They say a soul mate is your other half, a person ideally suited as your partner for a lifetime. The possibility for two souls to encounter is one in a million, and even if they do, fate never said it will shine upon them.
"We meet again."
The sound reverberated as a longing sensation, shooting shivers down Lucy's spine as she found herself carving for a voice she never heard once in her life. She remembers, yet she doesn't. Something new and foreign, nonetheless familiar shot to her memory as she felt tears trailing over her cheeks.
"I was too late."
She felt the clouds hazing her recollections started to clear itself as she marked the man in front of her. Although her eyesight wasn't very good, she could picture his look. His tanned, muscular body and his spiky, salmon pink ruffles had always been inside her mind. For her whole life, she always felt she was an incomplete puzzle, and finally she found her missing piece.
After a moment of recuperation, she remembered.
Lucy smiles fondly, wrinkles adoring her face as she began to speak. "I guess we do, now."
Hurt started to unveil Natsu's face, his hands started to pummel into a fist and his knuckles pale from the dull pain. He flinches, "So," he says as he forces a façade, keeping himself as enthusiast as he could, "You're on your early forties?"
Lucy laughs, and although she has aged, Natsu found her laughter light and bright. "Even though you've reincarnated, you are still as straightforward as ever." She jokes, "It's rude to ask a woman's age, you know."
Natsu scoffs, hands folded on his chest, "And it's rude of you to be born way ahead of me." He retorted, saying it in triumphant. "Couldn't you just wait for a few decades?"
Lucy shrugged, the half-knitted scarf forgotten on her lap as she rocks her chair gently, "I didn't choose to be born first." She reasoned, eyes trying to find pair of onyx orbs that stared at her like a deep ember. Feeling the silence between them, Lucy began to change the topic. "I see you already have a girlfriend."
"Yeah."
Lucy hid her disappointment, it was to be expected. After all, she has married to another herself. There were no guarantees they would meet and be born at the predestined timing at all.
"What's her name? She looks gorgeous." Lucy asked, purely of curiosity.
Not as beautiful as you. Natsu noted to himself, "Her name's Lisanna."
Lucy looked at him in acknowledgment, "Daughter of Strauss?"
Natsu arched an eyebrow, "You know her?"
"I don't know the daughter, but her mother used to go to the same school as me." Lucy explains, "Mrs. Strauss was beautiful herself, her daughter must've taken her look."
"I'm sure you look more beautiful than her in your teens."
Lucy chuckles, "Still the smooth talker as always."
Natsu begs to differ, he was merely stating a fact. "I'm serious."
Lucy rolls her eyes, and Natsu held back his smile. It was an old habit of hers, and Natsu was grateful some part of her never changes. "You can't possibly think that, I'm old."
"We've passed the growing-old-together phase, Luce. I've seen you looking way more wrinkled than this in our previous lifetime."
Her eyes soften, "You still remember." It was more of a statement rather than a question, one that has always been tingling in her heart. She was always obscure about it. Maybe she was the only one who still remembers that one in a million chance, maybe she was the only one who treasures it all along.
Natsu, upon knowing her insecurities by one glance, quickly assures. "I'd never forget, Lucy."
Maybe it was fate's ill jest, making them meet and remember yet could never be together. They both knew this wasn't the lifetime they were meant to be.
"Hey," Lucy soothes, "maybe we will be born right in the next lifetime."
The distrust was palpable in Natsu's demeanor, "But will you remember me in that life? I don't know, Luce. Few lives ago, you chose to marry another man although we were born in the same year. That stung."
"I did that because I don't want my father to kill you, okay? You know I love you with all bits of my heart."
Natsu snorts, "And what makes you think it won't happen again next time?"
"You're way younger than me right now, no wonder I'm the wiser one here."
"Hey!"
Lucy laughs, the twinkling amusement that shines in her eyes swayed away all of Natsu's worries. The pink haired grinned, the infamous grin that swifts all the doubts of their future. Experiencing the brief encounter with him lull her soul in unexplainable warmth.
But at least, Lucy thought, life has let them meet. And even if it wasn't enough, the tingling sensation Lucy felt to the core of her soul has been resolved; satisfaction and tranquility finally reached its uttermost. For her whole life in this lifespan, she had never felt happier than this slight moment of meeting him.
"I'm not giving up." She glanced at the hoarse voice, eyes perking in surprise at the croaked sound.
Worry and panic suddenly rushed to her expression, and as quick as her reflects let her, she leaned closer towards the much younger man in front of her.
"Natsu?" She frowned, unsure at the sudden outburst.
Determination laced Natsu's countenance, few tears threatening to fall but he held it in, being the prideful man he was. "Even if this wasn't the lifetime, I swear when we get the chance, I'm never letting you go."
A surge of relief wrapped her soul, as if the promise was something she had been waiting all along. She smiled as she let few tears trail her face shape. Although there were no guarantee when will that lifetime comes, nor will fate let them ever get the chance to encounter at the right timing, but Natsu has never stopped giving her up.
Hope. That was all they needed.
"And I'll be waiting." She said, voice barely a whisper.
"You better be, soulmate."
To new readers: Thank you so much for reading this story I just did on a wimp lol. I needed something to get me out of writing blocks and this story happened... Don't forget to check out other stories of mine if you'd like to! That would be nice of you.
To my loyal readers: I swear on God I was dying to update new chapter of my multi-chap stories for you guys, but life and a high writing block keep getting in the way, so please bear with me for a little while longer and enjoy this oneshot while I'm figuring out how to continue my other Nalu fanfics T~T