Faded Rainbows

Bleeding Colors

King Trollex had just finished a day helping the Techno Troll tribe repair his DJ booth and the portion of Techno reef destroyed by the rock trolls. He heaved a tired sigh, turning with a flick of a fin, to gaze up at the DJ booth he loved so much. It would take months for the coral to heal naturally, even with the Techno trolls looking after it.

Beat swam up behind him, using one of his fins to nudge Trollex in the arm. "Hey, mopey fins, what are you staring at?" The fish looked up at the DJ booth as well, tilting slightly in the water. "Looks like the repairs are going well, so why do you look like someone switched your pillow for a rock?"

The young king winced a bit. "Am I that easy to read?" He got a nod of confirmation from his friend and let out a defeated sigh. "Alright, yeah, I guess I haven't been doing great..." He glanced around at the Trolls working around him. "I don't want to talk about it here, though. I want to head back to the LED Palace. I'll tell you along the way..."

Beat leveled a suspicious look at his friend before nodding. "Yeah, alright. Let's get going then."

The two began to make their way towards the castle, saying goodbye to any that waved to them, though Beat could tell that Trollex's mind was elsewhere. Once they were finally free of other trolls, the young king finally spoke. "It's my fault, Beat..."

That got the little fish to pause, looking at Trollex's back as the troll swam on ahead. "What do you mean, Trollex? What happened?"

Trollex balled his fists and hunched forward, his arms shaking and fins twitching. "So many of my people got hurt all because I wasn't strong enough to stand up to Queen Barb..." He shook his head, his body sagging as the tension of anger left him, replaced with dripping self-loathing. "Heck, I was the first she targeted... If I had been stronger, I could have saved everything... Everyone would still have their strings..."

Trollex glared down into the dark depths beneath him. Those cursed strings. Ever since their creation they had done nothing but misery and distance between the trolls. He was glad they were gone! It was their fault so many got hurt...

It was music's fault.

He shut his eyes tightly, clutching at his heart as it pounded in his chest. It felt as though it was about to burst! He could tell that Beat was shouting something at him, but he couldn't make out the words through the sound of blood rushing through his ears.

And just as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished. It was replaced with cold, profound nothingness. He opened his eyes slowly, distantly registering Beat's gasp. He looked down at his arms, and noted dully that the colors of his arms were varying shades of greys and blacks. He looked over at Beat, who was staring on in horror. "I've... I've lost my color..."

"Ok, ok, don't panic, Beat! Keep it together; you gotta keep it together...!" Beat swam in panicked circles around Trollex's room, which they had managed to get to without getting spotted. He paused often in his panic to stare worriedly at Trollex, watching as the young king stared blankly out the window, lounging in a chair near his writing desk. "Ooooh, Trollex....!" And thus he'd begin the panic cycle all over again.

This repeated several times before he managed to calm himself enough for rational thought. "Trollex, you've lost your color...! I can't believe it, you of all trolls...! What can we do, we have to get you back to normal!"

Trollex continued to stare out the window, speaking quietly. Just enough for Beat to hear clearly in the quiet castle. "No. We have to worry about the Techno trolls... They're hurting, I have to take care of them..."

Beat glared at Trollex. "How can you take care of them if you can't even take care of yourself?" He shouted, hoping the volume would help get it through Trollex's thick skull.