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Maria Campbell had given up seeing color until she saw Prince Geordo for the first time....but wait why was everything except his cape still shades of grey? Prince Geordo on the other hand wanted to scream.
"Oh no! Not again!"
Geordo bit his thumb in annoyance. Great another soulmate. He had hoped it was all over with after Sophia and Nicol were found but the universe wanted to mess with him apperantly.
This will be fine, it's fine! What's one more person to this already confusing dynamic!
Maria stared at the fuming prince in fear. How had she annoyed him just by attempting to climb a tree?! All she wanted to do is see if she could locate the dorms! Was it against the rules? Did she unintentionally insult the entire royal family?
So much for keeping to herself and having a low profile.
~~~~~~
Yellow. Thats what her little pocket color manual said the new color was.
When Keith Claes called for her and she turned around she saw a flash of light and Keiths hair had color.
Keith looked defeated when Maria's dress and handkerchief lost its grey hue.
"Well....Katarina was right after all...."
"Excuse me?..."
She watched Keith as he almost seem to sulk away.
Did he know something she didn't?
~~~~~~
She had come early to the council room to help set things up but instead of the student council president waiting for her it was Katarina Claes, Prince Geordo's fiancé.
"Oh ...oh no! She forgot he was engaged. This was very bad. No wonder he looked so upset. " she studied her as she savored the tea she was drinking. She didn't look angry, the prince probably didn't tell her anything yet. Maybe she could present a peace offering?" She looked down at the plate of sweets she was holding. "Worth a shot..." she thinks as she takes a breath.
"Miss. Claes" Maria sets down the cookies as Katarina looks at her.
"If you...." Maria is startled when a new color comes flooding in
Katarina blinks in shock than smiles happily "so I was right! We were missing a color! It was Pink!" She sounded downright gleeful, like a child on Christmas morning.
"You are probably seeing the color blue! Everyone else saw blue!~ My eyes are blue."
Maria looks at Katarina's eyes. A color she's never seen before.
Blue. Pretty....
"Wait....Everyone else?!"
"Ah....its a long story...The student council has a meeting today right? I'll come back after the meeting ends and Sirius leaves for a bit. You'll get all the answers then! I promise!
As Maria is trying to figure out what was going on, Katarina continued to eat the cookies.
"Mmm~ yummy! ~"
No thoughts, just sweets.
~~~~~~
Maria stared in shock as she sits in the council room still trying to process all the new information and all the new colors.
Orange, Turquoise, Purple and Green , she could finally see a full range of colors now. She wanted to scream and ask questions but with each startled expression they shook their head.
"Later" they seem to mouth to her as they all sat down and pretended everything was perfectly normal as Sirius started the meeting.
The meeting seemed to drone on. Maria didn't know how the others were taking it but she was barely keeping herself normal.
What was happening?! Was this even normal?.She's never heard of gaining one color at a time. From what she was told once you lock eyes with your soulmate you should get all colors at once. Why was it diffrent this time?
~~~~~~
"So...all of you ...and me?" Maria knew that having more than one soulmate was extremely rare, but seven?! How was it possible!
Katarina is the only one truly happy as she ate the sweets Maria provided "yup! Its always been like this!...well...we were missing a color but now its complete....I think?"
Everyone else looked at Katarina in barely concealed horror. They couldn't handle any more people. They barely got along now and it was getting harder to hide their....condition.
Sophia thinks for a bit " well...at least we are an even number now so... " she than smiles at her brother
"What do you mean?"
"Well....as you can see...this is a rare thing....and we as a group decided we rather not have people gawk at our situation if we can help it. So, to anyone who isn't our direct family, we are paired up like traditional couples." Keith's exprression goes flat as he continues "Geordo is engaged to Katarina..."
Geordo becomes very smug as everyone glares.
" You just got lucky! You met her first!" Mary complained as Keith nodded in agreement.
"Dont be a spoiled sport~" Geordo says with a taunting tone ,"Anyway, Mary is engaged to Alan and Keith is engaged Sophia" Geordo finishes smugly as if relishing in everyone's annoyance.
It all clicks for Maria. "Oh!....oh" She looks at Nicol with a blush on her face
Katarina just hugs Maria happily "welcome to the club Maria~"
"Wait a minute...." Maria points at the twin princes "aren't you..."
"Platonic soulmates" they said quickly. Sophia and Nicol quickly agreed "same with us" Sophia said
Platonic Soulmates were rare but not unheard of.
She than looks at the Claes. She had heard Miss. Claes was an only child...but they share a last name so...
"Distant cousins. Very Distant." Keith emphasized very distant. Was it for her or to remind himself? Maria would never know. "We were raised separately. I was like a ward for the Duke and Duchess."
"Its such a shame, I wanted a cute little brother" Katarina laments sadly.
"Its more of a shame you couldn't remain distant" Geordo looked at Keith with thinly veiled annoyance
"Funny I could say the same for you, Your Highness" Keith replied, matching his energy
Alan burst out laughing first as Mary grins wickedly. She liked seeing Geordo annoyed.
Mary than drapes herself over Katarina like a naughty cat. "They are so silly aren't they Lady Katarina? ~ Don't worry though. I'll be here~ being sane ~"
Katarina allows Mary to do as she wished as Sophia inches her way closer. Katarina smiles "I'm glad they get along well!"
Maria is confused, how is this getting along?!
Sophia sees the puzzled expression on Maria's face and smiles sweetly "Its normal. Don't worry. Its how we show we care about each other. Prince Alan used to challenge Katarina all the time as a child."
"Why?"
Mary hides her smirk behind her fan as Alan looks embarrassed "Hey! Stop bringing that up! I'm not like that anymore. I was just a competitive kid..."
Mary smirks "oh really?~ A competitive and jealous kid maybe" Alan looked betrayed at everyone who was teasing him
"Hey! At least you gained a new skill after the challenges!" Katarina calls "besides! They were fun!...for me~"
Nicol just sighs with fondness at the antics of everyone in the room. He looks at Maria with a soft look "I'll write to father. He'll be pleased"
Maria looks confused.
"Don't worry! Big brother will handle everything!"
"Um...ok?" That answered absolutely nothing but who was she to argue at this point.
When Maria came to the Academy , she had no soulmates or friends. Now on her second day , she had seven.
Standing in the middle of the chaos contained in the room , she still had no idea how to feel.
"Oh...Maria, by the way. I do hope we can count on you for your discretion on this...situation." Geordo said with a cool voice that carrieda hint of threat.
"O-of course"
"Excellent, glad to hear"
What a mess she found herself in.