Gray is Not All Colorless

A/N: Man! I've been working on this for weeks, but I did hit a bit of a roadblock while writing it. College is killing me by trying to drown me in homework, but I've been managing to keep afloat.

But this week has already taken a toll on me. And not because of school, but for personal reasons. Reasons I don't really want to delve in on right now. All that I can say is that we suffered a loss of a life of someone very close to us.

Anyway, I'm sure you guys have waited long enough. So let's get on with the long-awaited Chapter 5. Roll it!

Chapter 5

Making the Journey

Branch had journeyed through the forest for almost all day, feeling much more determined than he had ever felt in his life before. He had a few run-ins with some dangerous predators, such as the usual hill monsters, tarantupuffs, and the worst one of them all: birds.

But he had already come so far, and it was too late to turn back now, even if he wanted to. Also, it was his idea to go and rescue those who were captured, and the other Trolls were actually counting on him. And he wasn't going to let them down, now that they really believed in him.

Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to keep going, the sky was getting darker, and the forest was even more dangerous after dark. He needed to find a safe enough place to build camp and rest for the night. Then, he can continue heading towards Bergen Town in the morning.

Soon enough, Branch had found a little clearing in the forest that was surrounded by large mushrooms. It looked pretty safe enough. The gray Troll immediately began to set up a small fire, using his flint and steel to light up bits of kindling that he found around the area.

Once it was lit, Branch got out his handmade sleeping bag and thin wool blanket from his backpack, along with a little bag of dried fruits and granola, which will serve as a light dinner.

As he quietly munched away at the food while sitting next to the fire to keep warm from the chill of the night, Branch looked up at the night sky. The stars above were twinkling beautifully, and the moon was gleaming a soft silver hue. It was such a lovely night, and for the first time in years, Branch felt like singing in the moonlight.

He remembered back when he was a young trolling, and sometimes when he couldn't sleep, he would go and find his grandmother looking out of the window of their pod, staring up at the night sky. She would notice him coming up to her, and instead of sending him back to his bed, she would pick him up and he could look out the window with her.

That was when she taught him about wishes on stars. "If you believe in that wish with everything you have, and make it on the brightest star you see, then it's sure to come true." She had told him.

"Really?" He asked.

His grandmother nodded. "Yes." She said. "But there is a little secret about wishes on stars. When you make the wish, the star can only take you part of the way."

"Only part of it?" Branch asked.

"Yes." His grandmother said. "You have to help it along with some hard work of your own. With your willpower and faith combined, there is nothing you can't do."

The events of that night had always been in the back of his mind ever since. At first, he had tried as best as he could to push it away, for the sweet little memory only added to the bitter heartbreak.

But now, feeling the most determined that he ever felt before about something, the memory only added to the resolvement that he knew what he was doing, what he was getting into, and that he actually had a chance of succeeding.

He looked down at his skin, and in the dim firelight, he could've sworn that there was a tiny bit of bluish pigmentation in his once all flint-gray skin. At first, Branch had dismissed it as just a trick of the lighting, but there was something in his mind and heart that even dared to hope that maybe his colors will return. Maybe when he returned home with those who were captured, everyone could finally accept him. Then afterwards, the chances of having his colors back would be even greater.

Branch looked back up at the night sky, and he felt the urge to sing again as he looked up at the twinkling stars above him. But like before, earlier in the day when he had first started his journey, he didn't fight it. The song he had chosen to sing was one that his grandmother would sing to him whenever they would be stargazing from the window of their old pod.

Branch: When you wish upon a star;
Makes no difference who you are.
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.

As he quietly sang, he noticed that a couple of glowing turquoise fuzzbugs had heard him and were now circling him in tight little circles, apparently wanting him to stand up. His tiny smile that was on his face earlier grew a bit more as the little fuzzy beacons twirled more slowly around him, and he complied with their wish. When he was on his feet, the fuzzbugs were now flying in odd circular patterns, still maintaining their slow pace, making the scene seem almost enchanting.

If your heart is in your dreams,
No request is too extreme;
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.

Branch then slowly began to walk around the campfire, slowly spinning around in little circles as he continued to stare up at the night sky above. By now, the fuzzbugs and some other critters began to harmonize with him.

Fate is kind.
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longings.

Oh, like a bolt out of the blue,
Fate steps in and sees you through.
When you wish upon a star,
Your dream comes true.

