Song Defies Color

A/N: Geez! I've been working on this thing for almost an entire month! Or was it two months? One and a half? I don't really care, because I'm SO happy that this is completed! I'm so happy. College is killing me, and this entire year sucks! I feel like this year was really testing both my patience and my sanity.

Well, at least writing stories keeps me sane and calm during all of this craziness. Though I could do without some of my more impatient readers' repetitive asking about when I'll update certain stories. It's okay though, guys. I'm not really annoyed, but it does get me stressed out the more I see those kinds of reviews or comments, because I know that there are some stories that I haven't been working on in almost a couple of years, and they want me to work on them. Well, I'm trying my best, but I know that it's hard to do because I've been busy with other projects.

Anyway, enough of me somewhat ranting about my hectic life as of late. Let's just get on with the long-awaited Chapter 5! Roll it!

Chapter 5

The Secret Pinings

It had already been at least an hour since Branch had retreated back to his bunker and then immediately fell asleep after having quite the experience the night before. But it wasn't to last when the gray Troll started feeling like he was sweating buckets underneath his blankets, and his skin felt pretty hot to the touch; at least from what he could tell. His head was killing him with all of the incessant pounding inside, like his brain was getting rattled around, and he felt like he didn't want to move out of bed at all.

But he had lots of things to do. He had to check his inventory, collect some more supplies, and then wash his soaked vest and shorts from the night before. And then Guffin was going to give him plenty of chores to do on top of his own. Like tend to her gardens, mop all the floors again, and then do the chimney. He was going to be completely wiped out for a whole day after all of that.

Overall, he felt like complete and utter trash as he silently laid around in bed, sleeping soundlessly and dreamlessly, tucked under his warm sheets. He felt like he had only been asleep for a few minutes when he suddenly felt something hard and bristly jabbed into his side, making him yelp in surprise at the contact. 

He almost shot out of bed when he saw that Guffin had gotten into the bunker and had used a broom to poke him awake. For a moment, he wondered how she even got inside in the first place. But then he remembered that she was a sorceress; she can get in anywhere.

"Are you ill?" She asked him.

"No, madam!" Branch answered habitually before he felt a twang of dizziness hit him, and he fell back against his pillow, carefully clutching his head. 

"Yes." He admitted with a moan.

"What happened to you?" Guffin demanded.

Branch lightly moaned before removing his hand. "I.... I got caught in that freaky storm last night." He said. It was technically the truth, since he did get caught in it.

Guffin raised an eyebrow at him, still a little suspicious about his answer. But he was looking almost worse than death, so she didn't want him to spread any diseases a gray Troll might have. They may be fatal for other Trolls.

"Well, since I don't want you to spread any germs around my house, you may use this time to rest up and recover." She said, turning away from him stiffly.

Branch blinked, his ears slightly tilted in confusion. Was this her way of saying.... she was giving him the day off? He didn't dwell too much on the thought since the thinking process itself was making his migraine even worse.

"Yes, madam." He answered quietly.

"But do expect that I'll have a full list of chores for you the minute you have recovered completely." Guffin added. "Is that understood?"

Branch sighed. He should've seen that coming. "Yes, madam." He replied.

Then, Guffin turned on her heel and walked out of the bedroom, leaving him alone so that he could rest. Immediately after she left, Branch shut his eyes and went back to sleep. Later, he would get up and make some soup and an ice pack.

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

A couple of hours later, Branch thought he smelled something funny, like food burning. His eyes slowly blinked open, and then, once his vision became cleared, he screamed.

Cloud Guy was on his bed, cooking up something that probably won't agree with his stomach. "Rise and shine, Grumpy Pants!" He greeted him cheerfully. 

"You have caught yourself quite the cold, so Archer and I thought we would serve you something to eat."

Branch grimaced at the inedible mess that Cloud Guy was whipping up. "Um, as much as I appreciate the gesture, but two things first. One, how did you even get in here?!"

"I'm a cloud." The being of water vapor answered. "I seep in anywhere."

Branch just narrowed his eyes at him, not believing him. "Okay, I broke in." Cloud Guy admitted with a little shrug.

The gray Troll rolled his sky blue eyes. "And two, do you even know what you're doing?" He asked, pointing at the culinary disaster the cloud was making.

"No, he doesn't!" A different voice called out. 

Archer then came into the room, holding a bowl of vegetable soup in his hands. Upon seeing the mess that the cloud made, he groaned.

"I told you to leave the cooking to me." He said to the anthropomorphic cloud. "And now, you're going to clean up this mess."

