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In times past, there was a phenomenon known as being soul-marked, or as the romantics would put it, true love. This wasn't entirely the case, being soul-marked meant much more than just love, true or not. It meant a binding of souls, and a joining of minds. Those marked would forever be within their partner, in mind, and in spirit.

There was a second such marking known as a soul bond. The soul bonded was defined by dual marks. Those soul bound found themselves in even tighter relationships. While the soul marked became rare, the soul bound became almost unheard of.

Rick and Dal were two who had become soul marked. They were both lonely, struggling musicians who found each other by change. In time their relationship grew, and they knew almost immediately that they loved each other, whether they would admit it or not. Even other people could see the love if they didn't. In time they became soul marked.

Time passed, and their lives progressed. Both faced triumph and tragedy. The world spiraled into war. Death came to their family as well as new life. In time they became bound. It was not intended, but it did happen. They fought the good fight for all involved. They composed, supported others, and spoke of nothing but love and acceptance.

Tragedy struck in the 25th year of their union. In that year Dal was beaten so badly that he was left damaged. So damaged that he could not, or would not, regain consciousness. Rick was left alone to care for his beloved. Time passed. Rick cared for Dal in every way he could. He kept him alive mostly by keeping himself alive for Dal depended on Rick's life to live. Rick lived, raised their family, and in time grew old and tired.

At the end, Rick was bitter and unhappy at life, and at what had happened. He fell asleep every night next to Dal, only to be alone always. A mysterious figure showed him how much he really never was alone. He had Dal there, always. Dal had been there in the back of his mind, entrapped in his soul. At the end, Rick had found peace. He had crawled up one last time to be with Dal, laid down on his chest, and closed his eyes one last time.

This is the beginning of Willing Student 2.

***

Rick

Rick blinked. For a moment he thought he had just awoken from a very strange dream, but as soon as he thought that, he knew this wasn't the case. All around him was pure blackness. Not the type you get with stars, or a lazy grey at the edges to show delineation of a shape. No, this was the pure inky blackness found at the bottom of mines and caves miles below the surface.

He laid there in the position he last remembered laying down against Dal's chest. Dal wasn't there. No bed, no nothing, jJust black emptiness. He slowly stood up and realized he was wearing nothing. He glanced at his hands arms, and the rest of himself. The vestiges of age had left him. It took him only a second to realize that for the first time in decades his mind was perfectly clear. In fact it was more than clear. He could remember every single moment of his life from birth to death in great detail. He shook his head at this revelation.

He glanced around into the darkness for a second, disoriented by the lack of visual cues or sense of direction.

"Hello?" He asked into the darkness. He was shocked when his own voice answered him behind him in a kindly. "Hello Rick."

He turned sharply and was face to face with himself, only it wasn't himself. The body was a mirror copy save for one feature, the eyes were pure mirrors reflecting everything they saw. Right now they projected images of him.

"Who.....?" Was all he got out.

"Who am I?" The other Dalmatian smiled a little. "The better question to ask young Rick is, Who am I?"

"What?" Rick shook his head at this. "Look, what's going on? Where's Dal? Where did that priest go? Where...?"

The other canine got an aggrieved look on his face. "Look, Rick, enough. I'll tell you what you need to know, just, calm down. Let your mind stop working so much, and no more questions for now."

Rick stared indignantly at his other self. "What!?" He all but shouted. "Where is Dal!?"

The other canine rubbed his nose. "Gosh, am I really like this? Figures. "Ok, Rick, look, you know how you have faith in Dal?"

Rick nodded warily. "Yes?"

"Then have faith in me. You will see him soon, and I will explain, but first, I need to talk to you, to explain what is going on. He'll be along, but, he needs healing first."

"What...?" Rick got out before the other canine blurted out "Please! You're giving me a headache. Slow down, PLEASE!"

Rick grumbled and folded his arms, but made no more movement or comment.

The other Rick sighed. "Thank you. Now, as I said, the better question you should ask is "Who am I?" Well, you are me." The canine spread his arms wide for emphasis. "Ok, no dramatics, sorry, that's you bleeding into me now. Just know this, every soul that exists, exists as itself somewhere. And where it exists is where it lives. All souls are individual, and all individuals have a soul. Yes?" He gestured with an arm at himself and Rick.

Rick cocked his head, ready to conceid the point.

"So, since all souls exist, they should never be destroyed. So since this is the case, when a soul is bound to earth, it is made from the raw material of the original, and sent out, this way the soul is never destroyed. The parts sent out always return. When it is time, and the journeys are over, the soul moves on. Unless it needs to keep to it's journey, then it returns."

