For the Pairing AU Challenge (Week one: ParvatiLavender, soulmate!au)

Soulmate theme: You remember parts of your past lives in your dreams, but they don't become clear until you find your soulmate again.

Another soldier. Just a kid. Red hair, freckles, and a kind face now drained of color.

She sighs and rests her head against her palms. Another poor soul that will never make it home.

"You were screaming in your sleep again," Padma tells her.

Parvati frowns. She tries to recall what she could have dreamt about that could be so terrible, but her mind goes blank. "Weird."

"Apparently your past life was miserable."

Parvati rolls her eyes. She doesn't believe the stories that her parents tell them. She doesn't believe in past lives creeping into her dreams or soulmates that are supposed to follow her into her current life. Really, she's surprised that Padma does. Her twin is supposed to be the logical one, after all.

"I'd better go," Parvati says, grabbing an apple off the table. "My shift starts soon.

She wonders if the war will ever end. It seems to stretch on forever. So many bullets to remove, so many charred soldiers stretched out, crying in pain.

Parvati blinks rapidly, shaking her head. She must have let her mind wander a little too much. And yet, she can't seem to recall her daydream.

"Back again, Mister Finnigan?" she asks, raising her brows as she examines the chart.

"Sodding fireworks weren't supposed to explode that close," he grumbles.

Parvati chuckles softly and begins to examine the burns across his arms. Something about this feels eerily familiar. It isn't just the handful of other times she's treated the same young man for minor burns. It's something else, something she can't quite put her finger on.

"No nerve damage. That's always a good thing," she says gently. "We'll get some ointment on it and get you bandaged up."

He grins. "You're the boss."

The woman is beautiful. Honey curls pinned neatly in a crown atop her head, perfectly painted red lips that twist into a dazzling smile. She's heard the singer before, seen her face on posters across London. But nothing could prepare her for how breathtaking she is.

"A little moral support from the stars," the other nurse says with a chuckle. "The lads will be pleased."

Parvati tries to remember her dream. It had been nice. She knows that much. And yet the details are so blurry.

"You know what it means," Padma says with a smile.

"Don't be daft. Those are just stories. I can never remember my dreams."

Padma snorts. "You keep telling yourself that. But I couldn't remember dreaming of Anthony until I met him," she says. "Then, I remembered. Mum and Dad knew what they were talking about."

Parvati rolls her eyes as she sits across from her sister, grabbing her takeaway container. "It's just a fairytale."

"It's not. I was a school teacher in Victorian Yorkshire, and he was a tailor. We had the same dreams. And I'm telling you, someone out there is remembering the same stuff you are," Padma insists before shoveling rice into her mouth.

Parvati shrugs. It's a nice thought, but it isn't true. Soulmates don't exist. If they did, there would be much lower divorce rates in the world.

The voice is like that of an angel, something warm and sweet that reminds her of home. She closes her eyes for just a moment, and the music seems to wrap around her.

It seems silly. She's a nurse. She's a woman. She could never fall in love with such a brilliant performer.

But it doesn't seem to matter. Her heart flutters, and as she ties off the stitches, she finds herself smiling in spite of the chaos still going on in the world.

"What's that song?" Hannah asks.

Parvati shakes her head. She's zoned out again. It takes her a moment to realize she's in the break room at the hospital. "What song?"

"You were humming something. Sounded like something my grandparents would play," Hannah says.

Parvati frowns. She wasn't aware that she was humming anything at all. "Huh. Must have been something I heard on the telly," she says weakly.

She doesn't want to think about the other possibility. Padma can't be right. Soulmates don't exist. There is no reincarnation. It's just a ridiculous bedtime story that their parents would tell them to make them feel less alone.

And yet…

She walks among the wounded, all smiles and gentle words. The nurse stands in the shadows, wishing that she could speak to her.

But it isn't her place. They both have their own duties.

Besides, it's just a silly little dream. A dream that no woman should have.

"All I have to do is find my soulmate, and the dreams stop, right?" Parvati asks.

"Basically. Are they getting clearer?" Padma asks.

"There's a war. And I'm a nurse. And there's… There's a woman. But I can't remember anything else."

"A woman?" Padma asks, brows raised. "To think, everyone thought I would be the gay one."

Parvati can't help but to laugh. "Well, I guess we're full of surprises."

The singer takes her by the hand, smiling. The nurse feels her cheeks flood with heated color.

"You're doing such a great service for these men," the singer says.

She blushes deeper. That touch is so soft, so smooth. And if she isn't mistaken, there's something more than just polite friendliness in the singer's eyes.

Parvati tugs at her plait. She can almost recall the way the woman looks. Honey hair and a gorgeous smile. The most beautiful eyes she's ever seen.

But the face blurs more and more the harder she tries to recall it.

It's close. The clearer the dreams become, the closer she is to meeting her soulmate. That's what her parents always said.

She just wishes that it would hurry up already. She's tired of not understanding, of waking up in confusion.

They hold hands, careful not to let anyone see. It's forbidden, and yet it feels so right.

"I do wish you could come back to London with me. I promise I will write."

The nurse smiles. "Perhaps, when this is all over, we'll meet again. If not in this life, then maybe the next."

"Such a beautiful way of thinking."

"What have we got?"

"Choir teacher," Susan answers, handing Parvati the chart. "She fainted during her lessons. Probably low blood sugar."

Parvati nods before entering the room. "Okay, Miss Brown. How are you feel-?"

The sentence dies when she sees the woman. Honey blonde hair and beautiful eyes. It's almost like seeing a ghost.

"I know you," the woman says. "I dreamt- This is going to sound weird, but I've-"

"Dreamt about me as a war nurse?" Parvati supplies. "You were a singer, and we were lovers."

The dreams all come rushing back to her now, vivid as recent memories. It's so overwhelming that Parvati almost falls over. She wonders if maybe that same impact is what's brought the woman here today.

"How did you know?"

"Because I've had the same dreams," Parvati answers.

They stare at each other for several moments. Parvati wonders if she understands what the dreams mean, if she's grown up with the same stories.

She must have, because she smiles and offers Parvati her hand. "My name is Lavender Brown, and I believe I'm your soulmate."