Glitz came inside and buzzed in annoyance at Cloud Guy, making known of his own disapproval. He then zipped out of the room and came back with a cleaning dish rag in his mouth, nudging it towards the talking cotton ball. Cloud Guy just grumbled and took the rag, along with all of the stuff that he was using and headed out of the room to put them in the kitchen and start cleaning them up.

Archer then handed Branch the bowl of soup carefully. "When you've been around other Trolls for a while, you pick up on some things so that you can blend in." He said. "I'll go and help Cloud Guy and Glitz while you try to eat."

Branch smiled at the teenage Party Crasher. "Thanks, Archer." He said.

Archer just returned the smile and then left the room. Branch looked over at the bowl of soup placed in his lap and started to take little sips of the broth. It was delicious, and he was feeling very hungry.

Minutes later, everyone was back in Branch's room, the gray Troll feeling slightly better, the bowl of soup placed to the side of the bed. Archer then got out the present that he had saved last night from Branch's hair; the one that Guffin was trying to give to Princess Poppy.

"Okay, since you think that Guffin is more a witch than a sorceress, what did you find about her present?" Branch said.

"She is a witch." Archer muttered. "She may be your guardian, who knows a lot about magic, but that doesn't mean that I have to tolerate her and the trashy way she treats you."

He then opened the box and pulled out what was inside, which was a bottle of a dark red liquid inside of it, like wine. Except sometimes, it would be shimmering a lighter shade, even when it wasn't in the sunlight. There was a large crack along the glass, where the liquid was slowly dripping from as the contents inside began to shrink.

"Was she really planning on getting the princess drunk?" Cloud Guy asked.

"Well, this isn't really wine." Archer said, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. Branch's eyes widened.

"Did you tear that from the book itself?" He asked.

"I was tempted to," Archer admitted, "but then again, I found it in one of her spell books. She might blame it on you if she finds that one of the pages is missing. So I just took a picture of it and copied it."

He then handed Branch the picture. "Apparently, what Guffin was trying to give Poppy was a love potion."

"A love potion?" Cloud Guy asked. "Why?"

"I think I do." Branch responded. "Guffin was talking to Poppy about her giving her top student a chance, but she has no romantic interest in him."

He then looked at the photo of the spell. "How does it work?" He asked Archer.

"From what I could understand, it said that if a person drinks the potion, they'll fall in love with the first person they kiss." Archer explained. "So even if Poppy pushed him away after he kissed her, if she had taken the potion, then she would've fallen in love with him anyway."

"That's disturbing." Cloud Guy said, while Glitz just shuddered in discomfort at the thought.

"Do you know about this 'top student' of Guffin's?" Branch asked Archer. "I think Poppy said that his name was Creek."

The teenage Party Crasher rolled his eyes with disdain. "Yeah, I know who he is." He said with a scoff. 

"He's this stuck-up, snobby,  coward of a Zen Troll. He's been trying to get in good graces with Poppy for a while now, but she keeps him at a respectable distance, always reminding him that they'll remain as friends only."

Branch felt a pang of nausea swell up in his already sick stomach. "Is he.... popular around the village?" He asked cautiously.

"Duh!" Archer said, saying it as if it was obvious. "He's the most popular guy in town, and actually, everyone's been expecting him and Poppy to get together."

The gray Troll managed to swallow the bile that was building up in his throat and laid back against his pillow. Of course Poppy would have such a suitor. So much for even hoping that he might have a chance with the beautiful Troll princess.

"Great." He muttered.

Archer just scoffed. "Oh, come on, Branch!" He exclaimed. "You're a hundred times more the Troll than Creek could ever dream of being."

"I haven't even seen the Troll either, and I already don't like him." Cloud Guy added, crossing his arms against his puffy body.

"Really?" Branch asked, looking over at him as he carefully sat up again.

"I only annoy the Trolls that I like." Cloud Guy explained with a dopey smirk, making the gray Troll roll his eyes.

"Plus, you're way better than that Creek, that's for sure." Archer said. "Maybe if you can find a way to see Poppy again, she might give you a chance."

Branch just scoffed. "Please." He said. "She doesn't even know who I am."

"She knows that you exist." Cloud Guy came in. "That's a first."

The other three in the room just stared at him dryly, silently saying to him that he wasn't really helping the situation. Then, for once, the walking, talking cloud kept his mouth shut.

Branch just sighed as he once again laid his head carefully against his pillow, thoughts of the lovely Troll princess flooding his mind; her movements of her dancing while singing almost hypnotic. Poppy doesn't even know who he is, or why he had just suddenly vanished into thin air, as if he was nothing more but a figment of her imagination. 