"Wait....." Rick held out his hand. "Like, reincarnation?" He cocked his head confused.

"No, that would mean the soul is remade, or returns without really learning in order to 'try again' to improve itself. In reality, you never really leave. I am you. I have all your memories, all your feelings over every lifetime, and yes, all the same love you have for Dal, save for one thing..." He gestured at his shoulder. Rick's mouth gapped. There was no horseshoe bond mark. Rick felt his own hand trace his own. It was still there, and it still tingled when he touched it. "He's alive?"

The other Rick smiled. "More or less, don't worry about it, and let me continue pup."

Rick nodded.

"We are always sent down with our own goals, and needs in mind. Each individual is different, but there is something different about the soul marked, and especially the soul bound. The soul marked seek nothing more than the ability to find their true love, and have a happy life together. For this most part, they do. Sometimes they don't. When they don't, they return over and over until they do. You've been down so many times, I cannot count. He is always male, and always "Rick," although not all languages can contain the same name of Rick. Rick, Richard, Rouchard, etc. The same Rick with new life lessons to his personality returns each time."

The other canine frowned. His mirrored eyes making the expression look forelorn. "In all of my years in searching for my one true love, you are the only one to have found him. Thousands of times and countless lives, always searching, and never finding. And here you find him by accident." Here the other rick grinned hugely. "It never left our memory at all, even when you were ancient and forgotten by all. You remembered how he looked when he walked into the coffee shop that morning."

Rick nodded smiling to himself. "Yes, I was checking my phone for messages, when I looked up, and up, into this big, slightly rumpled, but handsome equine face." He chuckled to himself.

"Such an impression you made too." The other canine smiled. "Well, we digress. You almost immediately knew you were in love with him, and instinctively you knew he was your soul-marked. And soon, far sooner than you would have thought, it came to pass."

Rick nodded at the memory. It had happened the night in bed, after his first time bottoming for the equine. He'd been bit and marked first by Dal. Then after, when he confessed his love to Dal, he'd burned his own mark into Dal's chest. "Yes, very sudden, a couple of weeks?"

The other canine grinned. "Don't lie, about a week young pup." In time you forged your lives together, became close, then closer, all the time closer. Then it happened. Dal got his second Mark. Did you never think it strange you had the two marks first?"

Rick stared at the other. He had a smirk on his face as his mirrored eyes bored into his soul. "I....I was the one to make the bond!?" The other nodded. "Yes. Someone has to initiate the bond. It was you. You accepted him into your soul before he did the same. The night he dedicated his music to you, he took on another mark, finalizing the bond. It's why you healed so fast."

Rick nodded to himself rubbing his chin. "That makes sense. But, then, where is Dal, and why am I here. And for God's sake what do I call you?" Rick glared at the copy of himself.

"I don't know, you can't call me Rick, that'll give you issues, Alpha is too much, er.....Kir?" The other canine shrugged. Rick raised an eyebrow. "Really? Kir? How, um, original."

Kir shrugged. "It doesn't matter. After this meeting it will be a long time before you see me again, well I hope so anyway. " Kir gestured and two chairs sprang into existence. "That being said, there is more."

Rick took the other char, as Kir sat down. Rick rolled his eyes. "Really? Do tell?" Kir just chuckled. "I know, I'm sorry. I wish I could just blurt out the answers to you, but it's not allowed. We'd both cease to exist, and I mean that in a really final way."

Rick blushed rubbing the back of his neck with anxiety. "Sorry, I guess I should be a little easier on you." Kir just chuckled a bit and leaned back into the chair, crossing his legs.

"It's ok. So, there are soul marked, and soul bonded. You two are bonded. This means a lot more than just marked. The bound can change things. They can transform the engery around them even in times of extreme stress. You remember the night Dal was attacked he burned those attackers alive right?" Kir cocked his head to the side in inquiry.

Rick nodded emphatically. "I think I see where this is going. Yes, so we can affect the physical in probably just more than one way right?" Kir smiled brightly. "Exactly so. There is only one reason the bonded exist, and that is to change what has happened and what may happen for the good."

Rick looked confused. "The good? The good of what?" Kir laughed hugely. "I can't tell you that. Just the good. Let me ask you this. Was there a single moment in time with Dal, where there was one thing that happened that had a very detrimental effect on everything that happened after that? It would have to be something that affects not just you, and Dal, but everyone in his family as well as others." Kir smirked. He looked to be confident that Rick would get the answer.

Rick thought back over his life with Dal. Every moment was crystal clear in his mind. All he had to do was think of a moment and it was as if he was there. The moment they met, the moment they first made love, the moment they accepted Ken's son as their own, the moment Ken's son confessed his pain on his dad's death to.....

