Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“After doing all these steps, you should be on your way to flying your hot air balloon. However, I would recommend doing it with an…” Branch read, then closed the book with a soft “ thump .”

“Hey Pop troll, you ok?” Said the leader of the Reggaeton trolls he learned to be Tresillo. 

“Huh? Oh, Yeah, I’m ok. Just finished learning how to fly Sheila B.” The said Pop troll responded while grabbing a pile of sticks and walking into the basket of Sheila Balloon, the sentient hot air balloon.

“Hi, new trolls!” Exclaimed Sheila B, making the two tribes jump in fear in the process, not expecting the big flower hot air balloon to talk. 

“So we’re flying in… that thing?” Questioned Gomdori, the K-pop troll with yellow hair, with her tail slightly flicking. “UHH EXCUSE YOU, I am a sentient being! Not an ‘it’!” The flower balloon retaliated in disgust and offense at the trolls statement. 

“Uhhh… How?” Asked Marimba, the orange Reggaeton troll. 

Just as Sheila B was about to answer, Branch shouted, “Ok! We’re ready to start flying!” He walked to the open stair gate to let the other trolls on. 

All the trolls were iffy about getting into Sheila B. Never seeing a sentient hot air balloon. 

Once everyone was on Sheila B, she stated, “ROAD TRIP!” as she started lifting into the air, making all but Branch jump. 

“Hey, Sheila, have you by chance seen where Poppy is?” Asked the deep turquoise troll. “OH Yeah! She made it to Volcano Rock City with the Rock trolls! Thank god she made it in time for the party, amiright?!” Answers Sheila B. 

“…they got poppy?” Whispers Branch as his hands start digging into his palms and his tail stilling. “Ok. We need to get to the Rock trolls and stop them from destroying all music. What’s the fastest way?” Branch recovers as he un-curls his hands. 

“Uhhh.. from here? We need to go to the south. So we probably should go southeast.” The hot air balloon said. “Thank you, ok,” Branch answers. 

He walks over to the control panel and starts to use the keypad of buttons and levers. Turning the hot air balloon around, and start heading south-east. 

The two tribes looked at each other and then back at Branch. Both of them eyeing him and sitting in silence. Until one of the K-pop trolls popped in,

“You’re weird,” stated Wani, the cyan-haired K-pop troll, which earned her a hand over her mouth by Kim-Petit, the purple-haired K-pop troll, and glares from the other trolls. 

Branch hates that word. Weird . Hearing that again makes him feel like he’s gray again, back in Pop Troll Village when he was a troll-ling. The word used for him around the village. Having to hear the whispers of the other trolls. Talking about him looking different. Acting different. Being weird . There is that word again. The word he hates. 

However, he knows that Wani didn’t mean it in the way he’s thinking. That she’s just stating an obvious. Because he was different. They were all different. 

“Thanks” 

That’s all he said. Nothing more, nothing less. 

…

Silence. That’s all that came after. An awkward silence. It stayed like that for the next few hours. The two tribes of trolls talking quietly among thier respective groups. 

“How much longer?” Ari, a K-Pop troll with green hair asked Branch as her tail started moving back and forth in boredom. 

“I don’t know. I just hope we get there before tomorrow, but we will just keep going till we get there. Hey Sheila B can you take the lead for a bit?” 

“You got it, Branch!” She answered. “Thank you.” He said as he finished operating on the keypad and was able to step back and went straight to the pile of sticks. Ignoring their glances at him. 

Branch grabbed his Swiss Army Knife from his hair and started whittling away at the sticks. Taking away a strip of wood the same way every time. 

Doing this reminded him of when he was alone in the safety of his own bunker. It kept him calm from the constant stares of the tribes.

“Why do you have a knife in your hair? How do you even put them in your hair? Wouldn’t it just fall out?” Asked Tambora, the green Reggaeton troll, knocking Branch out of zoning out, making his tail slightly flick. 

“Huh? Oh yeah. I keep a knife in my hair for, uhhh, peace of mind, I guess. And stuff just stays in my hair. It doesn’t really go anywhere, it just stays there.” The troll in question answers. 

“You’re not like I expected Pop trolls to be.” Says Baby Bun, the pink haired K-Pop troll. 

“What did you expect them to be like?” Branch questioned both groups. 

“Scary”

“Liars”

“Mean”

“Loud”

“Greedy”

“Arrogant”

“Lazy”

“Spoiled”

Each of the trolls from the tribes listed out. Which was a lot more negative then Branch thought it would be. 

It wasn’t a bizarre experience for him to be on the end of the words, but it felt like an almost unreal experience for the entirety of Pop trolls to be on the other end of the insults. 

However, he understood why they thought those thoughts. 

From what he was told about what the Pop trolls did during his time with the Funk trolls it was like his thoughts on the Bergans. The fact that they were scared of the Pop trolls, just like how we were scared of the bergans. They just didn’t react the same as them to their fears. 

“Well, I mean, I see why you guys think that, but we are not most of those. The only true thing you said was that they are loud. I just don’t like loud noises so that’s why I’m not loud. But the other words are not true.” Stated Branch as he kept looking down, whittling the stick he had to a point. He started to grab another stick and started whittling it the same way he did with the first. 

“Then why are you making those spears?”

“Do all of you Pop trolls make them?”

“If Pop trolls aren’t scary then why are you making those spears?”

Asked 3 of the K-Pop trolls.  

“I’m making them for my own sake. They give me comfort. Also, I’m the only Pop troll who makes them. The village hates violence without a reason. And even with a reason most of them just don’t want to hurt any troll.” The Pop troll said as he continued to whittle away at the second stick. Getting slightly overwhelmed from the amount of questions asked. 

“So you’re a weird Pop troll?”  Wani questioned

Weird . Again. 

“Well, I guess. I wouldn’t use the word weird but…” putting a small emphasis on the word that didn’t go unnoticed. 

“HEY BRANCH we got some problems in the air, could you come here for a bit!?” Sheila B cut in.

Branch put down the half done spear between the done spear and the non-done pile of sticks. He got up and walked over to the control panel. 

“So what is going wrong?” Branch asking Sheila B. 

“The air is not letting me continue this way, it’s like I can’t even move that direction.” The hot air balloon stated. 

The air around them started moving into a single spot. Creating some small wind forming into a cloud. Legs and arms started growing out of said cloud. 

“Oh, COME ON! Not now Cloud Guy!” Branch screamed, his tail starting to wave back and forth in anger. Which is the angriest and loudest the other trolls have seen Branch. Which made them on edge, not knowing who this “Cloud Guy” is.  

“What? Come on bro. I thought we were best friends?” The could said in a dejected voice

“We’re not friends. We were never friends.”

One of the trolls, Gomdori, shouted “WHAT THE FUCK!” Gaining the attention of the fighting troll and cloud. 

Causing Cloud Guy to look back to the other trolls “Oh, so you got more troll friends and me, your original friend, you still deject. Wow, ok. I see how it is.”

“Ok, one, again, you were never my friend. And two, them and I are not friends. I hardly even know them.” Branch stated aloud.

“Why do you Pop trolls have so many… talking things?” Marimba voiced in confusion, as her tail was still. But he was getting ignored by Branch and Cloud Guy not noticing her speaking. 

“Come on, Branch! You have such a good hot air balloon. So you shouldn’t mind me just. Taking a break here” exclaimed Cloud Guy as he started walking over to his sticks, messing up his organization, making Branch continuously more irritated as he made a low growl. His tail starting to go crazy. 

“No, I don’t want you anywhere near me actually!” The deep blue troll said in false happiness. Branch started walking over to the sticks and started searching through them as Cloud Guys said,

“Well too bad, I already made myself comfortable.” With a cloud bed and night stand on the side near the pile of unorganized sticks. 

“What do you want.” Irritation showing through the Pop troll's face. Finally finding the spear from the pile of sticks, he picked it up. 

“To just go with you to that sick party at Volcano Rock City!” The cloud stated like it was obvious. Which caused Branch to grip the spear tighter. 

“Ok. So if you want to then maybe you should just go that way!” Branch pointing the opposite way of where they were going, outside the hot air balloon.

“Sweet! Thanks for the directions Branch. Knew I could always count on you buddy!”

