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For as long as you could remember, it would always be a hippo. Yes, a hippo. It never changed shape. When you were younger, you would always ask if seeing a life-sized, glowing, purple hippo around was considered normal. Most adults laughed, saying that it indeed was.
None really ever explained it until you were around ten.
Your life-sized, purple, glowing hippo was supposed to lead you to your soulmate.
A little strange to believe, but you never questioned it. You had much more important things in life than following the hippo.
As you grew older, the hippo was still there. It would always appear just as soon as you were doing something important, as if it were imploring you to choose your soulmate or your duties.
You always chose your duties.
The idea of having a soulmate - one who you could always trust - was almost always less important than whatever you had to do at the time.
It was when you entered the Galaxy Garrison when the hippo started to pop up a lot more. It was certainly strange, having to get used to seeing it around, while nobody else could see it.
It was always looking at you expectantly, watching to see if you would change your mind.
If you ever saw it in front of you, you would turn back.
Years of seeing and ignoring it made you wary.
Wary of the idea of soulmates and the fact that yours seemed to always be close by.
You would avoid it.
You were scared.
Each time you turned back, you would never see the sad look the hippo always gave you.
Keith almost always missed the mouse.
The first time he saw it, he was beyond confused.
Most people would be, seeing a small glowing [colour] mice scurrying about and even looking at him a few times.
He backed away pretty quickly the first few times.
But when he asked his father about it, he would usually get the answer that it was supposed to lead him to his soulmate.
Keith doubted it.
Him, a soulmate?
And one who seemed to nearly always be around him?
As he grew older and more enclosed, Keith grew to doubt the idea even more, believing that he didn’t have a soulmate.
Yet, he still saw the mice if not the same amount, then a lot more.
He never followed.
He never believed in the idea.
When seeing the hippo, you only ever saw it from a short distance. It was hard to miss, it usually being the biggest creature in the room.
It gradually moved it closer each time she saw it.
It was subtle at first, but you started to notice when you realised it was standing unusually close.
When Keith was expelled from the Garrison, he expected to stop seeing the small mice.
He didn’t.
He still saw it when he was simply hanging about his shack.
He would see still it when he was out exploring for the strange energy he felt.
After each passing day, the mice would seem a little more desperate, jumping up and down for his attention.
He ignored it.
The whole soulmate thing wasn’t for him.
The one and only time you decided to follow the hippo was the day your life changed, as cliché as it sounded.
It was night and in your dorm, you could see the purple glow of the hippo near the door.
You couldn’t sleep and your curiousity levels were high.
So you left your room and followed it.
It led you further than you thought it would lead you. When you reached the edge of the Garrison grounds, you soon realised that maybe, it wasn’t such a good idea.
But you had gone too far to stop now and so you kept you following the hippo.
You didn’t know how long you followed it for.
You put your legs step after step, hoping that you would soon reach this soulmate of yours.
When you and the hippo reached a shack, you knew that your soulmate was in there.
You couldn’t quite place a finger on it, but you just knew.
And so you joined the hippo up at the door.
And lifted up a hand to knock at it.
Keith had noticed the mouse was acting a little more energetic than usual. It normally hang about him wherever he went, but that night it just seemed to be directing him to his house’s entranceway.
Like always, he ignored it.
Then when he heard the knock from there, he was slightly shocked.
Everything he believed about soulmates was twisting about.
He went to the door and opened it up.
There, he was met face to face with a person.
You.
[Eye colour] eyes met purple ones and something between you two clicked.
Keith saw the purple hippo by your side.
You saw the [colour] mouse sitting on his shoulder.
And you both smiled awkwardly at each other, realising what this all meant.