Darkness, the darkness was overwhelming. Then an overbearing white.  

-Why, why am I still alive.

Grace found herself laying in a large bed. The golden rays of light from the window warmed the sheets and the rays caught bits of floating dust. The room itself was simple but cozy. A small dresser sat by the wall and an impressive painting of a great monument was hung above the bed frame.

She slowly sat up. Her head pounded in protest against the sudden movement.  

- gah, this must be how Bran feels all the time.

Grace immediately remembered what had taken place on the cliff and made a clenched fist. Memories of the old-man, his smiling face in the woods, and their lighthearted chats were now replaced by his ugly grin glowing in the bright sunrise, watching her as she had fallen over the edge.

Taking care, Grace rose to her feet. The floorboards creaked underneath her weight as she made her way to the one small window at the far wall.  

"Where am I?" she couldn't help but speak out loud

Outside the window lay a  hectic city. The buildings themselves towered dozens of stories and were made entirely out of some kind of  blue brick.

The shades varied in different types of purple, violet, indigo, and so on.  The roads were paved in light blue cobblestone and relatively clean.

In the streets below were countless bustling citizens. Many seemed to be chatting, running errands, and loitering as one would see in any regular urban environment.

However upon closer inspection Grace realized that the people below had odd features as well. First of all, their skin was deathly pale, almost like snow.  Next were their ears, instead of the rounded shape that most people had Grace noticed that all of their ears were long and pointed.

-Am I in some fairy tale? I thought elves and the sort were only made up?

Even stranger was what laid above. When Grace tried to look up to check the weather she simply couldn't. There was no sky. Grace rubbed her eyes and looked again. Indeed, the one place where an open sky should have been was instead filled with millions of small bright lights.  They sort of resembled stars yet were much brighter and were embedded in a great rocky surface.  

I must have hit my head somewhere Grace tried to reason with herself.

The town's boundaries were natural rock walls that scaled all the way to the illuminated ceiling.

-Even in fairy tales there is no such story of an underground city populated with elves...ugh this is too disorienting...and these aren't my clothes!

She tried to take deep breaths

Ok calm down, must stay calm, things will sort themselves out somehow....I hope.

Composing herself Grace finally made her way to the door and cracked it open. Peering through she saw what seemed to be a small hallway with two doors further down. In front of her were steps leading downstairs.

-seems like your regular family style home

a bit relieved that it wasn't some kind of torture chamber Grace tiptoed into the hall. The other two doors were closed and Grace decided to head downstairs instead of investigating the rooms and risking a confrontation.

just as she was taking her first few steps down a sudden outburst stopped her in her tracks.

-Was I caught? Don't tell me they can see through walls too.

Grace spun on her heels facing the noise in alarm. Nothing.  A muffled yell came from behind one of the doors down the hallway, then following it, a shriek.

Grace walked back up the steps and put her ear to the door.

"mmhhf -etty  murr-ay up"

The door was just too thick to hear anything clearly. Succumbing to her curiosity she attempted to crack the door just enough to get a peek as she often had done in the castle.  The door was unimaginably heavy though. So heavy in fact that it surprised Grace and she was unable to stop its momentum into the room

"GAH!"

She fell in face first  with a heavy *THUD*

Grace recovered and prepared for a fight. There was no need. The scene that she walked in on would haunt her as one of the strangest things she had ever seen.

-wuaaaa her mouth was stuck open  in absolute confusion

The room was a burst of dark pinks and purples. Hundreds of stuffed animals were lined up on shelves across all four walls. There was another small window at the opposite end and just below it was a desk and a great big poster with the words "THE WORLD BELONGS TO ME! WORLD DOMINATION!". Maps were strewn about the desk. Innumerable  x's and circles were plastered in places with small notes on some.

To her right a girl that seemed to be around her age stood on a bed. Despite being a picture perfect beauty she had a sinister looking grin on her face that many criminals give when they are thinking out a plan. The biggest feature though was her hair. It was pink! Long bright pink locks rested on her shoulders and almost seemed to glow outwards.

-was I drugged? Grace thought

"I see I see! you are finally awake, I can definitely have fun with you!" The pink girl laughed heartily.

Another girl was below sitting on the floor with her back against the bed . She had beautiful blond hair and her makeup was done perfectly. She looked deep into Grace's eyes and said...

"what's up princes-uaaaaaah?" the beauty gave a huge manly yawn

The voice that had come out of the blond woman belonged to none other than Bran.

Grace couldn't take it anymore.

*THUD*

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Again she found herself in the bed of the plain room from before.

-Is this some repeating nightmare!?

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Grace sat up and this time saw Bran sitting in a chair by the door. He was reading a newspaper and looked up when he heard her moving.

"Ah, you're up... uuuuaaaahhh" he gave a massive yawn, stretched, and folded the newspaper away.

