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“I don't understand why Gabriella must choose either of these fools.” Shadow said as he dipped another tortilla chip into Agent Stone’s homemade guac and salsa.
Agent Stone frowned. He was sat beside the alien, inside the Crab, on a small black love seat, watching reruns of the teledrama on the big screen.
He paused the show and glanced down at the hedgehog. “Do aliens not have soulmates?” He asked, carefully.
Shadow shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Stone’s heart twinged in sympathy. He would be lost without his other half.
“Explain to me again what you said earlier about soul marks?” Shadow urged, impatiently.
Stone winced. “...Surely the Professor, your grandfather explained it to you?”
Shadow folded his arms across his chest. “He does not like to talk about it.”
“I see.” Stone nodded, wondering how best to explain to a space hedgehog of indeterminate age. He smiled. “A soulmate is a person who you love most in the world.”
Shadow nodded. “Like Maria.”
“Yes, I suppose.” Stone replied, unsure who Maria was. “Humans know who our person is because we have their name written on our wrist.” He continued, showing Shadow the black cuff on his wrist that covered his soul mark.
Shadow nodded again, apparently understanding.
“Gabriella wears such a band on both arms.” Shadow noted.
Gabriella’s cuffs were black. Agent Stone’s was too. But his cuff was custom made, it bore Dr Robotnik’s logo, the one he put on all his things. Stone nodded, anyway. He knew what the alien meant.
“She has two soulmates.” He explained. “It’s unusual. But not unheard of. They both want her.” As he spoke, his mind drifted to Dr Robotnik.
Ivo had two soulmates.
“Is that why they fight?” Shadow asked, pointing at the brothers.
“Yes.” Stone nodded, still lost in his thoughts.
It was hard not to be a little jealous.
Even if the other mark was strictly platonic. Dr Robotnik’s grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. Until last week they had assumed him long dead.
“They don’t want to share her. They’re rivals.”
Ivo didn’t have to choose. He could have them both. A proper family.
Shadown nodded. “But why is she pointing the gun at them?”
“In the old days, people believed if you had two marks, you had to kill one so you could fully love the other. But it’s not like that so much in real life now.” He said, reminding himself.
It would be unfair of him to make Ivo choose. But still Stone wanted to be chosen. To be his one and only.
“I see.” Shadow replied. The alien sipped slowly at his juice. “I need to tell you something.” He said, turning his serious face towards Stone.
Stone waited as the alien paused dramatically.
“The Professor plans on killing Dr Robotnik.”