Faded Rainbows

Tears and Laughter

"Just uh... Just before I left...?"

"And you didn't tell anyone what happened... right?"

The silence was telling. Trollex's eyes widened and he looked down at his black body. His trolls knew... That's why the ones in the fountain didn't panic...

He felt something snap inside of him,

"Leave."

"W-What? Troll—"

Trollex slowly pushed himself out of the chair, his posture tense, shoulders hunched and cloak making him look thrice his usual size. "Leave." He kept his back to Beat.

The fish stared up at Trollex, feeling something he hadn't felt so strongly since he lived outside of the barrier reef.

Fear for his own life.

For a few beats, the only sound in the room was the heavy thudding of Trollex's racing heart.

"Trollex, please, listen to m-"

The young king whipped around, bearing down on the small fish with a fury none could match. "YOU TOLD EVERYONE. You broke my trust and you expect me to just, what, say 'Oh thank you Beat! I feel so much better now knowing that my tribe knows I messed up!'"

Beat glared, though it was hardly much. "Broken trust? You want to talk about broken trust? What about you, huh? King Trollex of the Techno trolls, youngest king in possibly forever, and what do you do when your friends are worried about you? LIE TO THEIR FACES?!"

"Beat, Leave! Before we say something we regret!"

"What kind of king... no, what kind of friend lies to those around them...? We could have helped you sooner..." Beat turned away from Trollex. "How could anyone trust a king like that...?" And with that, and a fin flip, he was out of the room.

Leaving Trollex alone with those final words.

All anger seemed to leave his body at once, and he slumped down onto a chair, feeling like a de-boned fish, or perhaps a wet rag. "Beat..." He couldn't cry... kings weren't supposed to cry... He hid his face in the cloak king Quincy had given him. And he didn't cry into it.

Beat glared at anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path, his temper on an absolute hair trigger. At one point, he realized that he'd been glaring at a distorted reflection of himself in a silver record. That seemed to make him realize something, and his eyes widened at the reflection.

He felt distorted. He had never fought with Trollex before, at least not to this extent. He built a connection with him the day they agreed to be friends. Since then, Beat took it upon himself to be the happy voice on Trollex's shoulder, and in exchange, he got a friend.

And he'd just told that friend he was a terrible king and a terrible friend.

"Sugar honey iced tea... I have to say sorry..." He glanced back the way he came, and then back down the hall he had been heading down. "Um..." He looked around again. "Um, I think I'm lost..." He let out a soft whimper, hiding behind one of the silver records in the wall. "Trollex..."

King Quincy, having at last finished with the renovations, decided he would wait to greet Poppy and Branch with Trollex in the reception. He decided to try a new entrance he'd been working on, so when he reached the doorway to the reception, he prepared himself.

He upped his pace as he stepped through, then turned to his side and struck a pose he thought looked rather dashing. "Hello, Trollex, how are y-"He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Trollex sobbing into his cloak.

He ran forward, remembering at the last moment how large he was, and knelt down in front of Trollex, reaching a hand forward and gently shaking his shoulder.