"um.. sorry I guess that scene was too much for you, we were just playing." he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and looked at his feet.

Grace rolled her eyes in amusement.  

"It's fine, though I didn't know you liked to dress up like a girl. Don't you even think of taking my stuff though. It's mine, got it?"

The two laughed quietly, remembering each other's reaction.

"oh yeah, who was that with the shocking hair? And where exactly are we anyway?"

Bran's face darkened, he stared at the ground and spoke in a low tone.

"First you shouldn't roll your eyes like that it's a bad habit you kn- OW! don't throw things you -dem-GAh! OK! ok roll them all you want..." Bran took a pause and a deep breath." Haaa.... We are inside of an island. Actually it's a giant cave. From the outside it looks like a giant rock mesa which in my opinion is probably why it has been hidden for all these years. Now, um... this is where we might be in trouble."

Bran got up from the chair and walked to the small window. He looked out at the street and gave a sigh. Only for a brief second, Grace saw a different type of fatigue in his face.

"In a nutshell the people here dislike foreigners, actually it would probably be more appropriate to say they hate them."

"The girl with the pink hair was Aster. Has a personality as wild as her fashion sense. She says she found us hung up by the rocks, snuck us in and took care of our injuries. When I tried to ask more questions she told me that she would will 'spill the beans at breakfast'. Nothing else."

Bran turned to Grace, he was holding the bridge of his nose, grimacing from the horrible pun.

"haaa-well... I have more questions than answers right now. I guess we'll see what Aster has in store for us, wont we?"

Bran opened the door preparing to leave. He seemed to hesitate for a second but soon continued.

"see you downstairs"

Grace nodded and the door closed shut, the brief sweeping air from the hall smelled sweet of something baking.

She closed her eyes, anger, sadness, and confusion, clouded her mind. The hope, the determination that drove her to be the best, the meaning of all her efforts was lost. She wandered in her emotions, searching, feeling through the brambles, surrounded by thorns with no reprieve, no hope of rescue.  

why...

Grace quickly wiped away what was the beginning of tears and left the room.

Standing in the hall with her back to the door she took a deep breath and followed the sweet scent bellow.

_______________________________________________________

*hmmm humm himm hummm*

Bran and Grace sat at a heavy wood table with dark expressions. Across from them handling a cast iron skillet was some humming pink sun illuminating the room. Bran groaned loudly.

"please stop with the bubbly attitude sunshine, I think I'm seeing spots"

"I would have to agree with you there Sleepyhead" Grace mumbled

The bundle of light turned to face them with a face a mother would give a misbehaving three year old.

"is that any way to treat the one who saved and fed you?"

"Oh god" Both responded in unison

The humming continued

"I bet you two have never tried fresh gull eggs before. The yolks are such a brilliant yellow they are sure to brighten your mood!"

Bran was softly bumping his head against the table in agony. Grace sat with her face in her palms.

"Ah, nice! nice! nice! They are finally done! You two are in for a treat!"

Aster gave a blinding smile as she placed four plates of steaming eggs and biscuits on the table.

Bran looked to her with a blank expression

"Are you expecting one more?"

"AH! Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you! My older brother also lives here with me! He works the night patrol for the navy."

- I wonder what else you forgot to tell us, where there's smoke, there's fire  

Bran furrowed his brows and looked down at his eggs.

He gave a glance over to Grace. She looked terrible. Bags were clearly defined under her eyes, which were red from what he suspected to be crying. The worst part was that he knew there was nothing he could do to help her.

Acting as if he knew what she was feeling would only make things worse. Bran could only be there as a partner, as a friend. He committed himself the moment they fell from the cliff, he wouldn't make decisions for himself. Instead they would make decisions together, as a team.

This was his way of helping her. His way of making her feel less alone.

*BMM! BMM! BMM!*

Three dull knocks resounded from the door in the next room

"ASTER I'M BACK"

*BMMM*

"AH! speak of the devil!"

Aster raced to the door and soon returned.

Following her was a huge man. He ducked under the doorway and walked into the kitchen. His steps shook the floor and rattled the dishes in the cupboard.

Grace and Bran could only watch with their eyes wide like frightened puppies.

The beast of a man had a scar down his right eye where he wore an eye patch. He had a long tangled beard and wore a large black, loosely fitting leather jacket. His hair was black, long and wavy. However just like his sister it was bright pink at the ends, this also included his beard.

He stared at the two at the table and looked back at Aster

"Sis who are these strangers in our house?"

Grace's head flew back into her palms and Bran glared at Aster as if blaming her for every problem that he ever had in life.

Aster just laughed nervously at the tense silence and timidly lifted the remaining plate

"hehe whoops............gull eggs?"

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I was half dead editing this soo....im sorry for any unseen mistakes :P