“I’m NOT your ‘buddy’. Never have been, and again, I never will- Wait what? That’s not the direction to the Rock City.” As his tail stilled. 

“Oh it is. My smoke friend told me.” Cloud Guy said while putting his cloud items into a cloud suitcase. A beat passes. Then two. Then three. 

“So we’ve been going the wrong way THE WHOLE TIME!” shouted Branch, making him start to dig his nails back into his hands. Leaving the two groups of trolls irritated and in shock. 

“Yup. It was kinda funny to watch you for the past 4 hours.”

“AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME EARLIER?!” 

“What’s the fun in that?” 

They continued to bicker until Branch broke it, 

“You know what? Where going this way now. I don’t care how loud we are or how noticeable we are now. I just need to get back the lost time we had.” Branch started messing with the keypad again. Causing them to start turning around. 

“You’re welcome best friend!” Shouted cloud Guy as he started to walk to the edge of the basket. 

“Not your best friend!” Branch retaliated. Staying silent as he continued to use the keypad. 

“Thanks.” Mumbled the Pop troll as his tail started to lower to the ground. 

“Huh what was that?” Cloud Guy teased with a shit-eating grin. 

“I’m not saying it again. And I’m thanking you now but I will kill you if I see you again.” Branch told him. 

“You would never kill me!” Exaggerated Cloud Guy. 

“Oh believe me, I will kill you.” Branch pointed out with a monotone voice. Making Cloud Guy laugh, pissing the troll off. 

Branch turned around then threw the spear close to the cloud hitting the basket. Making the cloud book it out of the hot air balloon. 

As Branch continued to use the keypad Tresillo popped in, “You gonna answer us now?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Just let me do this.” Pressing a few buttons, making them go noticeably faster than the speed they were going before. Louder, but faster. As they start heading in the direction the cloud pointed at. 

He stepped back and then went to the wall of the basket and pulled the spear out before sighing and walking back to the stick pile. 

Quickly reorganizing the pile back to what it was originally. With the finished spear on the left, partially done in the middle, then the non-done sticks on the left. Then started resharpening the spear to a fine point. Leaning his back against the wall. 

“Ok. Ask whatever you want.”

No troll talked. All of them looking at one another. 

“Why were you so violent? I thought you said Pop trolls aren’t violent.” Tambora breaking the silence. 

“No, I said the village wasn’t violent. I don’t live in the village.”

“So there are other Pop trolls that are violent.”

“No. I’m the only Pop troll that lives outside of the village. That I know of at least. But I’m pretty sure I am. I have searched and lived in the forest for the past 21 years. So if there is, they have a hell of a hiding spot outside of the village.” Branch countered as he finished sharpening the spear and started to work on the half-sharpened stick. 

“You look different than what we thought you would look like, Pop troll.” Wani pointed out. 

That caught Branch off guard, making his ear twitch. He was not expecting them to say that. Causing him to mess up a bit in sharpening the stick. 

“What do you mean?” The Pop troll faltered. 

“Like, we thought you would be more colorful. Like, we are part Pop troll. In we are K-pop. Pop is in the name, meaning we are part Pop. We are very colorful. And so is the Reggaeton trolls, who is also a sub-culture of Pop trolls. You are like a brighter bluer rock troll. With your hair being gray and all” Wani continued with the other trolls nodding along to it. 

The Pop troll stilled. He didn’t want this to pop up. Branch knows he looks different from the other Pop trolls. A black sheep in a herd of white. 

“Oh… yeah. Something happened and now I just look like this.” He said as his tail started twitching back and forth. Leaving the answer very vague, not wanting to give out more information. 

They sat in silence for a little longer. 

“Were you gray?” Blurted out Ari. Catching everyone off guard. Having Kim-Petit reach out and as quickly as she can put a hand over Ari’s mouth and tell her how it was a sensitive topic and how you can't just ask someone that. 

However the Reggaeton trolls don’t look that affected from the comment, as their tails swished in the air with a small bit of interest. Knowing it was a topic that was rarely talked about outside. 

Gray trolls were a rare occurrence to come around. But whenever they do see one it stays for a short period of time. And that’s part of what made them so rare. They stayed for short periods of time and it was hard in general to become a gray troll. There are 2 ways to become gray. 

The first is by losing their sense of music. Losing their musical touch and not wanting to have anything to do with music. 

The second way is to lose all hope due to something heavily traumatic happening to you. However just because they’re gray doesn’t mean they can’t be happy or feel joy. They just lost all hope due to the trauma and need help to get over the traumatic experience. 

However, that statement put Branch’s mind on full blown panic mode. Making his whole body still. He didn’t want people to know that openly. And if they did know he didn’t want them to spout it into the world. 

But his silence gave the two tribes everything they needed to know. 

The outcome of being gray has very little consequences to their body. The worst thing it will do is leave them slightly temporarily duller colors for the next week, but if it was for long periods of time it can make the gray slightly more permanent. Leaving them with duller colors forever. But no troll has been gray for long amounts of time in so long that now no one even thought it could happen anymore. 

It left everyone in silence with a tension you could cut with a knife. No troll wanted to speak. 

As Branch started coming out of it he continued to whittle down his stick again. Not minding the silence. It stayed like that for the next half an hour. 

Ari felt guilty. She only wanted to find answers, but she didn’t expect this to happen. She didn’t want this to happen. “Sorry,” she apologies. 

“It’s whatever. Let’s just skip this topic.” Branch grumbles getting back to sharpening the almost done spear. 

“What’s the Pop village like?” Tambora spoke out. Calming Branch for not getting a personal question. His tail moving down to rest on the floor. 

“It’s a pretty place. It’s in the middle of the forest near a place called Bergen Town.” Putting a small emphasis on the town name. Causing some to want to question about the place but deciding against it, not wanting another akward silence. 

“It’s small and colorful. With 247 Pop trolls, counting me.” Branch stated grabbing a new stick to start wittling at while putting the newly finished one with the first. 

“Is there any more Pop trolls or is that all of the Pop trolls?” Asked Tresillo. “No, well not alive I guess” The Pop troll answered, thinking about his brothers wondering if they are alive but deciding on no, making his tail slowly move a bit. 

Those numbers scared the two tribes. They never knew the Pop trolls were that close to being extinct. They knew the next closest one to being that endangered was the Funk trolls. Who had around 200,000 trolls due to having limited space from being in a space ship, but they are always able to add more room to the spaceship if it does get full. 

No main genre has been this close to extinction. 

It caused them to glance at each other in worry as their tails swayed slowly in the air. 

“What about you guys? How’s your village or home I guess?” Asked Branch. 

“Well it’s-“

“Our place is-“

Both tribes spoke at the same time until they both just went silent. 

The K-pop gang decided to go first. “Our place is bright!” Stated Wani. “YEAH! And our place is more like a city then a small village!” Continued Ari. “We have a lot of tech and stuff but also we have a lot of mixed-matched geometry.” Baby Bun added. “Our place lives in fluorescent lights.” Laughed Kim-Petit “we have a small amount of trolls though. Around 400 trolls, but it’s big for a sub-culture” finished Gomdori. 

“So you have more trolls living there then our population.” As Branch finished his 3rd spear grabbing a new stick that was a little thinner then the other ones he had whittled. 

“It’s cool. It’s probably not a place I’d really go to but it sounds fun.” Continued Branch. “What why?” Asked Kim-Petit. “Oh, I just don’t really like bright lights and fluorescent lights.” The troll in question answered. 

“What about you?” He asked. Pointing the question at the Reggaeton trolls. 

“Our place is a village and i would say it is very tropical” began Tresillo. With the others nodding. “It has some neon but not a lot of it. It’s more of just in some of the plants.” Marimba added on. “And following the trend of saying our population I would say it’s the same as the K-pop gang, around 400.” Ended Tambora. 

“That sounds nice. And so you both have a bigger population then us?” Branch questioned the two groups. They both nodded at the question. “Cool” said the Pop troll. 

“You know, your not so bad, Pop troll.” Stated Tresillo. “Yeah! Friends?” Jumped Baby Bun reaching a hand out to Branch. 

The troll just stared at them. This was strange to him. He wasn’t used to this. Sure, Poppy helped him with making friends, but that doesn’t mean he’s used to it. 

