Historically SoulMarks were considered to be a gift from God or a curse from the Devil. There to lead you either to salvation or to sin, but inescapable either way. However these days we recognise that people have choices. Some choose to ignore their Marks completely. There is no statistical evidence to point to couple with SoulMarks having more or less successful relationships than those without. As I have said to you all before, all relationships require time, effort, and work.”

Karen got involved in Union Allied and a murder. It was like everything just kept getting worse. Then she met Matt and Foggy. The name ‘Matt’ was enough to make her heart run a little faster. Factor into that the fact he listened, believed her when he had no reason to. She fell a little bit in love straight away. And he was gorgeous too, that didn’t hurt. But he seemed a little standoffish, pushed her away as much as he could while he was still protecting her. Karen was definitely no longer the romantic she had been as a child. Matt was a nice fantasy, but if he didn’t want more than that then Karen would deal with it.

Foggy snuck up on her. At first she barely noticed him, he seemed to be used to that reaction though. Maybe being Matt Murdock’s best friend had a downside. But more she got to know him the more it seemed to just be Foggy. He’d tell you how good he was all day long, but it was almost like he never expected anyone to believe it. He was funny and sweet, stayed up with her all night to protect her from her own demons. He flirted and was wonderful but… he loved Matt, everyone could see that. She was a little worried about getting in the middle of that. She loved them both too much already to hurt them. She honestly didn’t connect ‘Foggy’ and ‘Franklin’ at first. She only found out through the paperwork in the office. The first time she saw the name ‘Franklin Nelson’ in black and white she dropped a full cup of coffee, which made her swear, loudly enough that Foggy and Matt came to check on her.

“Sorry, I dropped my mug,” she said. Mopping the desk as best she could with a tissue from her bag.

“Never mind,” said Foggy coming to help. “You managed to miss the great mountain of client files we have… oh no wait, we don’t have.”

He smiled at her and it was like the sun coming up. “Your name’s Franklin?” she asked without thinking.

“Curse you paperwork,” he sighed overdramatically. “I’m glad you got a coffee dunking.”

“He really doesn’t like Franklin,” said Matt with a smile.

“People I like call me Foggy,” he insisted.

“Everyone calls you Foggy,” laughed Matt.

“Hey I like everyone, I’m a friendly guy!” Foggy quipped back.

Karen was struck all of a sudden with an overwhelming sense of belonging. Like this right here was exactly where she was supposed to be. Right here with Matthew and Franklin. She pushed the feeling away, she knew you couldn’t always trust SoulMarks. She’d seen what absolute faith in them could do. She had to be sure.

Ben Ulric went a long way it giving her a little faith back. He was a genuinely good man, and he got it. That burning need to know about something. So you could help people, yes of course, but mostly just so you could know. It was the first step in anything. He showed her how to find out. How to put all the conflicting pieces together and make a coherent picture, she liked it, it made her feel less powerless. Ben also loves his wife more than anything. In the way that Karen always dreamed about when she was a kid. He tells her stories about how they met on the way to see the care home (that Karen has tricked him into going to, she feels bad, but she has to know, Ben will understand).

“We went to see ‘Written on Your Skin’, special showing for Valentines Day,” said Ben with a smirk

Karen groaned. “Oh that film is so bad. I feel like I should go back in time and tell my 10 year old self not to bother watching it.

Ben laughed, it was pretty awful. We went to a diner afterwards. She told me her SoulMark said ‘Fabio’,” said Ben with a laugh.

“No,” said Karen. “What did you say?”

“Well it was only our second date; I wasn’t sure what to say. A little bit early to bring up the whole subject of SoulMarks. But she had this look in her eye, and I knew my Mark had her name on it and I really wanted to get to know her. She made me… I don’t know…just happy. So I told her I’d been born ‘Fabio’ and we were clearly meant to be,” said Ben gazing out the window.

Karen laughed. “You old romantic you,” she said with a smile.

“Turns out she had ‘Ben’ written on her shoulder, same spot as my ‘Doris’,” Ben said gazing out the window. “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s probably a bit too much information…” he said, blushing a little.

Karen smiled. “No, it’s… nice. I was starting to believe all that SoulMarks and ‘meant to be’ stuff was just something that happened in films.”

“Oh it happens in real life too, or at least it did to me. Being married was lots of work, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it,” said Ben smiling back.

That was the moment that Karen decided to tell Matt and Foggy about her SoulMarks. That it was worth the risk, she’d never in her whole life felt as comfortable as she did with Matt and Foggy. She knew that she never wanted to leave them. And she had to know, if they felt at least a little of this too.

Of course that was when the universe decided to remind her that this was something she wasn’t allowed to have.

