Chapter Text
When it comes to the person who holds your key– your soulmate, so to speak, though no one uses that word– you’ve always been told to trust your gut.
Most people say that you’ll know when you meet your partner, you’ll know even before they say or do whatever it is that will unlock your memories of past lives. That it’s an instinctual feeling that will spark up, and tell you that this is the one person you need to hold onto for the rest of your life- the rest of this life, and then do the same when you meet them in the next life, and the next, and the one after that.
Most people wait for their partner, look for them even.
And you’re no different, though you imagine your reasons for waiting are slightly different from the norm. Yes, there’s a part of you that finds the notion romantic, a part that dreams of finding that what you have with your partner is everlasting love- a love that began in centuries long past and will last for centuries to come.
There is a larger part of you that is far more practical but even then you know that your optimal chance for happiness lies with your partner.
And yet, you don’t really go out of your way to meet and assess as many potential candidates as you can, the way some of your friends have, the way your cousin had been doing until last week.
Her key had been a kiss on the cheek, a fairly common one, and you suppose that’s why she’s already found her partner though she’s years younger than you.
Or of course, it could be because you haven’t been looking, though you refuse to acknowledge that possibility.
If it truly is destiny– truly fate that dictates that there is only one person out there who is right for you, only one person who holds your key– then you’re certain that you’ll meet them anyway, that everything will work out.
It’s only logical.
But as the years pass by, and you join the SOE, you find that you have to fight harder and harder to reinforce your decision.
Every time you see some happy couple, or a pair of best friends who are perfectly in sync with each other, the disturbingly sharp pangs of jealousy flare up. And you wonder, with a distinctly bitter taste in your mouth, exactly how much longer you will have to wait for a connection like that.
Because as the days pass, you’re becoming increasingly aware of the dangers presented by your line of work, and you have begin to wonder if you will die before you ever meet this elusive person.
After all, it has been known to happen.
Or worse, you and your partner could be one of those rare few who are cursed with a time-lock, for whom the key will not work until an exact time that differs from one life to the next.
And now, passing through London for the first time since the war had begun in earnest, the infernal turmoil raging in your brain as a result of all the wondering and bitterness is stronger than ever.
And you find that the only way to keep your thoughts in check is to keep your head down and avoid looking at any of the people around you. Needless to say, you’re more than a little relieved when you arrive at the headquarters of the SSR.