Branch hadn't felt this relaxed in so many years. A content and peaceful smile was on his face as he continued to slowly and elegantly waltz with an imaginary partner, but in his mind's eye, he saw his grandmother teaching him how to dance. All of those little dance lessons from when he was a little boy came back into his mind as he elegantly waltzed.

In the soft aquamarine light of the fuzzbugs' glow as they continue to gracefully dance in circles around him, his skin looked a bit more bluish-teal than gray with a pale blue pigmentation. He actually.... looked kind of.... happy.

If your heart is in your dreams,
No request is too extreme;
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.

Oh, when you wish upon a star,
Your dream comes true.

When he had finished singing, all the singing critters went quiet and had disappeared into the nightly shadows of the forest. All of them, except for a single glowing fuzzbug. It was still circling around Branch, albeit at a slightly faster pace than from before, buzzing excitedly.

He laughed at its antics, or rather, his. A male fuzzbug would have a pair of straight antennae, while females have their antennae slightly curled at the ends.

"You wanna stick around with me?" The gray Troll asked him.

The little fuzzbug immediately began nuzzling his face happily, making Branch laugh at the contact of the warm fuzzy skin of the bug, showing him that the little critter had taken a bit of a liking to him. He wasn't sure exactly why, but it was always nice to make a new friend that isn't so judgemental.

"Okay, okay." He said through his chuckles, gently pushing him away with a hand.

Then, as Branch started to get ready for bed by getting under his thin wool blanket, he took a little bit of time to get to know his new companion.

"My name's Branch." He introduced himself. "Do you have a name?"

The little turquoise bug just squeaked out a negative response. Branch deeply analyzed the glowing fuzzbug in front of him, trying to think of a good name. Finally, a good one came to him.

"How about I call you.... Glitz?" He asked.

The little fuzzbug buzzed happily, apparently agreeing with the name. "Glitz it is." Branch said while chuckling.

The gray Troll then got under his blanket and quickly made himself comfortable. The newly named Glitz flew over to him and nestled himself near his head, his light naturally dimming. Branch lightly grinned at his new friend before sleep quickly overtook him.

But what either of them didn't know was that they had been watched the entire time. A pair of oddly dopey-looking eyes was looking down on them from its place in the sky. A strange little smile then appeared on it.

****************************

The following morning, Branch was up bright and early when the sun had risen up at dawn. He shared his quick breakfast of blueberries with Glitz before they were both back on the move.

A few hours had passed, and the two of them had reached the tunnel system. Branch felt a twang of painful nostalgia as he looked around the area. It had been twenty years since he had last laid eyes on the tunnels. However, he had to push away the memories of the Trolls' escape and the loss of the princess to focus on which tunnel to take.

Branch came up to the main tunnel and examined it, his fingers brushing against the dirt. It surely seemed like the same one the Trolls used to escape Bergen Town, but he himself was very young on that fateful day. He was hoping that the right one would just ring out in his memory, but apparently not, since they all looked the same!

"Now what?" He asked himself.

"Choose a hole wisely!" A loud and ominous-sounding voice boomed out with an echo.

Branch's left ear immediately twitched upward and to the sides, trying to pinpoint the origin of the voice as he turned around to see who was speaking. Glitz buzzed with nervousness and hid himself in Branch's hair.

"For one will lead to Bergen Town, and the others.... to certain death!" The voice continued.

Branch got into a defensive stance. "Who said that?" He demanded.

"It was...."

After a few seconds of dramatic silence, Branch finally saw a cloud with a dopey face looking at him as purple, spaghetti-like legs appeared from it, wearing nothing else but white socks.

"...Me."

The gray Troll stared at the odd being with incredulity and confusion as it also sprouted out similar thin arms as it walked over to him.

"Hey, there!" The talking cloud greeted him. "Welcome to the remote tunnels. I just wanted to warn you that only one of these tunnels lead over to the old Troll Tree, and the others lead to certain death, death, death." The last three were repeated with a deep echo.

"Uh.... okay." Branch said, feeling a little weirded out by the walking, talking being made out of water vapor as Glitz came out of his hiding place from inside his hair.

"Thanks for the warning." He turned away from it with a roll of his eyes, or apparently him, to see if one of the tunnels seemed to ring a bell.

"So you know which one to take then, huh?" The cloud guy asked the survivalist, who was most likely following him.

Branch groaned in annoyance. He really didn't have time for this.

"No." He answered through his teeth, trying his best to keep his cool.

"How are you gonna pick one, then?" The cloud guy continued to pester him.

Branch groaned again. "Look. I don't need your help, thank you very much." He said. "Now can you just leave me alone?"