Rick thought hard. Ken. Ken had died in the war on that ship. He'd stayed at his station to save the lives of a few, but in the end, he'd died, Jacob had died, Dal lost his brother, Dal Sr. had lost his son as had Vi. More importantly Dal's son had lost his own father.

Kir nodded as if following Rick's thoughts. "Yes....but????"

But that couldn't be the answer. That hadn't brought him to the ship and to his fate. Only one thing had brought him to that fate, his own decision to join the navy.....

"The night we became marked!!!" Rick shouted into the blackness. Kir nodded smiling. "Yes. The moment you and Dal let slip past. Dal knew in his heart that it was a bad idea, but there was so little time, maybe less than 48 hours after he signed off on the message to Dal. That message had been sent only minutes after your mark. Neither of you could have foreseen this." Kir looked solemn.

Rick stared wide eyed. "We didn't stop him. But, if we had....." Kir nodded. Some would die, yes, maybe a few more, maybe a few less. It's hard to say in the long run. Who says that the person who had his position at that station might not have been able to do more to save everyone? We won't know...unless..."

Rick swallowed. "You can't be serious!?" Kir smirked. "Hasn't everyone wished that there was one moment they could take back and correct, and make the world a better place? No one really gets that chance...unless....you're a bonded couple, and that the pain inflicted is so severe as to affect the entire future of everything. Everyone has one single moment of importance in their lives that can or will affect more than just themselves or a few people. That moment affects all of humanity. Some people may pick up a gun, sight along it, see a figure in the distance, and think, 'what would happen if I pull this trigger' and don't pull. They get to see the results of not pulling the trigger. The other who does pull the trigger gets to see all of history change. With the bonded, the effect is doubled. They have double the chance to make it right, but also double the chance to make things worse. You've already seen the worst.

Kir stood up and stretched. "That was your moment. The moment that destroyed the chance at happiness you had. You have a chance. You can both go back and fix the problem, or you can stay here for as long as you want, and be together, or you can move to your next incarnations. Only know, you may not see each other again as who you were and how you died is not conductive to a shared experience from now on. Only dying together as Chas and William did will fix things. Whole, together, and in your own time."

Rick stared over Kir's shoulder. Dal was walking slowly, with a duplicate of himself. Rick flung himself off of the chair and ran to Dal and leapt, his spotted arms wrapped around the huge equine neck and Rick cried tears of joy upon seeing Dal, whole again.

Dal just laughed and cried himself. They spent several minutes murmuring together, sharing memories of the years after Dal's attack. Dal had been there, seen everything, and had been so sad he couldn't help. He could only do little things, and did what he could.

"...but I'm healed now Rick. Samuel here has told me the same thing Kir told you. I know what we face. I know we could just give in and stay here forever together, but...." Dal ducked his head and looked sad.

Rick hugged Dal fiercely and stared into his warm chestnut eyes. "I know. We wouldn't really be happy, and without Ken, and your parents, and even our son happy, how could we ever be happy?" Rick licked Dal's nose. The two nodded. Kir and Samuel stood side by side.

"It's a pity we cannot stay together here as they will be back on earth. Kir looked into Samuels eyes calmly. Samuel nodded staring at the other canine in an identical pose as Rick and Dal. "I agree love, but we don't have that power. They will bring us our joy, and we'll be together again when they are."

Rick chuckled. "Ah, I see, an ulterior motive. Get us to do the dirty work so you two can lounge around and...." Dal elbowed him hard in the ribs. Samuel looked sad as did Kir.

"No pup, we are the reflections of you only. We are what you were made of, but we are not you. We only are you when you are alive, or here. If everything doesn't work out, it isn't just you who suffer." Samuel commented sadly, and then shook his head.

"Never mind." Kir smiled. "I have faith in both of you if I know Samuel as much as I know Rick. Here is what will happen. You will return to the night you were branded. Just after, Dal, and you will have a need and the knowledge that something is wrong, and you will know you will have to stop Ken. You, Dal, will know where, and Rick will know when. You will not remember us, or the time past that."

Dal nodded and squeezed Rick's paw. "Well, looks like we have one big mistake to fix, and then, hope to hell we make the right decisions after that." Rick nodded and hugged Dal. Then he walked over and reached a hand out to KIr. Kir raised an eyebrow but took the hand. A brief shock shook them both. Kir smiled. "Hrm, seems that gave me a little more insight as to who you are. Thank you Rick. Er, don't touch Sam, I don't want him contaminated." The equine chuckled as did Dal.

"Ok lover mine, I think it's time we return to the land of the living." Dal said. He took Rick's hand in his.