Quick heads up, everyone. The first part of this chapter involves a lot of negative talk about oneself, auditory and visual hallucinations, and some unintended self-injury.

Kismet was a big fan of King Trollex and Queen Barb. They approved of how the two royals treated their baby sister, and spent the night talking to them about what Willow was like when she was little. Between that and teasing Branch about Poppy, the BroZone brothers got a chance to get to know their youngest siblings, even with Willow being sound asleep in her bedroom.

Two weeks after meeting Kismet, Willow sent Barb and Trollex back home. They weren't happy about it, but someone had to be responsible, and they had kingdoms to run. Willow's recovery had been doing remarkably well, and her memory problems had significantly improved, so if they were going to leave, now would be the best time. So, with the assurance that she had enough people to keep her company and ensure she was healing like she needed to, the duo returned to their respective kingdoms.

Two weeks later, Willow found herself regretting her decision to send her partners home. The one thing she hadn't considered was the daunting prospect of sleeping alone. She hadn't been alone since she'd returned home, and the silence of the night was now a stark reminder of her isolation.

Now that she was alone, nothing was keeping the nightmares at bay. And thanks to her memory getting better, she could remember every part of her dreams. She hadn't had a proper night's sleep since her partners had left. Her brothers, luckily or unluckily, depending on who you asked, attributed it to her still needing to heal. But Branch was not convinced. He was convinced her health was deteriorating, not improving. "Are you sure you're doing alright? You're not looking so good," he voiced his concern.

"I'm fine," Willow insisted as Branch stared at her concerned one night. "You're worrying too much."

Willow had to concede to herself when the Kismet group showed their concern. There was no doubt about it; she was getting worse. The lack of a good night's sleep was taking its toll. And the voices from her nightmares were not helping things. And, of course, those voices had to be the same as her brothers—the brothers who have done nothing but coddle her for the past month.

After her most recent nightmare, all Willow wanted was a shower. She was proud to say she had made it into her bathroom without her crutches. However, getting into the tub for her shower was starting to feel impossible. Willow leaned against her bathroom sink and glared at the mirror, her pale complexion glaring back. "Come on, Willow. You can do this." She pushed herself up. "You're just gonna take a shower. You can take a shower without someone helping you." "Who are you kidding?" John Dory's scornful voice filled her ears. "You can't walk, let alone stand in a shower by yourself."

"No," Willow muttered. "I can do this." She pushed herself away from the sink and slowly walked to the shower. "Just go to bed," Clay scoffed. "You know you can't do anything without help. You're weak."

"You can't walk, sing, or do anything without someone there to help you," Bruce's condescending tone filled the air. "You're pathetic, you know that? Our pathetic, weak, forgetful baby sister."

"You know, I am so grateful you were in Mount Rageous with me," Willow could hear the sneer in Floyd's voice. "If I were alone, I would look as bad as you."

"You're not my brothers," Willow whispered harshly as she stood in the middle of her bathroom. "Floyd would never say that." Her knees started shaking the longer she stood without help. "None of my brothers would ever say any of that stuff." She was trying to hold on to her belief in her brothers, but the voices were getting louder, making it harder to ignore them.

"But you know they're thinking it," Branch's voice broke through her thoughts. "Everyone here thinks you're incapable of taking care of yourself." He snorted. "The only reason you're hearing us like this is because you couldn't handle a few little nightmares."

"Face it," Willow forcefully wiped the tears from her eyes at the new voice. "Letting yourself get worse because of some nightmares? What? You can't sleep without your partners? How pathetic can you be?" The voice gave a mocking gasp. "And look at that, going gray again? You really are weak." The internal conflict raged within her, the voices becoming louder and more relentless.

"Going gray?" Willow muttered, furrowing her brow. That couldn't be right. She was doing better, wasn't she? Her colors, while not super bright, were doing better, right? She turned back to the mirror and stifled a sob. The colors she had worked so hard to get back were draining out of her before her eyes. Her reflection turned malicious. "You can't even keep your colors. You can't do anything right, can you?"

