one is his. And then holds up flowers for each of the others who had been in the cabin, saying that they're all connected, all soulmates. He asks Shiro if he's had any of the flowers. Not for a while (at least, Shiro thinks it's been a while), but the protected blossoms match with the blooming memories of better times when he had more hope than fear.

Shiro flies away with his soulmates in a giant metal lion and wonders if he finally lost it and this is just a dream, a coping method. He decides he doesn't care.

They arrive at a forgotten palace on a planet so far from Earth one could never even dream of it. They enter and awaken two beings that are the last of their kind from what would have been an eternal sleep. They fall out surrounded in beds of perfectly preserved flowers.