The silence made the 2 groups uneasy. 

“Sure,” branch accepted, taking the hand from Baby Bun. Making the two tribes happy. The K-pop gang giggling and the Reggaeton trolls smile. 

For the next few hours they became talked more. They talked and learned about each others culture. 

He learned that whenever anyone sings K-pop they always have a light stick and the colors change by themselves and have no idea how. 

And for the Reggaeton trolls they are very open to talk about “controversial”. Which explained why they didn’t really reacts that much when the K-pop gang asked the gray question. 

Branch explained that the Pop trolls would randomly start singing and everyone would just go with it. The fact that they do it so spontaneously catches him off guard sometimes. 

In that time he was able to finish turning a good amount of the sticks into spears. The finished pile now being bigger then the non-finished pile. 

Branch looked to the keypad and saw smoke. Causing him to run up to the keypad, cursing a bit while doing it. Until he noticed the smoke wasn’t coming from that. It was coming from something farther away. Then he saw the volcano. 

“We’re here!” He called out to his new found friends who jumped up and started running to the front. “The name sure fits.” Stated Marimba in a sarcastic tone. Making some of the trolls laugh. 

“Ok, we need to make a plan we should…” Branch and the tribes started creating a plan.

——————————————————

When they got close enough Branch started  messing with the control panel. Making the hot air balloon slowed down the hot air balloon. Have the original grumble of the sound go into a quiet hum.  

They did that so they are not as noticed. And knowing that everyone would be at the stage they knew people won’t be on a look out. Meaning they could come from an area that most won’t see. 

Then they started to hear the reverberation of an electric guitar. Breaking them out of their preperation and shocking them with the loud sound. Telling them the show has started. 

“So this ain’t the end, I saw you again today! I had to throw my heart away…” Queen Barb started to sing. Making the crowd of Rock trolls cheer and scream to the song. Causing all of the trolls on the hot air balloon to quiet down. Branch didn’t bother to quite down Sheila B as the music was loud enough. 

“Just follow the plan right?” Asked Kim-Petit. As the Pop troll nodded. 

Branch scanned the surrounding and looking around the audience. He saw all of the leaders. Or who he guesses are the leaders due to them being on pedestals. He then saw Cooper and his brother in the audience. However he didn’t see Poppy anywhere like he planned. 

“Poppy’s not here. She not in the audience or in one of the pedestals for the leaders.” Branch told the tribes around him, putting them on edge, and thier tails slightly still for a moment. 

“Wait this is not in the plan!” Gomdori whisper shouted. She’s right. They didn’t plan for this. We all expected her to be there. Somewhere there. 

Then there was a huge lightning bolt breaking them from thier thoughts of if they should abandon the plan. 

“Give it up for your former leaders!…” Barb shouted shining a light on each of the music’s leaders. Starting with funk. 

“And worst of all… Pop.” Barb saying the genre with poison dripping from her tounge into the microphone, pointing to Poppy in a cage of the skull. 

“There’s Poppy! The plans still on.” Branch rushing them into the positions. Getting ready to throw the book. 

“Who wants to see what the ultimate power cord can do!” As Barb grabbed the guitar pick she started to face towards Poppy. Causing the Rock trolls to go crazy. 

As Barb did her guitar rift he moved Sheila B closer to the rock stage then threw the hot air balloon manual book onto the Rock Queens Face. Making the flowed balloon laugh. 

“I guess a giant comprehensive manual does come in handy” Branch screamed. It slightly hurt his throat to do so, it being one of the loudest times he’s ever spoken. 

“BRANCH!” Poppy exclaimed as her tail started wrapping against the bars. “Well isn’t that puke, Poppy’s little boyfriend came to crash the concert. Too late Branch!” Pointing her guitar at Poppy. They didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. He hoped it took her longer and that the distraction could work longer. 

“Wait!” He screamed. Queen Barbe played the power cord. Causing Branch will have to break the plan as he used his hair and tail to rush towards poppy jumping in front as it hit him. The loud sound taking over his senses. 

Causing the last thing he heard to be Poppy’s cry,

“Branch!”

——————————————————

He doesn’t know what’s happening. It feels like he was in an egg again. He doesn’t even know how he knows what that feels like but that’s the closest he can get to explaining how it feels. But with that he feels hurt. 

He feels pain, like there is poison running through his veins. His ears are ringing and his body feels like it’s burning. But he feels comfort? The comfort of the feeling makes him feel at home. But he feels himself changing with the pains but... 

He feels like he’s back in bunker. But not recently. Like years ago. Before he integrated back into troll village. When he was out getting food. Hunting for food. Searching, waiting, and listening for prey. 

The seconds in there felt like hours to Branch. Until he got broke up with a bright light shining into his eyes. The red light blinding his eyes. It was a striking different from the interior of the make shift boulder egg. It broke apart besides him. Making him flinch against the light and his tail flick around. 

He had all the eyes on him. He wants to go back into a corner again. Flee into his bunker. However, his body wasn’t listening to him. 

“ROCK ON!” He shouted involuntarily. Causing a roar of rock trolls cheer making his ear twitch slightly. 

He continued to talk as he feels his body switch to autopilot. It being the same feeling when he’s out hunting for food. He knows he’s not doing anything remotely close to it, but his body feels like he’s in that state. On edge. 

Now he’s just standing there, his body making constant small twitches. Watching Barb turn everyone into Rock zombies. 

It feels like he’s back to when his brothers were fighting. His body not listening to him and not doing anything he wanted to do. It was just, there. Not doing anything. Just watching. 

One Rock troll came close to him. Trying to touch his shoulder making his senses scream. He jumped away causing him to hiss and growl at the troll. Which caused the Rock troll to look at him funny but step away. 

His arms hung by his sides. He wants to run away. From the loud noises and the brights lights, everything. He wants to run away from all of it. 

“Hey boy toy! Its mullet time!” Barb orders him. His body follows the orders. He growls and starts to strain his body more and more. Not used to doing this, as his tail wrapping around his leg. 

His hair shoots out and grabs Poppy leaving her unable to do anything as Barb uses the power cord on her. 

Her rock egg drops to the ground with a loud “ Bang ”. Making him jump away from the sudden noise. 

He watches the egg start to crack. Then it fell open. Revealing Poppy as a Rock zombie. Then Brab orders her to do something. 

He doesn’t remember much after that. He’s too busy looking around for any dangers. He feels on edge. His body screaming at him something’s wrong. He digs his nails into his hands trying to find something. Anything.

The rounds of cheers and yells is making him go crazy. He can’t hear himself. He can’t think right, hear right, feel right. It’s like all his senses are getting lost in the loud screams. 

The light are not helping him. It’s pushing him into a further panic state. Making him want to run away more then he already wants to. 

He wants to run. Curl into a ball and wait till the pain is over. He wants to attack something. He wants a lot of things is something he learns from this. He wants to-

“ CRASH ” the sound of a guitar breaking breaking, shocking him out of his state. Putting him in an excruciating pain. The same pain from back when he was in the egg. 

——————————————————

“ CRASH ” 

That’s all he heard as he tried returning to his senses. Having him waver from being in and out of them. Only seeing gray. 

“Branch!” Someone called out to him. A familiar voice. The troll with a familiar voice reached out.  trying to grab him to hold him up. His senses not processing correctly, causing him to hiss at this troll, making the troll move away. 

Once gaining his footing and being able to process what’s going on he looks down to see his hands. Gray …

He’s gray… Not again. Not again . 

He tried so hard to get out of this hole. He worked so hard to dig himself out. And now he’s back here. 

The universe laughing at him. From all his work he put in to dig himself out. He’s back here, at square one. 21 years ago. 

Chapter Text

“ Hi grandma! Do you need help with the laundry?” Young Branch asked his Grandmother who was walking to go do the laundry .

She didn’t hear him. Making him repeat his question again until they were in front of the hangers. When she finally heard him she answered, 

“No it’s ok. You go have fun, just make sure to stay on the branch, Branch. Also make sure you don’t sing too loud. It’s Trollstice and I don’t want you to get taken.” Grandma started patting his head in a loving way then shoo-ing him off to go play. 

Branch didn’t like the head pats, they made him feel weird. Like they felt wrong. They felt weird and made his nerves go crazy, but he didn’t want to make Grandma feel bad so he accepted them then he ran off to the branch. 

