Chapter Fifteen - True Colors at Last
Ash blinked his eyes open and groaned as the light hit him. He rubbed his eyes. "What a weird dream. I'll have to ask Dad about that creature. Never seen anything like it." He sat up and stretched, blearily opening his eyes. He froze.
"I'm in my room?" Ash looked around. It certainly looked like his bedroom at the royal pod. But he didn't remember returning home. Last he checked, he was in the forest. Did Eclipse somehow whisk him away while he slept? "Okay, this is weird." Ash slid out of bed. He was even wearing his dark green pajamas, which made his purple hands and feet stand out.
Ash froze again. He sprinted to the full-length mirror in his room, and his jaw dropped.
He had his colors. Where he once had ash-grey skin, he now had a shade of purple a few hues darker than his grandmother's skin color. His hair, previously black, was now dark green like an evergreen tree. It even looked a little tamer than normal.
"I have my colors." Ash smiled broadly. "I have my colors! I HAVE MY COLORS!"
Footsteps pounded down the hall and his door flew open. Poppy stared at him worriedly. "What? What is it?"
"Mom!" Ash hugged his mother so tightly that she nearly fell over. "I have my colors! Isn't that awesome?!"
"Oh, is that what all the fuss is about?" Poppy returned Ash's hug. "I'm very happy for you, Ash. You look good!"
"I feel good!" Ash bounced excitedly. "I feel so great! I could sing!"
"You can sing after breakfast. Come along." Poppy said.
"Okay!" Ash kept bouncing as he followed her. His father sat at the table, and Ash jumped up into the chair next to him. "Look at this, Dad! I have my colors!"
"You sure do!" Branch tousled his son's hair. "You look great."
"I can't wait to show everyone! I'm just so excited I can hardly stand it!" Ash bounced in his seat.
"Well, can it at least wait until after breakfast, young man?" Poppy put a plate of waffles in front of him.
Ash wolfed them down and ran to his room to change his clothes and comb his hair. "Oh, is everyone else already here and home?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't they be?" Branch shrugged.
"So where are they? Resting or something?" Ash asked.
"They're around." Poppy assured. "You'll find them, I'm sure. Why don't you go see the rest of your family?"
"Yeah! I gotta find Grandma! We're twinsies!" Ash sprinted out the door and leapt across tree branches. The sun shined brightly over Troll Grove. Evidently, Eclipse and the other trolls handled the storm well. Relieved, Ash ran out to his grandparents' pod home. They were having coffee outside when he arrived, and they also showed great interest in his colors.
"You look great, Ash." Rosiepuff said.
"I've heard that all morning." Ash laughed. "Look at us! We look alike!"
"Indeed we do." Rosiepuff nodded.
"We should go show everyone else!" Ash said. "I want to find the others, anyway, make sure they're okay."
"You two go ahead." Peppy said. "Enjoy your walk!"
Rosiepuff and Ash walked off, and Ash kept his eyes peeled for his friends. "I'm glad you are all okay. After that storm the other day."
"Everything's bright and cheery here, Ash." Rosiepuff said.
"I can tell." Ash kept looking up at his dark green hair, and he laughed giddily every time.
"Hey Prince Ash!" a teenage troll called from his group of friends. "Love your colors!"
"Thanks!" Ash called.
"Pretty colors, Your Majesty!" another troll called as they passed.
"Thank you!" Ash's smile was so wide that his cheeks hurt. While he and his grandmother walked, every troll they passed complimented his colors. For once, Ash felt accepted by the trolls. He didn't feel like an outsider anymore. Everyone greeted him warmly, and nobody stared at him with pity. Everyone was smiling.
Something did feel a little off, but Ash shrugged the feeling away. What could be wrong on the best day of his life?
Finally, he and Rosiepuff found Prowlus and Harper. Prowlus stood in a complex yoga pose while Harper painted him.
"Your colors are so nice, Ash!" Harper pulled out her sketchbook and colored pencils. "Hold still! Let me color them!"
"Look, Prowlus!" Ash held Rosiepuff's hand. "We look like twins! I inherited Grandma's colors!"