"Why can't you leave me alone?" Willow cried, pulling at her hair. "I just wanted to take a shower." But her reflection was relentless. "Leave you alone?" It chuckled. "You know I can't do that. I am you. All the negative feelings you have about yourself. All the painful thoughts you refuse to acknowledge." It gave a mocking smile. "Here's a thought. The only reason your older brothers saved you is they were already going to save Floyd. If Floyd weren't captured, you would have died being drained by those two Mount Rageon teenagers." The cruelty of her thoughts was unbearable.

"No," Willow shook her head in denial. "Branch would have found me eventually. I know it." "Would he, though?" Her reflection became more mocking. "With how much trouble you cause, who's to say he was even looking for you? And with how gray you are now, he's going to hate having you here to remind him of when he was this gray."

"You're wrong," Willow insisted, eyes burning with tears. "He's my brother. We've been in each other's lives since I was born. He was looking for me." He had to be looking for her, right? Her reflection laughed. "You can't pretend with me. I know you better than anybody. And you and I both know he wasn't looking for you. He doesn't care about you. Nobody does. And with how gray you are now, who could blame them? Look at yourself. Who would be looking for somebody as gray and pathetic as you?"

Willow shook her head furiously as she tried to block out the mocking tones of her brothers. Weak. Worthless. None of this would have happened if you hatched on time. It's your fault you and Floyd were captured. Floyd's already singing and dancing. Why can't you? Our brothers ditched me over a failed concert; what's going to stop them from leaving again because our sister is such a failure at being a Troll? Willow's reflection continued to laugh mockingly until the glass on the mirror shattered.

Branch stood in the dining area with his brothers and bandmates. "Have you guys seen Willow? She's usually up by now." It was true; they could usually hear the clicking of her crutches down the hall, but it had been silent so far.

Bruce shrugged. "She hasn't left her room yet." He looked at the plate of food he made for his sister. "We should go check on her. Her eggs are getting cold."

John Dory nodded and stood up. "Leave it to me, bros." He walked to his little sister's bedroom and knocked on the door before opening it. "Hey, little sis. Are you doing okay? Bruce made breakfast, and we wondered if you would join us." His ears perked up when he heard the shower going. He grinned. "I get it. You enjoy your shower, and we'll see you in a little bit." He closed the door and went back to the others. "She's taking a shower. It looks like she's feeling a little stronger, too. Left her crutches by her bed."

Branch shared a glance with his bandmates and shook his head. "I don't know. She's been looking pretty bad lately. I want to get her to Lownote sometime today." He groaned. "But I have to do some repairs around TrollsTopia today."

Boom nodded. "No worries, Branchie. We'll take care of Willow." He placed a hand on Branch's shoulder. "You've been stressing too much about our little sister."

"When you finish the repairs, why don't you hang out with Poppy?" Ablaze suggested. He grinned. "I bet your girlfriend misses you."

Branch looked uncertain. "Take some time for yourself, Bits," John Dory crossed his arms with a smile. "There's eight of us here. We can handle our little sister."

"Don't call me 'Bits,'" Branch glared at the oldest sibling, who grinned. He rolled his eyes and looked at his bandmates. "Do you guys think you can get Willow to Vibe Town later today?"

Hype nodded. "We got it, B." He looked at the brothers and his bandmates, who nodded in agreement. "Seriously, man. Take some time for yourself. You deserve it."

Branch nodded reluctantly. "Alright." He glanced concernedly at Willow's door before shaking his head and heading to the platform. "Catch you later, guys."

After breakfast, the group went into the living room area, eager to hang out with each other. Clay looked at the clock, concerned. "Hey, it's been over thirty minutes. Shouldn't Willow be out of the shower by now?"

John Dory shrugged as the bandmates looked concerned at Willow's bedroom door. "Who knows, bro? You know how girls can be. They need time."

"Do we know how long she's been in the shower?" Bruce furrowed his brows. "She was already in the shower when you entered her room, right?"

"Yeah," John Dory nodded. "I could hear the shower going."

Boom frowned and walked towards Willow's bedroom. "I'm going to check on her. She's not usually in the shower this long."

