The Taco Executioner

Hello. I am here. And there is nothing you can do about it.

Imagine: Soulmate AU with the red string of fate that only you and your soulmate can see. Some people have it, some people don't. Sometimes it changes, sometimes it stays the same.

Ryland Grace always had one, but it never led anywhere. He used to tell the other kids at school that he had one, but it just feathered off towards the sky and disappeared into nothing a couple of feet above him. No one ever believed him, just thought he was making it up to cope with not having a soulmate. He eventually learned to tell people he simply didn't have one. At least the pity looks were better than the doubtful ones. At least the sympathetic pats on the back were better than people pretending to play into his 'delusions'.

After the events of PHM, he and Rocky are on their way to Erid when he realizes his string actually goes somewhere. It's no longer a one-sided string. It's there, twisting into space, curling amongst the stars for endless miles.

Somehow, Rocky finds out and hounds Grace with a million questions. 'What is red string, question?' 'Soul-mate? Grace do have mate? Grace lie?' It's all too overwhelming to think about, too much for a man who had accepted he would never see another human again. And to finally have a soulmate? It's wonderful, it's vindicating, and it's terrifying. But Rocky insists they find where this string leads.

Grace does the calculations, weighs the risk of time and fuel, and takes a leap of faith to follow the one red line that didn't put a pit in his stomach.

And it leads him straight to the SM-13. To Simon.

As promised, here's the haiku I wrote in my HS english class of a fond memory of mine.

New life paddles by

Fluffy ducklings in a line