Gray is Not All Colorless

A/N: I'm so, so, SO sorry for taking so flipping long on this! College had been taking about 95% of my time for the past few months, almost up to the point where I was sleep deprived for a couple of days! Scratch that, a couple of weeks!

Because of that, I hadn't written much about ANYTHING on ANY of my stories. But now, I have about a six-week break before the next semester starts, and I am going to take complete and total advantage of that.

Now, I'm sure you guys aren't here to listen to me rant about lack of sleep. Let's get on with the long-awaited Chapter 9! Roll it!

Chapter 9

Seeking Truth and Answers

Once they got back to Bridget's bedroom, the scullery maid carefully took Branch out of her apron pocket. But instead of putting him back in his cage, she placed him onto her pillow. Then, she sat down on the bed herself, careful to not jostle it too much to send the Troll flying off.

"You can go ahead and explore anywhere in the castle if you want for a few minutes, Branch." The female Bergen said to the gray Troll. "I have a surprise planned for you."

Branch tilted his head to the side. "Really?" He asked her. "You trust me enough not to escape?"

Bridget just smiled at him as she went over to the other side of the room. "If you really wanted to, you would've done it by now." She said simply.

Branch bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling. But there was a little knowing smirk appearing on his face.

"Fair enough." He answered.

He then ran over to the edge and then jumped onto the night table near her bed, where his cage used to be and where the ventilation shaft was; the one where Tempest had used to sneak in earlier. He went over to it and gently rattled the bars to see that it was still loose.

"Do you guys have a library?" He asked, an idea suddenly coming into his head.

Bridget nodded. "Yeah." She said. "I would dust every book there every month, maybe even read one or two pages of one. It's just upstairs. It's actually right above us."

Branch nodded, and then managed to slightly pull open the bars of the vent, just enough for him to slip through easier. Then, he squeezed through and started walking through the darkened shaft.

Once he had reached a certain point where the shaft was going upward, he then used his hair to springboard himself upward. He didn't quite make it all the way up, but at least the ducting was firm enough for him to grab and climb the rest of the way up.

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

Soon, when he peered through another side shaft, he saw the library. He lightly rattled the bars and saw that they were loose. Branch then carefully pushed them down and then leaped forward, reaching with his hair over to one of the chandeliers to hold onto.

Branch took a moment to look around the surprisingly gigantic library. Of course, he expected the books to be much bigger than himself, but he didn't count on the Bergens having so many. But he had a feeling that most of these books weren't exactly like the ones back in Troll Village. Since Bergens don't feel happiness, if they had even had stories, they wouldn't have happy endings.

Pushing those thoughts away from his mind for the time being, Branch swung himself over to one of the many shelves. Then, he started scanning the books, looking for anything that had to do with the truth about Trollstice.

Tempest seemed to have had no clue about what the Bergens really did with the Trolls before their escape. He wasn't sure if she was actually unaware of it, so he had to find some clues about whether or not she knew.

Unfortunately, most of the books didn't have titles on their spines, and there was no way that Branch was going to search through the entire library for just one book; that would take at least a few weeks. So he decided to start pushing some of the books out of the way, looking for either the title of the book, or for something behind them that could lead him to it.

After pushing the twentieth book away, and his muscles almost tightening in pain, Branch saw something that piqued his interest. There was a silver, six-digit combination lock above him.

He carefully pushed down one of the bigger books to use as a stand so that he could reach closer to it. However, without the code, there was no way he could unlock it. And even if he could try to figure it out himself by listening in to the turning of the locking mechanisms inside, there wasn't anything stable enough that he could hold onto for a good enough period of time.

Before he could even start to think of all the possible combinations for it, his ears twitched upward when he heard someone coming into the library. He quickly hid behind the books and watched as King Gristle came into the library, holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"Of course, when another Troll is staying here, she would get curious." Gristle muttered under his breath. "And not just any Troll. A gray and unhappy one just like her, and a guy, too. She's acting like she has never talked to a guy."

Branch raised a curious brow at the Bergen king's words. Was he talking about Tempest? She must've told him about what happened earlier that day, when he rejected her poor excuse of an invitation to lunch. She probably was only there just to report everything about him to Gristle. Typical plan of having and using a spy.

But then, he saw something scribbled on the paper in Gristle's hand as he placed it onto the table. Branch reached into his hair and pulled out his binoculars to get a better look. When he did, he saw that there weren't any words on it, but numbers. Six of them.

"7-8-9-0-2-5." He whispered.