She started to take the laundry down from the clips, folding it and putting it into a basket. Then grabbing a similar piece of damp clothing then putting it back onto the clips to dry. 

The trolling wanted to go practice his singing. He knows his brothers haven’t come back in a while, but when they do he wants to show them how much he improved. How much he got better so they can be proud of him and stay. 

He started singing. It started off as small singing while looking around the branch. Then he found a rose. The rose being a huge reminder of Bruce to him. 

Branch knew how much Spruce hated being the Heartthrob. Branch saw how much it affected him to fit into that role. To skip eating and to be sleeping a lot. The only thing he was ever doing was working out to fit that role that was shoved onto him. 

Spruce loved roses though. No matter how much he hated being “The Heartthrob” he loved roses. The smell, the meaning, the look. He especially loved the red ones. No matter how stereotypical it may be. That’s the only reason he liked being the heartthrob. Trolls would give him the red roses. 

Spruce said it reminded him of their mom. Branch has never met their mom, but the way Spruce describes her, with the nice words and all, she seemed like a kind troll. 

The trolling picked it from the ground and planned on giving it to his grandmother after the laundry was done. As a thanks for taking care of him and so she knows he loves her. 

His singing started to slowly get louder as time went on. Trying to find things to do and have fun with. He was starting to get bored of nothing changing around him. The same plants, same flowers, same weeds, same leaves, same amount of leaves. Everything stayed the same. 

So he walked over to grandma hiding the rose behind his back. 

Laundry was a special experience in his family. Branch would help with everything and do everything. Ranging from making the food to cleaning the pod, but Grandma would never let him do the laundry. Wash it or help hang them out to dry.

Branch always took it as a sign of some small control of her life and the feeling of taking care of him, even though she does take care of him. Just in different ways then she thinks. He speaks up,

“Are you SURE you don’t want help grandma? I can help you!” Branch continued and kept insisting to help her with the laundry. 

“No Branch. I’m ok, I can do this myself. But remember to keep it down when singing. I can start to hear you a bit, and you know how my hearing is.” Grandma said as she was trying to hang up the clothes with her hands shaking at a rapid speed. 

Her hearing has not been the same since he has hatched. It has been heavily declining and her need for hearing aids has been happening more and more. 

It is worrying to trolls as hearing is one of their most needed senses. Their whole life revolves around music, and losing that sense to hear is one of the worst tragedies that can happen to one troll. 

Grandma, however, never wears them. No matter how many times she complains about how bad she hears and how Branch has to repeat things multiple times to get her to hear what he says. She never does. Maybe it was due to pride, maybe because it was uncomfortable, she never told him why she wouldn’t wear them. 

It confused Branch about it. They helped you hear why won’t you wear them?

Branch however just accepted this answer and went off to continue looking around and finding something to do. He has been debating on giving Grandma the flower, but he always told himself not to. That he needs to be patient and wait. 

He started singing a song he found in Foyd’s room. It wasn’t a finished one but it was one Floyd sang to Branch to see if the tune was right and if the lyrics fit. 

Branch loved those times with his brothers. Without the fights and the time where they were happy. Laughing together and spending time together. 

“I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears…” Branch started singing. He tried to remember all the lyrics that Floyd wrote down but he could never remember the beginning. 

He felt himself start moving with the song. His voice gets louder and he starts feeling the music and the lyrics with him. 

He holds the rose up to his mouth as a makeshift microphone, knowing that Grandma can’t hear him. He starts really singing to the music, forgetting about her warning. 

“And I need you now tonight! And I need you more than ever!” Branch sang aloud. A lot louder than he intended, but he was so lost in song he never noticed how loud he was. 

“BRANCH WATCH OUT!” Yelled his Grandma that went to deaf ears as Branch didn’t hear her. 

“WATCH OUT BRANCH!” She started running to him, branch finally noticing the Bergen. His body took the flight or fight response into freeze and just stare at the incoming hand. Causing Grandma to crash into him pushing him forward off the leaf. 

Breaking the bright red rose he got for her. Making the petals fall into him as he fell off the branch, with leaves trying to break his fall as he continued to fall to the ground with a “thud”. 

When he reached the bottom he turned around and was just Staring. Staring at his grandmother, getting taken off of the leaf by a bergan known as “The Chef”. 

It was the first time he had turned gray. Learning how it feels to be gray. It was a painful experience. Maybe it was his adrenaline rushing off from the fall or if it was turning gray, but what he knew was that it hurt to turn gray. 

Turning gray is a weird experience. It is something you can never forget once it happens. No matter how long you stay gray. And if you become gray again, it feels the same as it did the first time it happened.

You never forget the feeling of becoming gray. 

Pain. It shot in Branch’s entire body. That’s all Branch could feel. It first shot through his stomach back. Then into his back then his arms and legs. Then his head. 

His head is screaming. Is something ringing? Why’s everything so bright? Wait no. Where is he? What?

His hands… gray . 

“No” he mumbled, breaking himself out of his thoughts. 

No… no. No. No. NO. NO! NO! Was everything that was going through Branch’s mind. 

He can’t. No. He refuses to accept this. He can’t go back there. To what he was. 

He is where he is now. With colors and without the changes from his body. A normal looking troll in a normal looking area living in a normal troll way. He was a normal troll. 

But no. He can’t think that. Because he never was. He never was a “normal troll”. The last time he was one was… back with grandma. Just her and him. And even during that time he was considered different due to his missing parents. 

He wasn’t a normal troll with his brothers due to him being born into the spotlight. He wasn’t able to get a life outside of that. A life out of the fame. 

Even when they weren’t doing stuff for the band it still always somehow surrounded it. Getting roles and having to always stay in those roles, and even without the roles they were always fighting. Always fighting…

He wasn’t a normal troll with them no matter how much he wanted to think so. No matter how hard he tried to make himself believe it happened to everyone. No matter how much he tried convincing himself he was normal at the age of 2. 

No normal troll was hatched into life like that. Made and born for the band. 

But now he’s back in the forest like he was before he re-entered into the troll society. His body falling into what he was easily again. Regrowing the features he hates from that time. 

Trolls are very good at adapting/changing and they are very good at remembering. Well, their bodies are good at remembering. If they go through a traumatic event, even if anything happens that is close to the experience, there is a chance that their body will revert from that time. 

Like turning gray and why their body will react the same to that time when you first turned gray. 

Or why, if alone for that amount of time, will revert into a more feral state of being to protect the troll. Both physically and mentally. 

The growing pain mixed with his pain from the past fall. Mixing all into a perfect mix of excruciating pain spreading all around his body. 

Fangs, claws, fur, different tail, all of it. They were all growing out again. It’s painful. All the growing from the past years shooting him in one go. 

But he outgrew them. All of those features he worked hard to retract. It was from what he was in the past. Here they are. Crashing down on him again. 

He’s not this anymore. He has changed. He got better. He recovered from what he was. He’s not that anymore…

Branch was overwhelmed and overstimulated. With the pain not helping anything. Not processing anything that any troll said. Causing his body to switch onto his own autopilot, an autopilot he tried to keep down as much as possible. The autopilot he tried to hide from the world. 

His breaths started to get shallower and shallower, growling every once in a while. He’s just staring at his hands. Then, he feels someone try to get close to him. Branch’s nerves go haywire, telling him he’s not safe. He jumps back and lets a slight hiss through. 

To the trolls on the outside he looks like a crazy troll. That he looks like he’s going insane, with his tail flying around and flicking back and forth and his ear flicking and him digging his claws into his hands. 

They see him growling and hissing at the Reggaeton trolls, the K-Pop Gang, and Queen Poppy who was trying to calm him down. But the biggest thing, his features. 

They thought they were features just because he was turned into a Rock zombie, but seeing them stay when turning back into a Pop troll was confusing. The longer fur, the claws, the sharp teeth, the tail, everything. It was all different from them. Different from the Pop trolls. Making him look and act like an animal. A wild animal. 

And everything made him look… weird. 

Since branch re-entered the troll community and after gaining his colors the features started going away. They started to leave. Changing to fit into the new community. Not anymore. They all returned. 

Everything he hated returned. 