And yet, he was really hoping that Poppy wouldn't give up on trying to find him. Even if maybe she doesn't learn to love him when she finds out about him; and if she doesn't mind his stormy gray physique much, at least it would be nice to have another friend. And to have a friend who's also a Troll; that would make him very happy.

Maybe if he regained his colors due to that happiness, Guffin would have to let him go, and he can be around other Trolls, including Poppy. Then possibly, Poppy might give him a chance! Hopefully, she can learn to see him in a different light, which in turn, can give Branch the courage to tell her about his feelings! 

But he will not tell her right away that he was the one who had saved her during the storm. She might just hang out with him because of that one reason, and nothing else; but he really doubted that she would be that shallow. There's a difference between naivety and shallowness.

Both hopes and doubts were overwhelming his mind, making his head spin around in pain. But among all of those thoughts, there was one that was sticking out the most. Why would Guffin try to get Poppy to unknowingly drink a love potion? What could she even gain from forcing her to fall in love with this Creek?

Branch had lived under her thumb long enough to know that she always had to get something from other Trolls that had worked with her, even if he was the only Troll who knew about her powers as a sorceress. And if she was using any magic, that meant that she was starting to get impatient about something. But what is it? And why is she being forced to use magic to get her way?

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

Hours later, as the sun was starting to set, Princess Poppy was silently walking along the edge of the lake, still searching if there was any sign of the mysterious Troll who had saved her life the night before. Her friends had already given up for the day, and they were still convinced that Poppy had dreamt him up. But the pink Troll was certain that he was real.

As she stared at the water, she had remembered the conversation she had with her father, King Peppy, minutes earlier, before she had left for the lake. She had told him about what had happened the night before, and after a few seconds of him acting like a mother hen to her, he too wished to express his gratitude to the young man who had rescued his daughter.

Flashback

"I'm so glad that you are safe, Poppy." King Peppy said, hugging the pink princess. 

The wizened king had orange skin, magenta hair with silver streaks; the fuschia color that his daughter had inherited from him, and brown eyes. He wore a green vest and lighter green shorts, with a walking cane in his hand.

When he had released Poppy from their embrace, he then went to their next topic of discussion. "So, what do you know about the young man who had saved you?" He asked. "I would also like to give him my deepest and most sincere thanks."

Poppy's smile slowly faded away, and then she shook her head. "No, Dad." She said. "The gang and I have searched the whole village almost all day, twice. No one has seen him, no one has a clue about who he might be, and no one seems to fit the description that I recall of him."

Peppy was silent for a few moments. "Are you sure.... that it wasn't just your imagination?" He asked her cautiously.

"No, Dad." Poppy said firmly. "I'm telling you, he was real. I'm gonna find that Troll, and I'm going to give him the biggest thank-you ever."

Peppy smiled, sensing that something had changed in his daughter, and it had to be because of that Mystery Troll who saved her. 

"Well, perhaps he might come for the Hero's Return Festival." He suggested. "The festival does last for three days. He might show up then."

Poppy sighed heavily. "I hope so, Dad." She said, looking out towards the window of the pod. "I really, really hope so."

End of Flashback

The pink Troll princess sighed heavily as she picked up a small rock from the ground and then made it skip across the water a couple of times before it sank beneath the surface. How could a Troll just simply disappear into nothingness without saying anything? It was certainly strange, since she had never met a Troll who was considered to be shy. 

Usually, Trolls, as a species, were very outgoing. Maybe he was just shy. But at the same time, it was a little odd that he had disappeared like that, and no one seems to know who he was, let alone if he was even real.

But Poppy knew that he was real. She had heard him singing softly to her; that beautiful angelic voice still ringing in her head, refusing to leave. She had never heard such an amazing, wondrous voice from a male Troll before; and she had heard every single voice in the village. 

Her heart started pounding hard and erratically inside her chest, and her head was feeling like it was fogged up the more her thoughts lingered on the Mystery Troll. No one ever made her feel this way before.

Was this.... longing? Was that what this feeling was? Longing to see someone again, almost like a princess in a fairytale, waiting for her handsome prince to come? 

A delicate red blush appeared on Poppy's cheeks. She doesn't even know who he is, and yet, she's acting so.... longingly, hoping that she will see him again and express her gratitude. And maybe, he might be the one she was looking for; someone that she can spend the rest of her life with, and help her rule the kingdom.