Ben died, Matt and Foggy weren’t even talking, Karen killed someone. Everything went wrong. Because of Karen. She’d found Fisk’s Mom, she’d killed Fisk’s right hand man, she’d come into Matt and Foggy’s lives and now they were falling apart. If they were really her soul mates, if she really loved them? The best thing she could do was keep her distance. She didn’t think she was strong enough to leave them all together, but she could hold them at arm’s length.

A SoulMark can never be destroyed. Over the ages people have tried, no matter what is done to it, it will always find a way to come back. The longest time on record for scaring to a SoulMark is 20 hours. It cannot be burned off, or cut out. It has often been described as the most fundamental part of a person’s identity.

The first thing was pain. Everywhere hurt. It pulled him from sleep; he recognised the groggy feeling of painkillers wearing off.

Matt woke to the sound of Foggy’s heartbeat. When they shared a living space that had been a comforting thing, sometimes he’d wake up in the middle of the night and Foggy’s heartbeat was a slow heavy thud across the room. Matt used it to block out other sounds so he could get back to sleep. (Sirens, crying, all the other sounds of the city at night.)

Now Foggy’s heartbeat was too fast. Panic, and worry, and fear, hung in the air so thick that it nearly choked him. He looked around, bloody bandages on the floor next to… next to the mask. Which meant it wasn’t on his face, which meant Foggy knew. And oh god, Matt had to get up.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” said Foggy from somewhere behind the couch. “But then again maybe I would. What the hell do I know about Matt Murdock.”

Matt had imagined telling Foggy about his senses lots of times, nearly had, more than once. He never even thought about telling Foggy about the mask. That was the point of it, so no-one would know. So that dark part of him couldn’t hurt the people he loved. Telling Foggy was worse than he ever could have dreamed. Because Foggy was so angry, Foggy rarely got angry, unlike Matt who felt some days that he got angry every five minutes. Foggy was also worried for Matt and scared for Matt, both of which just made the anger worse. Then there was the worst part. Worse than the anger. Foggy was scared of him, he’d had to ask if Matt had set the bombs. Because he wasn’t sure that Matt hadn’t blow up half of Hell Kitchen. That Matt wasn’t responsible for the wound in Foggy’s side. And just then, just for a moment, Matt really thought it was over. That he’d broken this relationship beyond any power to fix.

But then Foggy said in a quiet, almost lost voice. “Claire had to stitch you up through your SoulMark. You’ve made a mess of it.”

“It’ll heal,” said Matt letting the certainty and hope he could feel into his voice. “You know it will.”

“Yeah,” said Foggy. “Bet it hurts though.”

“Yeah,” agreed Matt. “I wish it didn’t. But it’s done, there’s nothing I can do about that now. However much I wish it had gone differently. I wish it didn’t hurt, Foggy.” ‘I wish I hadn’t hurt you’ he added in his head.
Foggy stayed and they talked it all out. Foggy agreed not to tell Karen. Which Matt had been terrified he wouldn’t do. Matt made Foggy into a liar, but his secret was safe.

“Every time I wasn’t telling the truth you knew?” asked Foggy, horrified.

“Yes,” said Matt. “You don’t do it much.”

“But you knew, when did I lie, Matt?” It was an accusation and a dare.

Matt hesitated then started talking; picking the small lies that didn’t really matter. “You… told me you liked Elektra, when you really couldn’t stand her. You broke up with that girl from Punjabi class, but you told me she’d broke up with you. You, you used to be attracted to me, when we first met, but you never did anything about it…”

“That wasn’t a lie,” interrupted Foggy. “You weren’t interested, so I backed off. And for the record there’s no ‘used to’ about it. Although right now I kind of hate you too.”

That last part was a lie, and Matt couldn’t hold back the smile when he heard it. “I’ve got your name written on me, Foggy. Which I showed you, and I let you touch it even. How is that not interested?”

Foggy’s breathing changed, his heartbeat jumped. “SoulMarks don’t mean shit, Murdock.”

“Right, you don’t even have one,” said Matt, a little more bitterly than he intended. Matt knew he was pushing but he couldn’t help it.

Foggy’s heartbeat stopped for a split second then continued on faster than ever. “That’s not the same, not even close.”

“I know,” said Matt gently.

“I’m leaving,” said Foggy. “You’ll be okay?” he asked half question, half statement.

“Yes, I will,” said Matt. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” replied Foggy.

“Lie,” said Matt quietly enough that he didn’t think Foggy would hear.

But Foggy did, he stopped in his tracks. “Fine, I know. But I’m not telling you. Okay.”

“Okay,” agreed Matt.

Foggy opened the door to leave. “And Matt if you need anything. Call Karen,” he shot at Matt, and then he was gone.