Then, he looked back up at the combination lock. There was no way it was that simple, right?

He looked back down at Gristle, who pocketed the piece of paper, and then started scanning the shelves. Branch immediately went back behind some of the books and waited with tense breaths, hoping that the young Bergen king didn't see him.

After waiting tensely for a good five minutes, Branch could sense, and even smell, the king getting closer and closer to his hiding spot by climbing up the nearby ladder. He shut his eyes and waited for the worst.

Suddenly, the doors to the library opened. "Your Majesty." Someone said, getting Gristle away from the bookshelf. Branch immediately relaxed when he saw that he wasn't going to get caught.

"Yes?" Gristle snapped with annoyance.

"Your supper is ready, sir." The guard said.

Gristle got off the ladder and then walked over to the guard. "About time." He said. "I'm famished."

Branch twitched his ears around, listening to the footsteps of both Bergens leaving the library until he could hear them anymore. Then, he looked back up at the combination lock, ready to take a gamble. With his hair, he deftly moved the numbers into the order he saw on the piece of paper.

When he got the final number into place, immediately there was the sound of gears turning. Then, a large book suddenly appeared in front of Branch from above him, the worn out cover showing the symbol for Trollstice.

"Bingo." The gray Troll whispered as he wrapped his hair around the book and carefully lifted it with all his strength.

"What are you doing here?" A sharp voice suddenly shouted, making Branch jump and drop the heavy book, and it fell to the library floor below, opening it up to a certain section.

Acting on instinct, Branch made his hair flare out, bits of it slapping Tempest across the face. "Ow!" The female gray Troll rubbed her cheek. "Can you stop doing that?" She snapped.

"What are you doing here?" Branch asked her snarkily, ignoring her question.

"Look who's talking. You're not supposed to be wandering around here." Tempest retorted back. "That scullery maid can't do anything right."

"Don't you dare talk like that about her!" Branch shouted. "She actually has some sense of kindness in her, which I never thought was possible with Bergens. But Bridget proved me wrong."

Tempest was almost snarling through her teeth, feeling a strange but negative emotion swirling inside her. It felt like her blood was boiling, and her skin felt like it was on pins and needles, crawling up and down her spine. He would rather be friends with a Bergen, who he hates, than with someone of his own kind! Can he just make up his mind?!

"Can you be any more infuriating?!" She shouted. "You would rather become chummy with a member of a species you hate than with one of your own kin?"

"You're NOT one of my kind!" Branch shouted back at her. "To betray my people is an act of treason! You're a traitor by using me as bait to lure the other Trolls on a suicide mission!

"And yet, you're still blind to the fact that the Bergens have been lying to you! They eat Trolls to be happy! We were being kept like livestock, and then twenty years ago, we made our escape! But not at a price. The king lost his daughter, and apparently, you. We never abandon our own on purpose. It was an accident. We thought that you and the princess were dead!"

Tempest's eyes widened as she heard the story of the Trolls' escape. But Branch was still ranting at her.

"And now, thanks to you, my people are going to be marching to their deaths to try and save me! Yes, I may be gray and unhappy like you, but we are nothing alike! I still have some people who care about me, who believe that I can become something more than a gray hermit! I can never really push them away, even if I wanted to!

"They are what kept me going for all of these years! You on the other hand, have no one! The only reason why you're even alive right now is because the Bergens know that they can't eat an unhappy Troll! And the upcoming genocide of my people; their blood will be on YOUR HANDS!"

"ENOUGH!" Tempest shouted, her blood bubbling and flowing through her veins like magma at the male Troll's words. "GET OUT!"

"I SHOULD'VE DONE THAT IN THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF MY BEING HERE IN THIS TROLL-FORSAKEN CASTLE!" Branch retorted back as he roughly grabbed Tempest's arm and then swung his hair over to the chandelier. Then, he lowered both himself and a screaming and fidgeting Tempest down to a couple of feet above the opened book he had dropped.

"Read this if you still don't believe me!" Branch growled as he unceremoniously dropped Tempest onto the open book. Then, he quickly retracted himself up to the chandelier and then swung himself over to the open ventilation shaft and went inside, closing it behind him with a loud slam, stomping through the shaft as he made his way back towards Bridget's room.

Tempest let out a short scream of fury as she clenched her fists and then pulled herself off the pages of the book. She was through with trying to understand him. Apparently, it is no use because one minute, he hates Bergens, and then the next, he's friends with one. But there is one thing that probably won't change: the fact that he hates her.