Prowlus was still in his complex pose and couldn't speak, so he gave Ash a thumbs-up.
"This is so cool!" Ash hopped around like a grasshopper. "I don't know how this day could get any better!"
"Done!" Harper handed Ash the picture, depicting him and Rosiepuff together.
"Wow. That was fast." Ash mused, staring at the picture.
"I'm the village artist, aren't I?" Harper shrugged.
"Yeah, good point." Ash tucked the picture into his hair. "Have you seen everyone else?"
"Yes. They're around here." Harper made a vague gesture to their general vicinity.
"Do you know where they are specifically? I want to make sure everyone made it home." Ash said.
"Everyone is home and safe, Ash." Rosiepuff assured. "And you have your colors at last."
"Can we keep looking for everyone?" Ash requested. "Gris and Steve are up in the castle, I'm sure. And if Prowlus and Harper are here, Ebony must be around. But I have to find all my friends."
"As you wish, Ash." Rosiepuff followed Ash as they kept walking. Throughout the morning, they wandered Troll Grove and Ash received a gazillion more kind words from the other trolls about his colors. Ash couldn't remember the last time he smiled like this. He finally accomplished his dream, and he was ready to live like a normal troll.
Now if he could only find his friends. Where were Sir Tandeth, Finny, and Iris?
At lunch, Ash and Rosiepuff decided to sit by the pool to rest and eat. Ash kept staring at his reflection in the water, smiling as he touched his purple skin and dark green hair.
"Are you happy, Ash?" Rosiepuff asked.
"This is what I wanted." Ash sighed. "I'm overjoyed. I finally completed my quest." He chuckled as he sat next to his great-grandmother. "Kind of funny that I inherited your colors. I did get my mom's eyes. I thought I'd look more like Grandpa Peppy."
"Would you like to look like him instead?" Rosiepuff asked. She snapped her fingers, and Ash looked down to see he had changed colors. He now had peach orange skin and dark pink hair, just like Peppy.
"Hey, Grandma!" Ash laughed. He got a sly smile. "You know, I also could've looked like Dad." Another snap from Rosiepuff's fingers, and Ash changed to have Branch's colors. "Or what if I had Mom's skin and Dad's hair?" Another snap, and it was done. Ash barely contained his giggles. "Or what if I had pink skin with purple polka dots and ice-blue hair with frosted tips?" One more snap, and Ash doubled over laughing when he saw his reflection. Rosiepuff giggled as well, looking amused by his reaction. Ash calmed down after a minute and sighed heavily, still smiling. "Okay, that was fun. Now give me back my true colors."
"Which colors do you want?" Rosiepuff asked.
Ash's eyebrows furrowed a bit in confusion. "Um, my true ones? You know, the green hair and purple skin?"
"As you wish." Rosiepuff changed his colors back to normal.
Ash checked his reflection again, and he smiled. But he noticed something. "Wasn't my hair darker than this?"
"Was it?" Rosiepuff asked.
"Maybe it's just the light." Ash shrugged. "We need to find the others. I don't suppose you know where they are?"
"The others are around here." Rosiepuff assured.
"But where specifically?" Ash asked. "Is Iris settling in okay? Is Finny still around, or did her parents pick her up? And where the heck is Sir Tandeth? He never leaves my side."
Rosiepuff's head tilted to one side in her visible confusion. "Who are they?"
Ash stared at her in surprise. "Didn't I tell all of you about my friends I met in the forest? Did you meet them yet?"
"I don't know anyone by those names." Rosiepuff said.
"That's weird…" Ash tried to think about when he might've introduced them. If he hadn't, wouldn't Prowlus and Harper have done the introductions? "Hey, Grandma?"
"Yes?" Rosiepuff asked pleasantly.
"How did I get home? I was back at the family camping spot and then I woke up here." Ash scratched his head. "Did Eclipse bring me back?"
"Yes, I'm sure she did." Rosiepuff said.
"You don't know for sure?" Ash asked.
"Why are you so worried, Ash?" Rosiepuff asked. "You're safe and home, and you have your colors!"
"Yeah, I guess." Ash murmured. "Maybe I'll go home and wait for them. If you see the others, will you tell them I want to see them?"
