A/N:

This story will work through my four favorite FT couples. Takes place after Alvarez, before 100 year quest.

The Problem With Soulmates

Prelude

It was the hottest book in Fiore, there were already heated negations to turn in into a stage production, and quite frankly, it was giving guys everywhere hives.

And the Fairy Tail Guild Hall was no exception.

The offending piece of literature was laying on the table between Lucy and Levy, looking inconspicuous enough.

But the men of Fairy Tail knew better. No few of them had wondered at some point if it wasn't somehow one of the remaining books of Zeref.

The other women of the guild had gathered also as their quiet conversation had quickly become a heated debate.

"I'm telling you, the hero wasn't heroic at all. A real man would never have walked away from his soul mate for any reason." Evergreen declared hotly, slamming her hand in the table hard enough to have Levy jumping.

"But she had found happiness with someone else. He didn't think he could take that away from her." Lisanna countered.

"No. I'm not buying it. How do you walk away from your soulmate? They are like, literally, your destiny." Cana argued back.

Lucy and Levy were looking back and forth between the women gathered around their table. It seemed like every woman in Fairy Tail had somehow ended up in the discussion.

"He felt he couldn't gain his own happiness at the cost of hers. It's so romantic." Mira clasped her hands together, eyes gleaming.

"I'm not sure I feel it's romantic to walk away from your soul mate, even if it's in her own best interest. Is it even okay to make that choice for another person, even out of love?" Erza mused.

All over the guildhall, the men of Fairy Tail were listening to the conversation while trying to look like they were doing anything but.

These were dangerous waters indeed.

"Frankly, the whole idea of soul mates in a book sounds like a cop out on the part of the author." Laki sniffed in disdain.

"What do you mean?" Levy asked, browns raised.

"Because then the author doesn't have to spend any time growing the romance. She can just say "boom, they're soul makes so therefore, they're prefect for each other and its destiny." Laki replied.

This evoked a few long moments of silence from that gathered woman that had the men in the hall watching them warily.

"Are soul mates and destiny really the same thing?" Lucy questioned thoughtfully. She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold.

"Wouldn't they have to be?" Bisca asked.

"Well, not if you hold with the whole "make your own destiny" view point. Then, whether or not to be with your soulmate would be a choice." Levy mused.

"But not having one. The premise would then be whether or not you chose to be with your soulmate. That's was the author's point, I believe." Fried pointed out calmly.

From across the room, Laxus choked on his beer upon hearing the male Mage join the ladies conversation. With wide eyes, Bickslow looked longingly across the room at the jobs board.

Outside, lightning sparked across the sky, thunder booming low in the distance.

"Okay, wait. Are we arguing soul mates or destiny now?" Cana demanded. Her clever eyes hadn't missed the rising tension in the hall. She smiled wickedly.

"Well, if you tried to apply the situation to real life, look at all the problems we would have." Lucy pointed out.

Lisanna frowned. "Like what?"

But Levy was nodding. "I get it. Half of us were stuck in suspended animation for seven years. Theoretically, if we had soul mates, that would they would have grown seven years older without us. They could have gotten married, started families, even died."

Juvia nodded. "Juvia sees your point. But could it be that is was always our destiny to jump forward in time?"

Lucy frowned now. "Meaning we would never meet our soul mates if we hadn't lost seven years of our lives?"

By the bar, Natsu shifted to look over at his partner. Gray frowned at him, surprised the flame brain was even following the conversation.

"Uh, are we talking about destiny or soul mates again now?" Wendy asked in confusion.

"Wendy's right. But the better question is, do we even believe in soul mates?" Cana demanded. She could barely keep a straight face as she said the words.

A thoughtful silence again descended at the table while around the hall, certain men tensed in their seats (while attempting not to, of course).

"Well, I do." Evergreen declared proudly. Macao and Wakaba chuckled as Elfman's face turned pink.

One by one, the other girls stated their opinion.

When Lucy's turn came, she sighed into her cup. "Yeah, probably." She didn't elaborate, slouching down in her seat.

The other girls looked at her curiously, because she sounded absolutely miserable about it. At the bar, Natsu was staring straight ahead, a grim look on his face.

"Well, I guess I don't. It would be nice though." Levy said softly, looking down at her cup.

Gajeel went stiff in his seat next to Panther Lily.

"It seems highly unlikely that such a thing could be true." Fried agreed, looking away in the distance. "And even if it were, the odds of them finding each other, or of ending up together seem improbable."

Half the guild jumped as lightning and thunder cracked just outside, hard enough to shake the glass in the window panes.

"That storm really is moving fast." Lisanna said with a nervous giggle. Turning to her s-class partner, she said "What about you, Juvia? You've been awfully quiet..."

Gray's tension could literally be felt, as the temperature in his section of the guild hall plummeted by several degrees, making many of the men in the hall chuckle.

Juvia shrugged, smiling sweetly. "Juvia has always believed in destiny. However, she hopes there are no such thing as soul mates."

Gray spat the mouthful of beer he had just taken out, nearly hitting Natsu as the girls (and indeed, the rest of the guild) stared at Juvia in shock.

"O-oh. Okay then.." Cana said, thrown off balance.

Mira looked around suddenly. "Well, things got awful quiet all of a sudden. This storm sounds like it's going to be bad. I think I'm going to close the bar for the night."

There was a chorus of grumbles and agreements as everyone began leaving for the night.

Lucy looked around for her partner, to tell him goodnight, but he was already gone.

She frowned a little.

Something was bugging him. This didn't bode well for her apartment...