Feeling that sense of hope and longing beginning to swell inside of her, along with that Troll's glorious and golden voice vocalizing, that seemed to be echoing in her mind and ears, Poppy began to sing as she stared out towards the lake reflecting the sunset.

Poppy: All I ever wanted
Was the sunshine in my sky.
Freedom is the life I always knew.

Now all I am is haunted
As days and hours go by.
All I ever think about is you.

As she felt a breeze nipping at her bare arms, Poppy hugged them as she saw the wind make some leaves dance along the surface of the water, the setting sun making the water sparkle like gold silk. For a second, she saw an ethereal figure of a Troll appear as the leaves twirled, once again his voice harmonizing beautifully.

There you are,
Over me,
Taking me with your song-

The leaves continued to whirl around in place above the water until the wind carried the leaves away and into the distance. The figure also vanished with the gentle blowing of the late afternoon breeze, his voice fading into silence. The Troll princess stretched out a hand, as if she wanted the figure to stay.

To wild uncharted waters,
Miles from what is seen.
I was darkness-bound,
I had almost drowned,
'Til you came around
And you found me.

Poppy held her hands together as she took a couple of steps closer to the water. Oddly, she thought she should be afraid of the lake because she had almost died there. But instead, she was drawn to it because of the Mystery Troll who saved her, and his wonderful voice as he was softly singing to her.

Now I am on the shoreline,
But I'm still lost at sea.
In these wild uncharted waters,
Come find me again.

Poppy sighed, his siren-like melody still quietly ringing in her brain. Then, she saw another dream-like figure of a Troll standing on the water, creating little ripples as he lightly walked along the surface. Then, he slowly turned to face her, the memory of what she remembered seeing of him adding to the picture of the face as the sun continued to set.

All I do is wonder
Who you are and where you'll be.
In my mind,
Your melody goes on.

Stronger than the undertow,
The night you rescued me,
Silhouetted by
The rising dawn.

But then, it seemed that the Troll was getting farther away from her as he took steps backward, further out onto the water. His mouth seemed to have opened, singing out to her again, but there was no sound other than the memory of his sweet song that was in Poppy's mind as he vanished once more into thin air.

Oh, over me.
I cannot
Get over you!

Poppy tried again to follow him, but he was already gone the second her feet touched the water as it met the shores of the lake, his song fading away again. By now, the sun was almost gone, and the water changed its appearance from sparkling gold silk to a dark purple color. The crisp reflection of the lake was almost like a mirror, its glass-like appearance showing her own self perfectly.

In wild uncharted waters,
Beyond where Troll can see.
When your eyes outshine
The horizon line,
And you're finally real
Here beside me.

Now I'm right here
On the shoreline,
I'm right where you left me.
And your voice is like
A siren that guides me-

Poppy breathed in the cool air as dusk began to transition into night, twinkling stars appearing in the dark lavender sky. The pink Troll looked up at them, and then found herself making a wish on the brightest one she could spot.

To wild uncharted waters,
Alone, just you and me!
And I hope you're there,
In the open air.
There's no map or compass
To guide me, no.

Time may change
The shoreline,
But time will not change me!

If it takes my life,
I will finally find you again.
In uncharted waters,
Come find me again!

Feeling the song swelling inside as she reached that final note, Poppy stretched out her arms and up towards the night sky as she sang her heart out, hoping that her Mystery Troll was somewhere out there in the world, and he would hear her plea. When she ended the song, Poppy was panting as she slowly went down onto her knees, her eyes back down to look at her crystal clear reflection that was shown on the glassy water.

She doesn't care how long it might take; days, weeks, months, or even years. She is going to find that Mystery Troll, no matter what. And even if he doesn't want to be found for whatever reason, she is going to find him and give him her deepest and eternal gratitude, for she is now in his debt. Whether he might like it or not.

A/N: Whew! Well, now things are starting to get a bit more interesting. Guffin's present to Poppy was a love potion, but at least it didn't fall into her hands, so she's safe. For the time being, at least.

The song that I used is called "Wild Uncharted Waters" from the new, live-action of "The Little Mermaid." Before, I did use "Her Voice" from the Broadway version, but after watching the new movie and listening to the original version and other covers of this song, I thought that it would fit this chapter better. 

I even made a YouTube video of Poppy singing it a while back; not the official chapter video, though. But I'm not sure if I should do it, since I already made that video. But if you guys want, I'll make the official chapter video. Regardless, I don't own this song in any way or form. All credit goes to their rightful owners.

Well, that's all for now, y'all! See you guys in the next chapter! Please leave a comment about what you think. They are highly appreciated. And remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly! ;)