"I will tell them." Rosiepuff said.
Ash journeyed home, thanking his parents when they complimented his colors again. He walked into his room and checked himself out in the mirror again. In the light of his bedroom, Ash could see his colors definitely looked different from this morning. His skin was now exactly the same as Rosiepuff's more lavender hue. His hair was the color of grass instead of a tree.
"I must've seen them differently when I first woke up." Ash assured himself. "Colors can look different in different lightings. It's all good." He decided to wait for his friends by reading the books on his shelf. He flipped through them, hoping to hear the call of one of his friends. Sir Tandeth's lack of presence especially concerned him. The black knight had vowed to stay by his side. Though Ash had encouraged him to think for himself, the child had come to expect Sir Tandeth to always be nearby.
Dinnertime came quicker than Ash expected. In fact, it seemed as though most of the afternoon passed in an hour. He joined his parents, Prowlus, and Harper at the table.
"Did you have good day?" Poppy asked.
"Yeah. Grandma and I had a lot of fun." Ash said. "She even changed my colors a few times. I looked so silly!"
"Do you like your colors?" Poppy asked. "We can always change them."
"No, no, it's fine." Ash assured. "I did sometimes wonder if I'd end up with your colors, Mom. Can you imagine? A boy troll completely pink!"
"No need to imagine!" Poppy snapped her fingers. Ash looked down, and he jumped.
He was pink!
"Mom!" Ash gasped. "What—"
"What about these colors?" Poppy snapped her fingers again, and Ash now had orange skin and dark blue hair. Poppy snapped her fingers once more, and Ash had light blue skin and dark pink hair. "Unless you like your original colors." Poppy snapped one final time to give Ash purple skin and dark green hair.
Ash gawked at her. "Mom?! How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Poppy asked innocently.
"Change my colors like that! You don't have magic!" Ash stared at his hands. "Do you?"
"Is there a reason I wouldn't?" Poppy asked.
Ash looked to his father disbelievingly. But Branch just shrugged. Ash shook his disoriented head. "I need some air." He hurried outside, sitting a short distance from his pod and taking a few deep breaths. His eyes traveled to his surroundings. He saw Troll Grove, illuminated by moonlight with the lights of pods dotting the darkness like stars. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be stars in the sky. Ash ran his fingers through his hair.
Prowlus appeared, sitting next to Ash. "Hey, Prowlus." Ash sighed. "Sorry if I'm acting like a spazz. I'm just really confused. I thought this is what I wanted. At last, I have my colors, and everything is great. I am really worried about our friends. I don't know where Finny, Sir Tandeth, and Iris disappeared to. Plus, I don't even know how I got home! No one's giving me a straight answer to any of my questions! How does Mom suddenly have magic? How did I get home? When did I get my colors, anyway?" He glanced to Prowlus, and then sighed heavily again. "You know what? I'm being ridiculous. This is my dream come true. I have my colors. I completed my quest. So what if things have changed while I was gone? For all I know, Finny is with her parents again. And I bet Sir Tandeth and Iris are around here somewhere. I bet I'll see them tomorrow. I'm being silly." Ash hugged Prowlus. "Sorry for talking your ears off, Prowlus. You're a great listener, though. Thanks."
Prowlus tousled Ash's hair. "No problem, little bro!"
Ash's eyes widened, and he leaned back away from Prowlus. He stared at the blue troll.
"What?" Prowlus asked.
Ash screamed and jumped backwards so hard that he fell off the branch. Prowlus grabbed him by the vest and hauled him back up. "Easy there, little bro!" Prowlus laughed.
Ash stuttered and stumbled over his words. "You…you're…you're talking!"
"What about it?" Prowlus asked.
"How are you talking?" Ash demanded.
"Is there a reason I wouldn't be able to?" Prowlus shrugged.
Ash stared, dumbfounded. "Because...you were born mute...and you use Sign Language to talk…"
"What's Sign Language?" Prowlus asked.