A hand went to touch him. Wait… not just one. 2 two different hands went to touch him. They are trolls he doesn’t know. A hand touched him. Touch. Run. 

Not knowing who the hand was from, he hisses and swiftly moves away from the hand. Trying to bite it in the process, but missing since he’s moving backwards. Making the hand recoil back. 

Trolls. Trolls see him. They are seeing him in this state. Seeing him look like this and act like this. Looking at him being different from them. They see him. They are all looking at him. Staring silently. Looking at him like he is an animal, not a troll. 

He needed to run into a place where it was dark. With no one there and a place you can see everything. Then he looked up. And he saw it. 

He ran up to the eye of the skull. Using his hair and tail to get up there as fast as he can, grabbing on bars and digging some of the wooden spears from his hair to help him get there faster.  All while ignoring his aching body from everything happening. Arriving there in record time. 

——————————————————

Poppy knew what was happening. 

The features, his reaction, all of it. She knows exactly why he’s reacting like this. 

He opened up to her about how he never wants to become alone and/or gray again. To turn back into what he was when they first met. 

She knew his reaction to turning gray would be bad. But what she didn’t know was that he was going to revert to his old features. It just continued as his body turned gray and reverted back. 

The Rock zombie-fication was not helping at all and it probably helped push his state of mind right now. Moving it back into when he was like that. The time he hates. 

She ran up to him to try and get close to him. Show him that she’s here and to bring him back down. To knock him out of the state of mind he is in right now. 

However, something that shocked her was the group of 2 types of trolls

She wasn’t familiar with them. She saw them on Sheila B with Branch but at the time she didn’t pay that much attention to them. Poppy was too happy and relieved when she saw Branch, that they weren’t on the top of her priority to focus on. 

She didn’t expect this reaction from them though. 

She knew Branch was a shy troll. One that wasn’t social and hated meeting new people. She thought that they just all sat there and didn’t talk to each other that entire time. 

But their reactions tell her that’s not what happened. 

She’s proud of Branch. Making friends without her and communicating to them. But with what’s happening right now, she will have to push away her joy and focus on him now, in the moment. 

But just because they were friends of his didn’t mean she had to trust them. She learned how trusting someone blindly could ruin you. She had to learn the hard way. 

She did trust Branch’s judgment and it’s hard for him to trust someone. However, that doesn’t mean she can’t be a bit wary of the new trolls. 

They all huddled around him in worry. Talking amongst themselves trying to figure out what to do. 

Poppy ran over to the unknown groups and tried to help them. The two tribes were questioning whether to trust her. If she could help them. 

“And you’re Queen Poppy?” Asked one of the trolls who had a bit of a shimmery-metallic shine to her skin. Her tail swaying behind her in worry. 

“Yes I am, and who are you guys?” Poppy continued. “We are the K-Pop gang and they-“ said a different K-Pop troll pointing at the 3 other trolls with funky patterns all over their body, “are the Reggaeton Trolls.” 

A different K-Pop troll or the same one before, it was hard to tell the difference with them all looking the same without colors, piped in, “We are friends of Branch but we don’t know what’s going on with him.” As Branch was staring into nothing. 

His breaths were shallow but not too shallow, and frequent enough to make sure his body got enough oxygen. He was just staring into space. Until he started shaking. He started to shake violently. 

He nearly fell over making all the trolls around him worried. Thankfully his tail shooting back corrected his stance so his weight was even again. Then he looked at his hands. 

“no” was mumbled. It was very very soft but she knew that Branch was back to the world. 

One of the Reggaeton trolls who had stubble noticed it. Barely. He started shushing the trolls around him. Quieting the K-Pop gang and the two other Reggaeton trolls. 

“no. no. no. no…” Branch was continuously uttered under his breath, this time staring at his hands. 

Poppy knew what was happening and she wanted to help, but she didn’t know how. Whenever they were in the village and he would panic she would normally let him go to his bunker where it was quiet and he could be alone. 

She tried to help him one time but she only made it worse. She would try to touch him but he would always get worse with the touch. She would try singing and that also never worked. She tried everything that helped her and her friends when they were scared and it never worked. 

The only thing that ever worked to calm him down was to let him be alone and go to his bunker. He wouldn’t come out back into the village till the next day, and Poppy would think that he would spend it all in silence and alone from everyone. 

But they weren’t in the village and they weren’t alone. It has also never been this bad before. He never reacted this harshly. 

It scared her. She was scared. She didn’t want to hurt him or make him uncomfortable, but then the thought that she didn't want to get hurt herself came to her mind. 

It was a natural reaction and thought. No matter what she would help him. Just like the Snack Pack. She would go after them and help them no matter what, but the thought of getting hurt is always there. 

That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t die for them though. She would go after them. Just like the Bergens. She would die for them. And she would do the same with Branch. 

She ran up to him and got close but didn’t touch him, no matter how close she was she refrained herself from touching him. As she remembered how he got when she would touch him when he was panicking. 

The 2 other groups were standing behind her. Trying to talk to him. Talk to him and pull him out of the state and to make him look away from his hands, but it didn’t seem to help. As his breaths became shallower and became more stagnant. 

Poppy didn’t know what to do. So, she tried. She tried to touch him. Poppy reached her hand out to Branch and he quickly recoiled from it. Hissing at her and it caused the other groups to take a step back from him. 

His breaths started getting shallower, which she didn’t know was possible, letting small low growls and hissing coming from under his breath. 

He looked in pain, and from putting the pieces together from coming out of the Rock Zombie-fication and the features he’s grown from the past, she knew he was in pain. A lot of pain. 

She couldn’t give up on him. She just couldn’t. So she tried again. Stepping up to him and reaching her hand out to put a hand on his shoulder, but someone beat her to it. 

It was one of the Reggaeton trolls. It was the one with a stripe wrapping across her body. She reached out and touched Branch, getting her hand onto the opposite shoulder that Poppy was going for. Then Branch reacted. 

This time it was a far stronger reaction jumping back and trying to bite her hand, causing The Reggaeton troll to recoil her hand back. Both Poppy and her quickly stepped back from the sudden reaction to the hand getting close. 

Branch suddenly started to look around, noticing the trolls. He looked around at the trolls around him. She saw how he looked into all of their eyes. She knew something was wrong again.

Sure, he was pushed out of his little daydream, but he was looking into their eyes. Poppy knows Branch hates eye contact. Hates looking into other trolls' eyes, only doing it when he’s so aware or scared of something. Looking at everything and every troll around the stadium. 

With that, she knew he was in his fight or flight mode. And knowing him, he would choose flight. 

He darted away from the group. Running away from Poppy and the tribes. The quick movement away caused Poppy to lightly curse under her breath knowing she wouldn't be able to catch him. 

He started grabbing on a pole using his tail to catch onto a light pulling him up, accidentally breaking them down after grabbing them. Using spears from his hair and shoving them into the wall, helping him again momentum up the walls into the eye of the giant skull around the stage. 

She wanted to chase after him, and she tried. She tried running to him with the other two tribes running at him, trying to catch him. But he was too fast and him breaking down the poles and lights he used caused more double and eyes to go into him.  

——————————————————

Branch looked down and started looking over everything. Glancing over the crowd and the place around him,

And everyone was gray. 

Everything was gray. 

Just like he’s in the pot again. 

All the past color of Volcano Rock City has been washed away into a dull grayscale of colors. 

He finally acknowledges that he is gray again. All again. 

To Branch, this is something he wants to laugh at but he also wants to scream. Yell into the world for making this happen to him again. 

Maybe it was just him. Maybe it was the fact that he was meant to be gray. He just got out of being gray and now he's back to the start.

Then he sees Poppy. 

She is gray. Like how she was in the pot the day we made peace with the Bergens. Her pink hues that bled away into the colors of gray. 

He knows what happened, he can put together clues. He grew up having to put clues together. The broken guitar and everyone being gray. He knows. The strings broke, and by everyone staring at Poppy, Poppy broke them. Poppy slammed the guitar on the ground and broke the strings. 

But there weren't just eyes on Poppy. It was on him too. With Poppy trying to find a way up and chase him up. Then he looked behind her. 

The Reggaeton trolls and the K-Pop gang?

They are behind her also trying to find another way up to him. Looking around everywhere to find a way to get up that high, into the eye of the skull. Talking to each other and discussing a way.