As she started to dust off her dress, she then saw the illustration on the page she landed on. Taking a couple of steps back to get a better look at it, Tempest felt chills go down her spine, and her eyes grew wide with horror.

The picture was of a giant Bergen throwing a small Troll into its mouth. Her head started spinning as she read the caption under the illustration.

The discovery of Trolls, the Bergens' source of happiness. Eating one gives joy.

Tempest felt like she was going to throw up. But then, she heard the doors open again; however she didn't remove her eyes from the picture. It was only just when she heard the sound of a plate dropping to the floor with a loud crash that she looked to see who came into the library. It was Gristle, looking scared and guilty all at once.

"Is it true?" She asked him in a low voice, looking back down at the page underneath her.

There was no answer from the only person that she had considered to have a connection with.

"TELL ME!" She screamed. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING TO COVER THIS UP! I KNOW WHAT I SAW! NOW TELL ME THE TRUTH! BERGENS EAT TROLLS, DON'T THEY?!"

Just then, another pair of heavier footsteps came beside her. "Of course, dear."

It was Chef, and her answer made Tempest's blood freeze with fear. "Were you honestly that naïve and bent on revenge that you actually believed that we used Trolls for entertainment? No. For us, the only way for us to be happy is to eat a Troll. But we haven't had a taste of Troll in twenty years.

"But now, thanks to your plan, which only stemmed from that foolish Troll's act of selflessness and your peculiar fascination with him, soon we will have Trollstice once again!"

Now Tempest really felt sick to her stomach. She looked over at Gristle from the corner of her eye, and he only looked down at his sandals, not wanting to meet her shell shocked and heartbroken gaze. Branch had been right all along.

The air suddenly felt too heavy for her to breathe, so Tempest quickly headed over to a different ventilation shaft, ignoring Gristle calling out to her, and just started running. She didn't care where she was going, she needed to get out of there.

Soon, she saw the orange hues of the sunset peeking through one of the entrances. Without thinking, she ran over to it, pushed it open and then just kept running. She didn't care about where she was going; she just needed to get out of there.

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

Branch must've stayed in the ventilation shaft for a good ten minutes to calm down. He didn't want to keep his anger all bottled up and then lash out at Bridget if she asks about what happened. Although it was unlikely that it would happen because she knew better than to overstep. But he didn't want to take that risk.

Eventually, he made it back to Bridget's room and made his presence known by letting the bars of the shaft door screech loud enough to be heard. The scullery maid turned around from the small window above her bed to see her new little friend arrive.

"Hey, Branch!" She greeted him cheerfully as she quickly made her way over to the desk, blocking him from the view of her bed. "How was the library?"

"Let's just say that you guys have books in places I never thought of." Branch answered vaguely, not ready to tell her about the book on Trollstice being kept in a secret compartment, most likely to keep Tempest from finding out the truth.

Bridget didn't seem to mind his somewhat vague answer, and if she was suspicious about it, she didn't say anything about it. Then, she held out her palm flat to him.

"Are you ready for my surprise?" She asked him.

Branch smiled at her and then carefully walked onto her palm. Then, Bridget managed to slowly climb onto her bed towards the window and held her palm level with the sill. Needless to say, Branch was stunned by the sight he saw.

There was a small glass terrarium that she put together into a sort of bedroom for him. There was a small, empty jewelry box that she made as a bed. There was a small dresser with a tiny mirror that was probably from a dollhouse, along with a matching chair.

Along the bottom were small torn pieces of cotton that she glued together to form carpet, along with a deep blue strip of fabric as a rug. It was simple, but charming. However, it was the thought of it that stood out the most to Branch.

The gray Troll slowly stepped off Bridget's palm and then started looking around the terrarium with amazement. "I thought that since you would definitely not want to sleep in that cold and uncomfortable cage, I thought that you could use a somewhat more suitable place to sleep." The female Bergen explained. "At least while we're alone and no one's coming in to check on you."

Branch looked over at the bed and saw that the mattress was a small, triple-layer strip of cotton glued together, the small dark green blanket was made out of wool fabric, and the pillow was a simple cotton ball covered in a light gray silk fabric. He lightly ran his hand over everything, taking everything around him in awe. After looking over everything in the new space, he looked over at Bridget.

"Thank you." He said to her with a grateful and touched smile. "This means a lot to me."

Bridget just smiled at him with a small shrug. But suddenly, Branch's ears twitched. He immediately began listening carefully.

"What is it?" Bridget asked.

After a few more twitches, Branch's eyes widened. "Someone's coming." He said, and he immediately began running back towards his cage.