Ash's jaw dropped. "I'm going to bed goodnight!" He sprinted back into his pod, ignoring his parents' and Harper's cheerful greeting, and ducked into his bedroom. He slammed the door shut and pushed his bookcase in front of the door to barricade it. He leaned against the bookcase, panting heavily. "What in the world? What is going on?!" He slammed his fist into the bookcase in frustration, and a book fell from one of the shelves and landed on his head. "Ow! Oh come on!" He reached down to pick up the book, and he paused.
The book turned out to be one of Branch's encyclopedias of creatures. The book lay open on a page that depicted the same octopus-like creature Ash encountered the night before.
Ash sat cross-legged on the ground and picked up the book. He read from the pages. "'Dream Suckers. This dangerous creature traps its victims by putting them to sleep and administering ideal dreams. The only way to escape is to shock oneself awake, lest they be trapped in the dream forever.'"
Ash's eyes widened. It all made sense. Why he couldn't find his friends. Why everyone was acting overly cheery towards him and his colors. Why Poppy suddenly had magic and why Prowlus could suddenly speak.
"I'm in a dream." Ash gasped.
"Well, well, look who figured it out."
Ash jumped and looked up. Rosiepuff stood before him, though she seemed different. Her eyes held a knowing yet malicious gaze. She then put on a big smile. "Aren't you so smart, little one!"
"Yeah, so smart!"
Ash looked around and saw his other family members there: Poppy, Branch, Peppy, Prowlus, and even Rosie. Ash blinked a few times. "Wait a minute, how did you get in here?"
"It is a dream, little prince." Poppy said. "We can't be stopped by a bookcase."
Ash stood and held up the book like a shield. "I want out of this dream right now!"
"Why would you want to leave?" Peppy asked. "Anything you want to happen can happen in here."
"But none of this is real!" Ash protested. "I may have my colors here, but I'll always know it's not the real thing!"
"You can pretend, then." Rosiepuff said. "Just make believe this is your home."
"You can be colorful and happy in here." Prowlus said.
"I want to go home!" Ash demanded.
"You want to go back to the real world, where you're grey and ostracized from the other trolls?" Rosiepuff asked with a raised eyebrow. "Can you really tell us you're okay with that life?"
"I don't have to listen to you." Ash scoffed. "You're not my family."
"But you know your family." Branch said. "Think about it, Ash: do you want to be like me when I was your age?"
Ash saw the scenery around them change, and the other dream personifications disappeared except Branch and Rosiepuff. They now stood in the middle of a vast, colorful void. Branch changed until he had grey skin and black hair.
"Don't you remember what I told you?" Branch asked. "How I lost my colors after losing my grandmother?" Rosiepuff suddenly vanished, leaving behind an echo of a scream that made Ash shudder. "I was isolated and alone, without any friends. I stayed that way for twenty years. Do you really think you won't be the same way?"
Ash saw his colors were grey and black once more. "Uh...no, I don't…"
"Even worse: you were born this way." Branch said. "What if you spend the rest of your life like this? What if you are grey forever?"
"I don't want that…" Ash murmured.
"Then stay here." Branch insisted. "You don't want to be like me, Ash. I was despised or pitied by every other troll in the village. Do you want to be like that?"
Ash cringed. "No. I don't. I want my colors. I want to be a normal troll, for once."
Branch smiled and snapped his fingers. Ash looked down, and then up, and was just a little relieved to see purple skin and green hair. Branch turned blue again. "There. That's better, isn't it?"
Ash hated to admit it, but it did. He liked being colorful. "But what about my friends?"
"They'll be fine." Branch said. "Besides, do you really have any true friends? People pity you, Ash. That's just how life is for grey trolls. I should know."
The words cut into Ash like a knife. He was very familiar with the looks trolls and even bergens sent him. Pity, discomfort, awkwardness, and the like. All because he was grey. His family, at least, tried to understand him.
His family. Branch was grey for twenty years. He was Ash's best resource for comfort and coping. Poppy understood the feeling of helplessness from feeling it before. Peppy and Rosiepuff had experienced true heartbreak and despair, even temporarily. Rosie as well. Prowlus was from a kingdom that was once inhabited entirely by grey trolls. Gris and his family accepted him regardless of his colors. What would they say if he never came home?