He just stared at them. He didn’t know what to say or do. And all he could do was stare. 

Do they see who he is? What he looks like. How weird he is from everyone. 

It left him very shocked and stunned that they cared so much, but that wasn’t his main attention. The eyes on the other hand... His shallow breaths turned into deep frequent breaths. 

Everyone was looking at him. His hands started to dig into his palm. 

All the eyes, the stares, the judgments. He wants to hide more. Run to his bunker or anywhere. Just away from here. He doesn’t care how he gets there. He just wants the eyes off of him. The eyes off of his gray skin. Eyes on gray skin …

When he started going into the village and first started getting things from the village, he was always looked at as different. He always heard mumbles. 

“I heard the gray is contagious”

“Don’t look at him, you don't want to catch his gray-ness”

“He doesn’t sing, can you believe that?”

“Look at how he looks, he doesn’t even look like a troll anymore”

“He’s an animal”

They were all mumbled, always mumbled. They never said it to his face. It hurt more somehow to him. To know that they are talking about you but are never truly said to your face. Not wanting you to know, but the trolls around you. 

It made him hate going into the village. And even as time went on it stopped being about his skin, but how he was. His warryness, his fear of the Bergens, how he warned them about things. They started judging more on that than the gray skin, but that doesn’t mean that their judgment didn’t hurt. 

He was always looked at like that, stared at whenever he was in the village. With eyes on him. But they always looked at him as an animal, and never a troll. 

It wasn’t until his glitter-mixed blood started coming out from his hand. Feeling the thick liquid pool into his palm. 

He forgot how the blood in his hand felt. He hasn’t felt this since he became friends with Poppy. He forgot how it felt and how well it grounded him. However it wasn’t long. 

Causing some of it to drop down to the ground from the constant pooling in his hand. 

Gaining the attention of a troll at the drums. Noticing the blood dropped from the Pop troll. Causing the troll to run up from to look up to the eye of the skull. 

All the troll could do was stare as the beanie went up above his eyes, showing them widening. Causing Branch to want to go hide away again in his bunker. He can’t handle the eyes of trolls and the gaining of more eyes is scaring him. 

The troll from the drums just stared at the troll above then murmured,

“Cool”

That one simple word coming out of his mouth. It shocked Branch, making him take a sharp breath in and just letting it settle. Letting the word settle into his head. 

He’s being accepted by a troll he doesn’t even know. Can you believe it? Branch doesn’t even know the troll and he was called cool, in a good way, when he’s in his worst state. 

He's in his least favorite state of his life and a troll accepted him. Not asking him to change, look different, or be different. Just pure acceptance. “Cool”…

The word puts shocks into his head. Too many shocks have been coming to him on this day. 

The silence from Branch made the troll on the stage remember why he ran out there, the blood. The troll yelled to ask if Branch was ok. 

“Hey, uhhhh, are you ok? I think I saw some blood drip down from you!” Screamed the troll with a beanie, hurting Branch’s ears making them fold down onto his head and slightly flinched back.  Making the trolls who heard get scared and question what’s happening. 

“What? What do you mean by blood?” Asked Wani as she walked up to the front, tail between her legs, near the troll from the drums. 

“Yeah, I just saw something drip down from him. I mean, it may not have been blood, it totally could have been something else! I just think it was blood.” The troll continues to ramble as another drop of blood drips down near the last drop of blood. 

Making everyone who was looking see the sudden dark gray drop fall from the skull eye to the ground. Having the scene grow bigger with trolls around gasping and causing even more eyes bare into Branch. Murmurs from the trolls go around the stadium, making the sound ring in his ears. 

Again all the eyes. Again all the things from his past. Again all the pain. Again all the noise. Again. 

His nerves are growing haywire. He feels the eyes burn into him like a lit match against skin. His only small amount of calming down has put him back onto square one from when he was on stage. 

Growls growing louder. Branch’s bleeding hands moving to the bottom of the eye ready to jump and run, the pain bleeding into all the other pain in his body right now. Tail slowly whipping back and forth in the air. His eyes staring down into the crowd of trolls in the stadium. 

His fight, flight, or freeze response fighting for which one for him to do. He learned that flight won’t work. And freeze wouldn’t do anything but leave the eyes on him. So he has to try something else. 

Resulting in fight.

He jumps down still in a defensive run-away stance. The jump caused some of the trolls to yelp and look away, not wanting to see a troll pancake on the ground. His fur puffing out and using his hair to make himself bigger to other trolls, trying to scare away the trolls or at least make some leave. The growling finally being heard from the trolls around him. 

The drummer troll jumped behind the other K-pop trolls who were standing besides Wani. With the Reggaeton trolls running up to him with Poppy not far behind their tails. 

He wants to attack them but there is something stopping him. Something inside Branch is keeping him from going at them. 

His mouth was running dry from the constant passing of air. With the growls only getting louder and louder finally hitting his peak. The loudest his growls will go. Echoing through the Rock stadium hitting the walls and reverberating off of them. Some of the trolls did leave in fear of him, while some just watched and stared.

Then something stepped in front of them. More of Someone stepped in front of him, 5 trolls. 

They all looked different. All of them with different heights, structures, features . 

It caught him a bit off guard for them. With pity in their eyes and how their offensive stance is nothing but a facade. And he knows it. He’s learned the difference between true offensive stances and fake offensive stances. He had to learn them when living in the forest alone. You learn a lot about life when you live in the forest alone. 

Branch knows that they are only in front of him to scare him. To scare him from hurting them, it’s a scare tactic. Just like how making himself seem bigger is one. 

He hisses and tries to growl louder but it fails, straining his vocal cords more than he’s already straining them. It’s been a long time since he’s been like this, growling and hissing at something. 

He wants to jump at them. And gets really close to. But he looks at them and recognizes them, well 4 of them. He doesn’t know why he does until he starts brainstorming on why they seem familiar. So he starts with the front and one closest to him. 

The gray cowboy hat troll reminded him of tumbleweeds and John Dory. John Dory? Why does she remind him of John Dory? Maybe it’s her stance or her ability to make him seem smaller than he is, but that doesn’t feel like it all. Maybe it’s the way she looks like she works hard, but not just any type of hard, like perfectionist hard. Willing to do everything for trolls and protect them if necessary, being in the front of the group and everything. 

The two tall ones reminded him of Cooper and Floyd. They both look just like Cooper. All around they just look like him, but then they look like Floyd from the eyes. Both of their eyes are just so soft and in such a way that it was like when Floyd would listen to trolls. Him trying to help people but to no avail, and them not listening to him. Their eyes are just too close to those eyes Floyd would use when he felt bad for a troll or just the eyes of Floyd. 

Then the last he recognizes looks like the drummer troll, but she has piercings on her ears and one of her ears is partially bitten off. She is staring at him with a serious expression and it reminds him of Clay. Clay isn’t somber or edgy like her, but it reminded him of Clay either way. His need to be taken seriously but being dumbed down into nothing. Taking it out on books. Her expression being serious and so monotonous that it’s so similar to the face that Clay makes when he’s alone. Alone in his room or when he’s reading, getting invested into a book. 

Then there were the other 2. He didn’t know how to react to them. He feels no similarities to them but he does in some way. So he tries Brainstorming again.

The floating troll with fins and stripes remind him of Spruce. Maybe it was the heart on his chest and Spruce was the “heartthrob” but again there’s something else with him just like with the cowboy hat troll and JD. The floating troll was giving him another feel that only Spruce gave him. And it was a sense of security. He felt, well, safer by them. Branch would never admit it when he was younger, but he loved being with Spruce. He always saw Spruce as strong and kind and safe. A secure troll to be around. 

The one troll with wings reminds him of… his grandmother. The calm sense that both of them share is a bit scary. How they both look smaller and weaker on the outside but he knows that they are both strong trolls. To not take them for granted. To not push them away. Both the small winged troll and Grandma shared was the fact that people would underestimate them. The flying troll looked like he was underestimated a lot, and same was Grandma. 

He just stared at them. Stared from face to face standing still. His growling came to a stop and it confused the group of different trolls that ran up, but he remained still. 

“Hey sugar, you ok?” Asked the cowboy hat troll now closer to him. Breaking Branch out of his mind. 