Bridget jumped off her bed and headed over to the sink in the corner of the room, pretending that she had been cleaning dishes. Branch managed to close the door of the cage and then sit down at the far side, his arms crossed just as a guard entered the room.

"Scullery maid." He said to the smaller female Bergen brusquely.

Bridget looked over at the guard. "Yes, sir?" She asked him politely.

She didn't have to pretend to act meek and nervous, the way he was looking at her was enough to give her shivers down her back.

"How is the prisoner behaving?" He asked.

Bridget just gestured over to the cage on the night table. "He hasn't said a word all day." She easily lied.

The guard looked over at Branch, who only narrowed his eyes at the taller Bergen and then looked away, giving the appearance of being defiant.

"He sure is a stubborn thing." The guard said. "He's all what the castle has been talking about."

"Well, I suppose seeing another gray Troll would arouse some gossip." Bridget answered.

"Speaking of gray Trolls, have you seen the king's pet?" The guard asked her.

His words immediately caught Branch's attention as he twitched an ear over in his direction.

Bridget raised a curious brow. "No." She answered. "Why?"

"She ran off after she had an argument with the king and Chef." The guard answered. "Apparently, she found the book about Trollstice that was hidden in the library and was demanding answers. When she got them, she took off in the direction of the gardens."

Bridget nervously stole a brief glance over at Branch before facing the guard again. "I haven't seen her, sir." She said to him. "I've been here almost all day, and the only gray Troll I've seen in here is him." She then gestured with her head over in Branch's direction.

"If you ever see her sneaking around, catch her and then bring her back to the king whether she wants to or not." The guard said. "He would like to have some serious words with her." With that, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Bridget immediately let out a sigh of relief once the guard had left. Then, she went over to the night table, where Branch was opening the door of the cage.

"You found that book?" She asked him, thankfully not sounding like she was accusing him.

"I wanted to know why the king didn't tell Tempest the truth about Trollstice." Branch answered. "So I sort of snooped around a bit. When I found the book, she startled me and we argued for a bit. So I showed her it before I stormed out."

"You know, I've always wondered about that, too." Bridget said, tapping a finger against her chin. "It's not like we can eat her anyway, since she's gray like you. But I'm always expected to follow orders, so I didn't question him."

"And now she's gone?" Branch asked out loud. "What is she up to?"

"But we have to find her!" Bridget said. "It's almost past sundown. She was last seen heading towards the gardens, towards the woods. And I think you know very well that the forest gets even more dangerous after dark."

Branch slowly narrowed his sky blue eyes at her, not really liking where this was going. "Come on, Branch!" Bridget pleaded, holding her hands together. "She has never left the castle before. You know as well as I do that she wouldn't last an hour out there by herself. You said that you're Troll Village's best and only warrior, right? Then you know that you're more equipped to survive out there, track her down, and bring her back before she gets killed."

The male gray Troll only narrowed his eyes further at his Bergen friend, trying to resist the gnawing feeling of worry settling in the pit of his stomach. But the more he glowered at her, the more he felt that heavy stone settle deeper. Finally, he groaned.

"Fine!" He exclaimed. "But if we both get caught and eaten by some crazy monster out there, I'm not going to forgive you for that."

Bridget just rolled her eyes at Branch's threat. She knew that deep down, he actually cared. If he didn't, why would he come back for those Trolls from before in an attempt to rescue them? And that included sacrificing his freedom. He may be unhappy, but she could feel that his heart is still strong and brave, despite whatever cause made him lose his colors.

Branch quickly rummaged around in his hair, looking for his weapons. Lucky for him, he managed to have a bow, some arrows, a small dagger, a few matches, flint and steel, a frying pan of all things, and a first-aid kit. He then shrugged.

"Gotta make due with what I have." He muttered under his breath before he put the first-aid kit back in his hair. "You have to take me to the gardens, and then I can try to track her from there."

Bridget nodded and allowed Branch to climb onto her palm. Then, she grabbed a flashlight and carefully put her Troll friend into her apron pocket before quietly leaving her bedroom with her flashlight in her hand. She just hoped that they would find her in time.

A/N: Now, we will soon have the changing point. I think I have some of the next few chapters planned out. I just need to write them. But it will take some time, plus I need to update my other Trolls stories as well. Plus, I kind of have a pushy co-author for another story. But hey, I like working with him, and he's my friend, so I'm not really complaining.

Well, I hope that this chapter was worth the wait, and that y'all enjoyed it! Please leave a comment about what you think, and remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly! ;)