Glitz then buzzed at him with indignation, reminding him of his presence. "Sorry. I mean, 'us'." Branch corrected himself.

"Well, it would be unfortunate for you and your little friend to fall to your doom, or end up in a nest of spiders, or drowning at the bottom of a swamp." The cloud said. Branch narrowed his eyes at him. Was he really trying to tick him off?

"I'd be happy to help you, you know." The cloud continued to speak. "I can tell you which one to take, but first, you have to do something for me."

Branch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course there had to be a catch.

"And what's that?" He asked cautiously.

The cloud then held up his palm. "A high-five." He said simply.

Branch stared at the cloud like he was crazy. No way was it that easy. But at the same time, that's a definite no. He narrowed his eyes at him and crossed his arms.

"I don't do high-fives." He said.

"Come on, gray and stormy." The cloud teased him. "It's just one little high-five."

"I really don't have time for this." Branch said, about to turn away again. "I have to get to Bergen Town as soon as possible."

"Then if it's so important, you'll give me a high-five." The cloud said, his hand still up in the air and a smug little smirk on his face.

Branch's eyes flicked around, wondering if by some sort of happenstance, someone else might come along. However, no one ever showed up.

"How do I know I can trust you?" He asked suspiciously.

"You don't." The cloud said. "It just takes a leap of faith."

Branch lightly bit the inside of his cheek, deeply analyzing his situation. It really seemed like there was no other option.

Finally, he groaned in defeat. "Fine!" He exclaimed before swinging his hand forward, meeting the cloud's with a satisfying slap.

"Whoo!" The cloud cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Now, you've got a friend for life, stormy."

Branch rolled his eyes at how excited the being made out of water vapor was acting. "So can you help me or not?" He asked, wanting to get this over with.

"Sure." The cloud guy said and began to walk circles around Branch. "But I do have one little question for you first, though."

Branch raised a brow. "What is it?" He asked, wondering what else did this creature made from vapor and gas want from him.

"Why do you hide those nice-sounding pipes of yours?" The cloud questioned him with the same knowing smirk.

Branch felt his blood run cold, feeling frozen in his stance. "What are you talking about?" He asked, trying his best to hide the nervousness in his voice. "I don't sing."

The cloud just rolled his dopey-looking eyes. "That's not what I heard last night." He said, the dumb little smirk not leaving his face.

Branch's own sky blue eyes widened. "Were you.... spying on me?" He asked him, sounding like he had just been robbed of his privacy.

In a way, he was, considering that one of his biggest secrets had been discovered by the likes of the walking, talking cotton ball standing in front of him.

"Not necessarily." The cloud said with a nonchalant little shrug, pretending to sound indifferent. "I just happened to be in the sky above you when I heard you sing last night. Gotta admit, you certainly have the soul of an artist, along with such a pure voice to match."

Normally, Branch would've felt somewhat embarrassed that he, a gray and supposed-to-be unhappy Troll; which he kind of is, got caught singing. At least it wasn't from another Troll, otherwise he would have to deal with being called a hypocrite, which can be considered an insult to another Troll.

But at that moment, he felt pure red-hot anger coursing through his veins at the realization that he had been spied on, and from this annoying odd creature made out of water vapor and dust.

Without thinking, the gray survivalist Troll grabbed a nearby stick on the ground and then snapped it in half with ease, breaking it into having two sharp ends. His eyes were practically blazing, blue balls of fire as he glared at the cloud in front of them.

Immediately upon seeing him looking so angry, the white cloud turned a dark, stormy gray color with a loud rumble of thunder and a brief flash of lightning. Then, there was a heavy downpour of rain coming down from under him, wetting his socks and turning them a dirty brown color from their usual white.

Seconds later, the cloud was screaming out loud and running for his life with an angry Branch chasing him, sharpened sticks poised in his hands, ready to possibly stab something or someone, and Glitz was trying to calm down his Troll friend by grabbing onto the ends of his hair with his mouth in an attempt to slow him down. But it did very little to help the situation.

"That's right! You better run, cloud!" Branch shouted at him as he angrily chased the being made of water vapor into the tunnel system, not paying attention to where they were going.

"I'm gonna tear your little cloud arms off your cloud body and high-five your face with them!"

If Branch wasn't so blinded with anger and annoyance, he would've taken notice in where he was following the cloud to. But he continued to follow the walking bunch of vapor through the many tunnels, wanting to teach him a lesson about eavesdropping.

"Get back here!" He shouted at him as he easily kept up his pace with chasing the cloud, almost keen on attempting murder. He felt Glitz tugging on his hair, but he ignored it.