He wanted to attack them. Break. Run. Anything. He wanted to move. But his body won’t let him. Until he moved. It wasn’t a normal thing, or maybe it was. He can’t tell anymore. 

He slowly moved back. He started moving backwards further and faster away from the group. Denying the want to go back to them. To feel the emotions he felt with them. 

Then he ran into a wall. Damn it. 

Branch started looking around again to where he was and he was trapped. Making his nerves shoot up again. He was cornered and let his emotion hit him hard. Tail shooting around everywhere. Slight hisses coming out of his mouth this time. 

Making some of the trolls who started walking up to him come to a halt, but only some. The Reggaeton trolls, K-Pop trolls, and Poppy continued to walk up to him, however slowly and carefully, they still continued to walk to him. With 3 trolls in front. 

“Hey Pop troll, uhh Branch, we don’t want to hurt you.” Stated Tresillo as his tail swayed side to side near the ground. 

“Yeah, we’re your friends. We just need you to come back to the world, Po- Branch.” Continued Wani, being next to Tresillo. They were close, but not close enough to touch him. 

“We know it will be hard, but just know that we will be here by your side” finalized Poppy finishing their line of 3. Poppy was messing with her hands with the hem of her dress. Picking at the strayed string making Branch stare at her hands. He can’t deal with eyes. 

Leaving him in the shadows of the wall and the rest of the trolls in the gray moonlight of the sky. 

Then there’s a beat. And it’s there again. And again. And again. Branch looks at and around, trying to find the originator of the sound. But it’s everywhere and loud. Louder than everything around him.

It sounds like a heartbeat. Is he hearing his own heartbeat? Is he going crazy hearing his own heartbeat? Is he finally dying in front of all the trolls? Is he dying here?

Chapter Text

“Thump”… “Thump”… “Thump”…

His breathing stopped. The sound of the beats are ringing through his ears. Is it his? Is it someone else’s? Why’s it so loud? This is louder than when he hears his heartbeats in his ears. Branch feels more vibrations, and his nerves are going crazier. 

Run, Fight, Freeze

Branch’s body starts twitching, but he’s just standing there, not bothering to move from where he is. He feels like he can’t hear anything but that. 

The noise, eyes, and nerves have too much going on. All the noise from the “thumps,” every stare he feels from each troll, everything. 

He knows his eyes are open, but he can’t see anything. He knows his ears are turned down, but everything he hears is the beats. He knows he has pain in his hands, but he can’t feel his body. 

He knows he is alive, but he doesn’t feel like it. 

His body can’t process anything that’s going on around him. He can’t concentrate on anything but his body and what’s happening. But that stupid “thump” somehow also makes it into his consciousness. 

Branch feels like he got run over by a Caterbus. Hit in the face, having all the weight crush him. His bones snapping, and him getting close to gone. It’s scaring him. He hasn’t felt like this since… when Grandma left. 

His breaths, which he noticed stopped since the beats started happening, deepened. 

The troll starts hearing the breaths through his ears, combining with the beat. He hasn’t heard ringing yet, meaning it’s from his heart. Right? It has to be. 

If it were an outside sound, it would be ringing through his ears. He would be able to feel the vibrations through the air and ground. He feels none of it. 

But then again, if it were actually an outside sound, it would explain why everything went quiet. Why no troll has bothered getting closer to him.

He starts to hear two beats. Two “thumps”. He doesn’t have two hearts. How can he hear two beats?

——————————————————

He was watching it all happen. 

He watched Branch get turned, Queen Poppy break the strings, everyone turning gray, Branch running, the blood dripping, everything. 

He saw all the leaders get worried over the troll and the safety of other trolls, with the spears and all. No matter how much they hate each other and their guts, they are still willing to help and save the trolls. 

It might have been to help Branch, or it might have been to save their trolls, but they were all willing to get together to try and help or at least neutralize Branch. 

Darnell knows all of this. 

Prince D saw all the leaders group up to talk, and he could only hear parts of it. 

“Do you know what’s happening?”

“- and the fact that he is like this…”

“How does that explain how he looks?”

“- like look at him!”

“What about the past…”

“- looks like she knows what’s happening with…”

“- they don’t know anything either.”

He tried to get a solid answer on what they think it is but to no avail. 

Prince D went to look at his brother, and then he saw his face. Cooper looked guilty, or at least looked like he knew something. 

Cooper was just staring at Branch, frozen in place. It wasn’t a type of frozen where it was in fear of what’s there; it was the frozen of shock and the feeling of not expecting something to happen. He was just staring at him with a sense of familiarity in his eyes. 

“Do you know something about how he’s acting?”

“What? Pfft, no…” Cooper responded, slightly laughing, leading off the last word. He was looking away to many different places and started fidgeting and moving around a lot. His tail starting to slightly flop around in random directions. 

The funk Prince wanted an answer to everything. So he was trying to put together the small pieces he has to make a complete story. A true story. 

Something that Darnell knows is that Cooper would understand at least something about Branch due to him living with the troll in Pop Village. And with how Cooper talked about the village, he knows it’s a small place. He knows how everyone knows each other and how they all live close together. 

However, as much as Cooper talked about the village and all the trolls, every troll has a part. A place in the town. Either by making something, helping someone, or just as support. He never talked about Branch’s part, something he just noticed. 

Cooper talked about every troll’s part in Pop Village that he could bring up, besides Branch’s. Did he even live in the village? No. He had to. Branch had to live in the town. 

Having a troll well known by the Queen and Cooper and not living in the village? Yeah. Fat chance. Branch has to live in Pop Village.  And Cooper has to know something about Branch. 

Prince D continued to stare at his twin. His eyes drilling into Cooper, making the troll surrender,

“Ok, fine, I do.”

“So you can -”

“- but it’s not my story to tell, and I don’t know much!” Cooper quickly cut in, accidentally shouting, causing the leaders, counting their parents, to look at him. The leaders fall silent. 

“Know what?” Their mom asked. 

Making Cooper look over at them with regret and fear written onto his face, sending a quick look of help to Darnell. Prince D, who is just as curious, doesn’t bother to help him. Staying silent as he leaves his brother alone to be questioned by their parents. 

“Well… uhhhh,” Cooper stutters. 

Prince D wants to help him, he really does, but he needs to let his brother talk to find the answer. To help the trolls. 

“He was like, well uhm, like. He was like this before.” 

Making the other trolls who are listening in, stop in slight shock. However the leaders don’t look as surprised. 

“He doesn’t live in the village, so I don’t know how long he was really like that for. But I do know that he was like that when he first started talking to the village.” Cooper just started talking, spilling everything under the pressure. 

That Prince D off guard. Why didn’t Branch live in Pop Village? By the way his twin describes it, it seems like a good place. 

Cooper said he hatched into the village, meaning they stayed in the village their whole life, not moving. They haven’t left from where they lived, not having to move to a different place of living. So he couldn’t not live in the village because of a fleeing/moving reason. 

Was he pushed out? Was it a willing choice? Did he always live outside the village? Was he born outside Pop village? Is he even a Pop troll? Questions kept running through his mind about Branch. 

The funk troll noticed he hadn't been listening to the continuation of Cooper talking. 

“-born there so I don’t know the whole story, but I know we had to flee due to something called Bergans. We’re good with them now though.”

Cooper swiftly changed topics, “Anyways, Branch didn’t go into the village until he was like. 19? I don’t know. But he was like this when he first entered. A little better but around this-”

“How was he when he first entered the village?” The Country leader cut in. 

“Uhhh I don’t really know. It has been like 6 years since then, and a lot has happened since then. Like a LOT!” Cooper emphasized, getting slightly off track. 

“But anyways, he was gray. He has always been gray until like last year and he still switches between the two looks, which is kinda weird, but he also looked like what he looks like now until last year too! But then again -” Cooper tried to continue explaining but got cut off by the Techno leader. 

“Wait so you mean he’s looked like that for 5 years before this?” 

“Well I mean at LEAST 5 years of course. He lived in the forest outside the village remember! None of the trolls really bothered going out into more of the forest due to only the village being safe, but Branch lived out there, at least I think he was out there, his entire time before the village!” Cooper claims trying to make it better but instead making everyone who was listening go to a full stop. 