"Are you actually going to interrupt our sister in the shower?" Clay grimaced. "Doesn't that seem a little weird?"

"It's only weird if you make it weird," Trickee said, shaking his head and moving to follow his rainbow-haired friend. "And Branch wasn't wrong when he mentioned how badly she seemed to be doing." The duo frowned when they heard the shower running after they opened Willow's bedroom door. "Willow?" Trickee called. "You doing okay in there, Flower?"He walked over to Willow's bathroom door and knocked.

Boom frowned when there was no response. "Come on, Shorty. We know you're in there." He knocked on the door harder. No response. Boom crossed his arms. "Little sister, if you don't answer this door, we're coming in."

When they didn't hear any response, Trickee sighed and looked at Boom. "Let's just hope she didn't lock the door." He sighed in relief when the door knob turned, and the door opened. He pushed open the door. "Willow?"

Boom grimaced. "Dude, check it out." He pointed to the shattered mirror. Something terrible happened in here." The duo grimaced at the sight of the blood on the mirror. That's it," Boom glared at the shower curtain before opening it. "Willow!" He flinched back at the sight before him. Willow had gone gray again, and the red that had grown back was black. She was curled up on the bathtub floor, under the shower head's spray. She was staring at her hand, which Trickee quickly noticed was bleeding.

"That's not good," Trickee moved forward, grabbed Willow's shoulder, and shook it. "Willow? Come on, little sister. Answer me."

Willow turned her empty gaze to Trickee before turning her head away and curling in on herself even more. "This water is freezing," Boom muttered, his hand under the water. "That can't be good for her." He reached over and turned the water off.

"Go get her some clean clothes," Trickee suggested. Once we get her dressed, we'll bring her to the living room. And see if one of the others can find a first-aid kit. I'm pretty sure Branch keeps first-aid supplies everywhere."

Boom nodded and ran out of Willow's bathroom. "Alright, little sister. Let's get you out of the tub," Trickee muttered before Willow up. She blinked and looked up at the orange Pop Troll. He smiled and nuzzled her close. "There's my little Laffodil."

"Trickee?" Willow furrowed her brow at the sight of her big brother. "What's going on?"

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Trickee muttered. "That water was pretty cold, you know."

Willow shrugged and turned her head away. "I wanted to wash my hair. Thought a shower would help."

"And did you wash your hair?" Boom asked, handing Trickee Willow's purple sundress.

Willow shook her head and held up her hand. "I cut my hand."

Boom nodded as Trickee helped Willow get dressed. "Yeah, you punched your mirror. Wanna tell us why?"

Willow's frown deepened, and she shook her head furiously as she sat on her bed. Trickee looked at Boom. "Go see about that first-aid kit, man. I'll talk to her." Boom nodded and left Willow's bedroom. "Alright, Flower, it's just the two of us. What happened?"

Willow was silent for a moment. "Trickee? You remember when I was little, and you'd scare the monsters from under the bed?" Trickee nodded. Before their grandma died, the group of friends spent plenty of nights with the two youngest. And that often included ensuring Willow felt safe enough to sleep in her bed. Willow stared up at Trickee, tears in her eyes. "Do you think you can scare away the monsters again?"

"Well, I can try," Trickee furrowed his brows. "What's going on?" He wiped some of the tears from her eyes. "Why are you so upset?"

Willow sobbed and wrapped her arms around herself. "They won't stop talking." She leaned into Trickee as he pulled her in his lap. "She won't leave me alone." Trickee tucked Willow's head in the crook of his neck. "Make the voices stop, Trickee."

Trickee held Willow tightly as she cried. He looked up when Boom opened the door. "Dude, what's taking so long?" Boom faltered at the sight in front of him. "What happened?"

Trickee frowned at his bandmate and brother. "We're gonna need a lot more than bandages to fix this, man."

So, fun fact! Or not so fun fact in this case. Sleep deprivation can lead to auditory and visual hallucinations. And not being able to sleep because of nightmares will do the trick. Hopefully, her brothers can help her out. This felt like a good place to stop this chapter. And I should only have about two more chapters for this story. Thanks for reading, everybody!