What about Sir Tandeth? He was as loyal as they came, and chose to stay with Ash after saving the child's life. Iris accepted his friendship and didn't judge him for being grey. She even had more experience than Prowlus about being grey! Finny might still be learning, but she didn't treat him any differently than she treated other new trolls. Where did he fall asleep? Were his friends trying to wake him up right now?
"If they didn't care, why would they stick around?" Ash asked. "Prowlus and Harper, and even Gris, they came after me to join me on this quest, even when I didn't want them to come because I thought it'd be too dangerous."
"They were forced to, I'm afraid." Branch sighed, patting Ash on the head. Troll Grove began to form around them.
Ash shied away from the dream version of his father. "No, they came because they care about me. Out of everyone in the whole world, they care the most about me. They followed me out here, and I made a vow to protect them. They love me, and I love them! Right now, they might need me. They're out in the forest because of me, and I won't abandon them!"
"You want to go back to the real world where you're grey and unhappy?" Branch asked.
"I want to go back to the real world where my friends are!" Ash shouted. "Let me out right now!"
"Oh, I don't think so." Branch said. "Come on, don't be silly. You want to be happy, right? You want your colors, right?"
"But I don't want to abandon my friends!" Ash summoned a ball of magical energy and shot it, sending Branch flying into the bushes. Ash ran off. "I can't believe I just hit my dad." He ducked behind some rocks. "Okay, think. Think, Ash. The book said I have to shock myself awake. What's shocking enough?" He had to think fast, before one of the dream incarnations of his family came to find him. "All right, if this is a dream, then I can do things that aren't real. I can make this into a nightmare! I always wake up from that. But what's terrifying enough to wake me up?"
"Oh Ash!" Rosiepuff's voice called. "Come on out!"
Ash shrunk down behind the rocks. Please don't find me. Please don't find me.
"Don't try to shock yourself awake! Whatever you change the dream to, we'll change right back!" Rosiepuff called.
"Great." Ash groaned quietly. He suddenly thought of something. "If I can't change the dream on my own, what if I can change it with magic? What did Dad say about making up your own spell? It has to rhyme, two lines minimum, and be careful with your wording. Okay, I can do this. I got top marks in impromptu singing and rhyming." Ash focused his magic, and he spoke in a strong voice. "If I don't wake up from his dream, it will be bad." He swallowed, dreading the next words coming from his mouth. "So show me the worst memory of my dad."
The dream dissolved and changed into something new. Ash now stood in the Troll Tree. A golden haze of light surrounded the tree, and Ash could just make out the bars that once surrounded the tree many years ago. Ash ran about the tree, searching for two trolls in particular. He heard singing, and he hurried to its source. He stopped at the end of a branch and looked down. He could see a five-year-old troll with light blue skin and azure hair, singing into a flower.
"Dad…" Ash breathed. He looked closer to the trunk of the tree and saw Rosiepuff hanging laundry on a line. This was the one memory Branch hated the most. The worst day of his life. On Ash's tenth birthday, Branch deemed him old enough to hear the story. He wanted his son to know just how well he understood Ash's dilemma with the greyness.
Ash forced himself to watch as the infamous bergen Chef lumbered towards his father. Rosiepuff screamed for her grandson, running towards the oblivious child who was too distracted by his joy. Ash started to feel fear, but he wasn't awake yet. He watched Rosiepuff run in, shove little Branch out of the way, and Chef's fingers curled around Rosiepuff instead.
His great-grandmother's scream was the last thing Ash heard before he awoke with a gasp. He felt something crawl across his head, and the Dream Sucker wiggled away. Ash sighed in relief, happy to be out of the dream. He suddenly realized several things that further disoriented him.
First, he wasn't by the lake with his friends. He and Prowlus sat against a rock in the middle of a rocky area. The first rays of light began to show over the horizon, and Ash saw the forest far away from them. A small campfire blazed before them. Prowlus looked to Ash in concern. Ash found ropes around his wrists and ankles, explaining why he couldn't move. He heard a scraping sound, and he looked up. Iris sat on the other side of the fire, sharpening her knife on a rock.
"Look who's finally awake." She grinned wickedly. "Now, maybe we can get started."