"Come back!" Branch yelled as daylight slowly began to stream into the tunnel from above. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Ta-da! We're here!" The cloud exclaimed upon turning around and throwing his arms in the air with celebration.

Branch immediately halted in his rampage to seriously hurt the cloud when he realized just what had happened. Maybe the cloud actually did know where the tunnel went to. He then felt Glitz release the little bit of his hair from his mouth.

But right when Branch put his sticks into his hair for future use, and before he could even speak, the cloud was already taking his leave.

"I gotta go now. Some cloud stuff to do." He said. "Catch you on the way out, Dumpy Diapers?" He asked.

Branch narrowed his eyes at him. "It's Branch." He corrected him dryly.

"Ah. Branch." The cloud said, repeating the gray Troll's name. "I'll keep that in mind. Remember, when you need me, just call for Cloud Guy."

"That won't be necessary." Branch said to him while shaking his head. He actually really hoped he wouldn't cross paths with him again.

Cloud Guy, which he suspected was the walking cotton ball's name, just shrugged. "Just know that I'm always there, if you ever want or need anything." He said as he got back to the tunnel. "Unless.... you die, die, die, die."

The last words were repeated in the same deep-sounding echo from before as Cloud Guy vanished back into the tunnels. Branch just watched him leave so melodramatically with disbelief mixed with unamusement before he and Glitz finally got a good look around at where they were.

The old Troll Tree in the center of Bergen Town. Branch briefly remembered what his life was like in the old tree that the Trolls called home before they all evacuated it for their own safety. But now, it was like he could hardly recognize it anymore.

Everything that had been lush and green was now brittle and brown, no leaves or colorful pods hanging from the now gnarled branches. The only good thing about it that was different was that the giant cage that was around it was gone. The Bergens must've had it removed not long after the Trolls had escaped.

From their spot at the top of the dead tree, Branch and Glitz could see Bergens of all ages just moaning and moping around the town aimlessly, sounding angry, indifferent or even just bored, walking at a snail's pace with heavy, begrudging steps. They were the epitome of gloom. Nothing in life seemed to make them happy.

"Yeesh. And I thought I was miserable." Branch muttered to himself with disdain. Maybe that's how the other Trolls think about him.

Glitz just buzzed at him incredulously. "Yeah, yeah, I know." The gray Troll said. "But that's what everyone back home says about me."

The glowing fuzzbug just looked at him with obvious uncertainty, not really believing him. "Okay, maybe not exactly everyone, but you get the point." Branch said to his little friend while briefly rolling his eyes.

"But on a slightly brighter note, if they're still being unhappy, then that means that they haven't eaten a Troll yet. So there's still time to save them."

Then he and his little companion turned around to see the craggy castle in the dreary distance, where it stood higher than the rest of the buildings in town, since it was perched on top of a large hill.

"And I think I know where they are." The survivalist Troll said, looking over at it.

He already knew that the Bergen chef from the party two days ago would try to bring back Trollstice, but she needed to run it by the king first. Plus, with the Trolls she had captured, they certainly weren't enough to let everyone in Bergen Town have a so-called taste of happiness. Right now, the castle seemed like the most likely place where they might've been taken, at least for the time being. And Branch didn't want to dwell too long on the thought that the Bergen chef and king might be coming up with a plan on how to get the rest of the Trolls.

It wasn't going to be easy getting inside the castle without possibly being seen by a Bergen, no matter how small he is compared to them. But Branch was willing to take that chance if he was to rescue the captive Trolls and bring them home. He then turned over to his little fuzzbug friend.

"Stay in my hair, and don't come out unless I tell you it's safe." He said, pointing up to his thatch of midnight black hair. "Okay?"

Glitz buzzed out a confirmation, and then nestled himself in Branch's ebony colored hair. Luckily, his hair hid the glow of the little turquoise bug. Branch smiled up at where Glitz was hiding, and then got back to business. The next step to do, infiltrate the castle.

A/N: I know that this chapter was a bit shorter than the last one, but at least this covered two important scenes. Yes, even the one with that really annoying walking bundle of vaporous gas. You'll soon see why, though.

The song that I used is "When You Wish Upon a Star," and it's the version sung by Jesse McCartney. He's actually pretty good. However, I don't own it in any way or form.

The next chapter, I assure you, will be when Branch meets Poppy. Then you'll finally see how that first meeting will go.

Until next time, y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think. They are highly appreciated. And remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly!