"Ugh! Chef! I'm tired of waiting! Where are those guards with the trolls?!" King Gristle complained with a hint of whined.

"Don't worry sire, they shouldn't be too long or far from retrieving them. But once they get them back, we will all be happy again." Chef replied in a bit of an irritated voice, it was the 15th time he asked her that.

"You don't know that for sure, and.. now that I think about it, they were just two trolls.. shouldn't there be more of them?" Gristle sat up from his chair.

"Oh, uh, well-"

"In fact, yeahhh.. I don't want them to just retrieve those two, I want them to retrieve all of them!"

"Sire-"

"What, Chef? That's not gonna be a problem, is it? You're not gonna fail me, are you?"

"No, no of course not sire! We'll get to that right away! We'll have them all back in no time."

"Good to hear. Now since you already sent two guards out and they're only headed for those two, I want you to send the rest of the guards out to find the rest. I know there's more of them out there, they can't hide from us for long."

"As you wish, King Gristle, I'll be leaving now." Chef bowed and walked out of the lobby.

Gristle huffed and plopped out of his chair taking a short stroll when he bumped into someone.

"O-Oh, I'm so sorry.. K-King Gristle..." Bridget had accidently bumped into him, dropping her materials.

They both had stared at each other for a few seconds, until Gristle broke the stare and shook his head slightly.

"Just.. just watch where you're going next time!" He scolded her, walking past her down the hall.

Bridget sighed and kneeled down to pick up her materials. It was true, she had a crush on the king, but she obviously knew that he felt no affection towards her.

Gristle took one look at her from behind before turning back around and continuing to walk forward.

Meanwhile, Chef was conferencing with the remaining guards.

"That boy is such a spoiled little brat. But in order not be banished again, we need to retrieve those trolls, ALL of them. And make sure to spread out, they could be hiding anywhere."

The guards just nodded in response, and they followed her command, making their way out the doors.

"Perfect, I'm a few steps closer to becoming queen.." Chef muttered viciously to herself.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

"Okay, now we're just gonna ask you all a few questions." DJ took a clipboard from her hair and held it firmly. "Anyone got a pencil?"

Guy handed DJ a pencil as she turned to give him a short glance with a smile, then turned back around.

"First question, were any of you with Peppy, somewhere else, and somewhere that may have been near the closet?"

Everyone just looked at each other, some replying "no" or just shaking their heads.

"Did you hear any suspicious conversation going on anywhere?"

One troll raised their hand.

"Moxie?"

"I.. I didn't hear any conversation, but I did hear a strange noise."

"What was it?"

"It sounded like someone struggling for breath and like something was being knocked over, but I just assumed that it wasn't really anything since there are a lot of us in here."

"Hmm."

"Now that I think about it.. I think I did see someone walk over to somewhere with Peppy, but I couldn't clearly tell who it was, I think I saw a bit of their hair."

"Hair huh?" DJ tapped her chin with her pencil, "What color was it?"

"I think it was.. a teal or aquamarine kind of color?"

"Okay, thank you Moxie, this was super helpful."

Moxie smiled a bit and nodded slowly.

"Hey uh, guys? Where's Creek?" Cooper asked.

Hearing this, everyone began turning their heads looking for him.

"There he is!" A troll named Aspen shouted, pointing at the purple male trying to climb out the bunker.

Creek heard and tried to get out as fast as he could.

"Creek!" DJ and the rest of the Snack Pack ran to him.

"Uh, what?" He didn't turn to look at them, but he stood where he was.

"What are you doing? Why are you trying to leave? You know the bergens are out there!" Biggie exclaimed.

"It's just, uh- it's gotten pretty hot in here and I needed some air."

"But.. there's a fan right there." Satin pointed to a fan sitting near a desk with a lamp on it.

"Uhhh.." At this point, Creek began to sweat. He was a bad liar.

"Wait..." Smidge said, walking closer to him, noticing something slightly sticking out of his hair, but it had a sharp point.

"It's.." Smidge snatched the object out of his hair, "It's a knife! He has a knife in his hair! And it has dried blood on it!"

Everyone gasped in horror.

"It was Creek! He murdered Peppy!" Smidge held the knife with her hair aimed it near his neck in a threatning manner.

Everyone either looked at him in dismay, disappointment, or anger, including the Snack Pack.

"Creek.. is.. this true..?" DJ looked up at him, hoping it was nowhere near true.

The purple male looked at her, then everyone else, then continued to make a run for him.

"Hey! Stop him!"

Everyone ran to go follow Creek and stop him, each climbing out one by one.

Seeing them all come out one at a time and at a fast speed, Creek attempting running away as fast as he could when he stopped himself, looking horrified.

"You get back here right now Miiiissssster..." DJ stopped as well, a horrified expression also planted on her face.

Everyone slowly began to look horrified as they saw what Creek saw.

"Hello." A deep and gigantic and ugly voice greeted, smiling terrifyingly.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Poppy sighed and rubbed her arms. It was starting to get a little chilly and she had been walking for hours.

She spotted a tree and quickly walked over to it, huddling underneath it.

How are you almost about to be a Queen if you can't even take good care of your own village?

You can't do anything right! All you do is just go with the flow!

I cannot believe you're gonna be Queen one day, you already failed as a princess!

She couldn't stop thinking about all the horrible things Branch said to her.

Looking up to the sky while feeling the breeze blow, she tried singing to herself to feel better, but it was no use.

She took a quiet sigh to herself, and began to tear up.

"What if he was right, about everything... we would've been home quicker if it weren't for me.. it's all my fault.." One tear slowly trailed down her cheek.

It started to get colder now, and the poor Princess hugged herself tightly, shivering.

Crying softly to herself, she began to feel.. different.

Weakened.

As she wiped her tears and opened her eyes, she noticed her skin was no longer pink.

It was now gray.

A/N: It's okay if you hate me, I already hate myself- ;w;