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It wasn’t like every couple did the Test. A lot of them chose to live in peaceful oblivion without taking the risk of finding out that they weren’t soulmates. Some didn’t even want their partner to be their soulmate, instead wanting to be with the one they loved purely out of choice and not out of some higher power’s will.
Jessie and Biggs, however, did want to know. They wanted to see if they really were soulmates as they suspected, the draw between them making them think there was a good chance they were right. They’d both talked about it, both acknowledged the risks. Acknowledged that they might not be each other’s soulmate, or maybe even that one of them would have the other for the soulmate, while the other had someone completely different. Those one sided bonds, signified by pink strings, were unusual, but the chance of it being the result couldn’t be carelessly dismissed.
Still, the idea that such a thing would be the result didn’t worry them too much. A one sided bond could be changed by a simple ceremony completing their bond. One both Biggs and Jessie had read up on how to perform just in case.
They were ready now. They had the materia necessary- a materia that was both similar to and very different from sense materia- and they weren’t going to be bothered for the next few hours.
If they were ever going to Test their bond, the time was now.
Biggs stood facing Jessie holding the materia almost delicately in his hand. He met Jessie’s eyes and nodded. When she returned the nod he poured his magical energy into the orb, setting it alight.
There was a pulse of bright light that stretched from the materia to every corner of the room, and Jessie was unable to see as her eyes tried frantically to adjust back to the current lighting.
They did, finally, and Jessie focused her eyes on the space between her and Biggs.
And gasped in joy and celebration at the red sting that stretched between them.
Biggs spotted it only a second later than she did, and he laughed and swept Jessie up into his arms, spinning her around and around before pressing a deep kiss to her lips.
“We’re soulmates.” He said, eyes dancing.
“We are.” She agreed, just as happy.
In all the excitement, it should be understandable that it wasn’t until a bit later that they noticed their other string.
It was Jessie that first caught sight of it, at first thinking that it was just slack from her and Biggs’ string. Then freezing at finding that the string was entirely different.
“Uh, Biggs?” Jessie said uncertainly, reaching her hand out to catch the errant string, wondering if she was just imagining it. “Do you see this?”
Biggs looked down at the string worriedly, “Jessie, I- if you want-“
But Jessie didn’t have time for whatever uncharacteristic self-depreciating nonsense Biggs was about to cook up. Especially when, “You’ve got one, too!” She exclaimed, seeing it now that she was looking for it. It was an exact twin to the one she’d just pointed out, and heading in the same direction. Were the tribonded then? That was a possibility that they hadn’t considered, but while rare, such bonds weren’t impossible.
Biggs relaxed a little now that whatever worry had temporarily held him had let go.
“Yeah, you’re right, it’s exactly like yours. But,” Biggs was frowning down at the string, “It’s nearly pink.”
And it was, a softened raspberry red in contrast to the darker carmine of their string that signified a healthy bond.
Biggs stroked the errant string a little wistfully, “They probably performed the Bonding Ceremony with someone else and our bond with them is breaking.”
Jessie agreed, at first. But then a dark thought hit her, and she clasped the string protectively in her hands, “Or, their soulmate hurt them so badly that their bond is breaking on their side, and our bond is now completing.”
“It takes a lot for something like that to happen, Jess. I wouldn’t even want something like that for our soulmate, even if it meant that they would be ours.” Biggs pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t either. It’s just… it’s just a feeling, I guess. I don’t know, I guess we’ll see for sure soon enough.” Jessie ran a delicate finger over the string in her cupped hand, hoping she was wrong.
But they would know. One of the other reasons that couples didn’t perform the Test was that forever afterwards they would be able to see the strings of themselves and their soulmates. If they weren’t soulmates with their partner, then that knowledge would hit them over the head every single day after. If couples didn’t break up right away after discovering they weren’t soulmates, that was usually enough to slowly erode their relationship away. What would it do to them to know that they had a soulmate out there that needed help?
“Yeah.” Biggs said, drawing Jessie to him and pressing a comforting kiss to the top of her head. “We’ll know soon enough.”
***
Biggs sighed as he trailed behind Barret. From what Barret said they were meeting a potential new recruit for Avalanche, someone personally recommended by Tifa herself. The trick was that this man was a former Soldier, and the risks inherent in the chance that he might be some type of spy weren’t insignificant. Biggs really needed to have his head in the game, even if the opportunity to bring in a professional fighter did please him.
But he couldn’t stop himself from being a little distracted. His and Jessie’s strings, the ones that stretched to some other person, were slowly but steadily deepening in shade by the day. They were closer to ruby then raspberry now, and what that said about their soulmate’s situation was nothing good.
Were they okay? They had to have been hurt, and hurt a lot, hurt maybe even more than Barret could even imagine for something like this to have happened. But were they safe now or were they still being hurt?
Biggs may not have ever met his second soulmate, but he was already growing steadily more frantic to help them somehow, to find them and keep them safe and secure between he and Jessie. Biggs had always been a bit of a hothead, a bit impulsive when it came to the people he cared for, and holding himself back from rushing off to save his other soulmate had been difficult.
So lost in his own musings and his attempts to focus on the task at hand, Biggs didn’t even realize that his second sting had been steadily losing slack and that it was leading right to the room that the new recruit was in.
…Until he actually entered the room and he saw that the string was stretching from the man right to Biggs himself. (Embarrassingly enough, understanding what that meant wasn’t even his first reaction. Instead, he just stared at the string for several seconds wondering why the man had strings on his hand stretching outward, one leading to Biggs himself. He would later blame the shock for his temporary stupidity.)
The rest of the meeting… Biggs really couldn’t say how the rest of the meeting went. Too busy staring awestruck at the red string between he and Cloud to pay any true attention, Biggs still absently knew that he missed at least a few of Barret’s cues to jump in and take part in the questioning. But it wasn’t just the string between he and Cloud that held his attention, nor was it even the one that presumably stretched toward Jessie. No, it was the other strings, and the connotations implied with the way that they appeared weren’t exactly helping Biggs be less protective of this man.
It seemed like they’d just walked in the door when Barret was crossing his arms and nodding to himself. “Alright, it seems good enough to take you on this mission. But you watching yourself, you hear me? Hurt any of my team in any way and I’m filling you full of holes.”
Cloud drew into himself slightly and shook his head, “I’m not interested in hurting your little team. I’m just interested in getting paid.”
His tone was less than respectful, and Biggs could see Barret bristling at it, but no wonder Cloud was bristly with strings like those.
“Hey,” Biggs said, getting between the two before Barret could lay into Cloud, “Cool it. It doesn’t matter if he shares our beliefs yet, what matters is that he helps us. Or doesn’t the mission come first?”
Barret stared at him for a moment before backing down slightly, taking a step away and glaring as he faced Cloud.
“Hmph, fine.” He snapped, “You like money, hotshot? We’ll get you your money. You just make sure you do your job, and do it well, or me and you are gonna have a little talk. While I shove your damned money up your-”
“Barret!” Biggs snapped.
“Fine.” Cloud said coolly, ignoring Barret’s gesturing and Biggs’ continuing attempts to cool him down.
Barret turned to stomp out the door, and Biggs hesitated, sending one last glance back at his soulmate. Reluctantly, he finally tore himself away and followed after Barret.
There was a time and a place for a person to tell someone else that they’re your soulmate, and this definitely wasn’t it. Especially with Cloud still visibly being affected by a shattered tribond.
Biggs was just going to have to keep Cloud safe and improve their relationship as best he could in his distant position.
***
The first time Jessie saw Cloud, Biggs knew that he hadn’t done a good enough job of explaining the state of their soulmate’s other strings to her. But while it was easy to say that Cloud had a black string, implying the tragic loss of a soulmate, it was less easy to explain the sheer depth of the grief that pulsated out from the string almost like a layer of foggy tar coating it. And the other string? Well, saying that its tattered state implied that Cloud had been betrayed badly didn’t cover it, not at all.
If Cloud had told him that the soulmate behind that tattered string had killed Cloud’s family and then literally ripped Cloud’s heart right from his chest, Biggs would have believed him, no questions asked. Even with Cloud still standing right in front of him and alive. Whatever that person had been done had to have been truly terrible.
Jessie reached out to clutch his hand and hold it tight, and he squeezed back in turn, desperately needing the comfort just as much.
“Biggs, his strings…” Jessie whisper-breathed, and Biggs used their joined hands to tug her closer and press his face in the top of her hair.
“I know.” Biggs said softly into her hair, “I saw it, too.”
“We’ll protect him.” Jessie said firmly, emotions obviously sparking that stubborn, protective streak that would lead to her being willing to do crazy things like take on corrupt, all powerful Companies. Biggs loved that stubborn streak (most days), “He’s ours now, and whoever did that to him doesn’t get to even be near him anymore. We’ll make sure of it.”
They would. They would, or they would die trying. Biggs suddenly knew this just as well as he knew that it would take death to tear him from Jessie’s side. From Cloud’s side now, too.
“Yeah.” Biggs agreed before Barret called them over to proceed in the mission.
It was a new beginning, for all of them.
Even with the complications facing them and everything they would have to work out, Biggs felt a little hopeful that the three of them would get through it all alright.