The trolls who were listening all stare in shock, not paying attention to what’s going on on stage. 

The Prince looked at the reactions to the statement said by his brother and they all had similar reactions, but somehow still being very different. 

The Country leader had a more angry mixed expression. Her face slightly contorting but trying to hide it. 

The Techno leader seemed to be slightly fidgety, messing with his fins and picking at his shark-like skin. 

The Classical leader had a more blank look on his face, but it somehow still expressed everything the leader was feeling. 

Queen Barb just stilled. Her mouth agape slightly, like she wanted to retort something about it but she can’t find the words. 

Then his parents looked sad, or was it ashamed? Like they knew the answer but didn’t want to believe it. 

But no matter all the differences they all had the same emotions with it. Shock and Pity

Darnell didn’t know what to say. He just stared at Cooper. 

He knew Pop trolls were bad, but the way Cooper described them he thought they were better. That they would know when a troll of theirs was missing from their village. That they wouldn’t leave a troll gray for longer than 5 years.

But did the Pop trolls really change, or was it just Cooper's perspective of him being born there.  Switching the truth around due to him living there, seeing it in more biased eyes then unbiased. 

As much as what Cooper said answered some questions, it left him with more than before.

Why was he living out there? Is he alone? Why is he gray? How long has he lived in the forest? What is his shelter? Excetera. 

Prince D knows that you can’t live alone for too long, or at least a troll can’t. 

A troll, living outside in the forest, probably alone. That can’t be good for a troll. Trolls are naturally social creatures, or at least need some communication in their life. Without it the trolls will go crazy. 

“BANG”

Catching everyone’s attention to the stage, noticing that Branch has jumped down from the eye socket. The sound caused all of them to look up to the stage, and some look away. 

Prince D and some other trolls noticed it was a lot more defensive and ready to attack then flee this time. 

As much as it looks like he’s about to run, and that stance was one that was a facade of running. He also noticed how Branch would use tactics to scare away the other trolls, something used by wild animals. Making him seem bigger, growling and hissing, loud noises, etc. Making the trolls on stage back up from him. 

Darnell had to learn all of this. He had to live in the air and move around to different places, so he had to learn how to survive when he’s down there. Also meaning the Funk trolls taught the Prince troll how to fight, but he never had to use what he learned. 

Some trolls ran, while some just watched what’s going on on stage. But the place was filled with whispers. 

The leaders looked scared for the trolls on stage and Branch. Then the Country leader ran up to them. Darnell had to watch as all the leaders followed her and run onto the stage. 

Prince D looked at his brother and Cooper looked down in shame. Like he disrespected all of music. He knew what it was like to be in Cooper’s place. It may not have been as high stakes, but he knows the feeling. Cooper didn’t do anything and was too under pressure to not say nothing. 

“Hey, it’s ok. You helped us a lot with the information, bro.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah. Chill out about it. We’re not mad at you.”

“Ok. Phew! I don’t want you guys to be mad at me and I just met you!” Cooper exclaimed, his feet slightly start stomping on the ground, accidentally knocking into a microphone. 

Then they hear the strain of growls. They look to the stage and see the leaders standing in front of the original group of trolls on stage, blocking them from potentially getting hurt from Branch. All in different offensive stances, but again they are fake, not actually stances trying to hurt Branch. 

Then the growls come to a stop. A sudden stop and is just staring at the leaders, all of his defenses dropping. Like Branch unlocked something about them or himself he never knew about, and that scared Prince D. 

What if it’s bad? What if Branch will hurt them? What if he sees through their facade? What if’s started running through his head. 

Prince D ran onto the stage. Going after his parents. He needs to protect them. 

“Hey sugar, you ok?” Asked the Country leader. Prince D barley heard her ask, being halfway to them, he stopped. The worried Funk troll came to a stop and stood still. 

Branch started walking back from them, going from slow steps to almost bolting away. Making the leaders chase after him. Until he ran into a wall, making slight hisses come out of his mouth to the leaders. 

When all of the group of trolls made it to Branch the original group of trolls walked up to the front. Starting to talk to the hissing troll, too quiet for Prince D to hear anything of what they're saying. 

“Thump”

Darnell jumps and stops what he’s doing. Prince D’s tail slightly flops to the side with slight irritation from the sudden loud noise. 

What? That was weird. Maybe it’s just his imagination from all the quiet. It was loud though. Really loud. However, he knows he hasn’t spent this long in full silence his whole life, especially with this amount of trolls here. 

“Thump”

There it is again. Prince D starts to look around, his eyes stop on Branch. He notices how the troll now has come to a sudden stop, with a look in his eyes that screams fear. 

The Prince doesn’t let himself linger on him too long though, no matter how much he wants to find out what’s wrong, he needs to find the sound.

He sees the leaders start looking around, up then to the right then to the left, towards the crowd of trolls. All of their eyes stop, staring at one spot.

Darnell looks to the spot where they are all staring at and he sees his twin brother, holding up a microphone to his chest with a pink heart beating into the microphone.  

Making all sounds besides it stop. 

The heart beating in a rhythmic tone. The pink heart being the first colored thing he’s seen, catching his eye.

Cooper was staring at his chest to where the microphone was. Then there was a beat. A beat . A musical rhythm. 

Prince D then felt his body do what it wanted to do and started beatboxing to it. He started beatboxing to the sound of the beat. Follow what his heart was telling him to do, follow what he felt like he should do, 

Try to bring back music. 

——————————————————

Two beats. Two sounds. 

They are uneven, not playing at the same time, but at the same time, they are somehow both even. No matter how many times they play at different times, they mix together and sound the same. 

A voice. 

What? What is that? The beatboxing breaking Branch from out of his mind. Causing him to shoot up and look around warily. 

Branch’s lungs start to hurt, the sensation starting to wash through his body. Tingles reach to his hands and feet, feeling numb but in pain. 

He needs to move. He has to move. Branch’s head tries to lift up, trying to make his neck move, but he feels stuck.

He strains his body and finally moves his hand, after what felt like hours. Branch uses his hand to try to help move other limbs of his body. Trying to dig his claws into his hand, getting a shock through his arm, remembering how he already broke skin through his hand. 

The pain shooting through his hand and arm, no matter how much pain he was in, brought him back to earth again. Losing the second beat in his ears. 

Branch tries to move his head up, it ending up in succes this time, then looks around to where he is. The first thing he saw was the other trolls, and he saw them all look at a spot. It’s Cooper and his twin.  

Cooper with pink. A bright pink heart. It’s too bright. The color, the light, it’s all too bright. Then Branch notices the microphone in front of it, explaining the reason for the “thumps” he’s heard ringing through his ears. 

Then he looks to the originator of the beatboxing, Prince D. While gray, he’s beatboxing to his twin's heartbeat. Making music, even being gray. 

Everyone is looking at both of them. Switching back from looking at Cooper, then at Darnell, then back at Cooper. 

Everything was loud, way too loud. The sound ringing and ringing through his ears. He wants to leave, but as much movement he was able to get in his body, he can’t move his legs. Only watching.

A feeling not new to him. 

“Those are my sons, Making music!” The Funk queen exclaims proudly, who Branch remembers as Queen Essence, as she steps more to the center of the stage with her husband. 

Branch feels his heart hurt. He thought he grew out of the feeling. He can’t deal with this feeling right now. He can’t think of his family right now. 

Branch changes his focus to the trolls in front of him. Looking at Wani, Tresillo, and Poppy. They are not paying attention to him, having it being on the twins. 

He can run now. He can go with the attention on something else than him. Branch can leave. 

He starts slightly moving and trying to leave, turning his head and starts stepping slightly away from the wall. But his body stopped after taking a few steps. Something inside of him wanting to stay

Then there is a new sound, making him jump slightly, as his focus gets retaken. 

“Clap” “Clap” “Stomp” “Stomp” 

The vibrations coming from the stage made him freak out, because vibrations on the ground always means something bad. The vibrations scared him, but it also told him where the sound was coming from. 

He looks up to where he felt the vibrations from, towards the Country leader. The first thing he saw when he looked at her was her heart which is a vibrant orange. Having been a striking difference from the pink of Cooper’s heart.

Branch turned to look at the crown to see all of the Country troll’s hearts be orange. Then they all followed the lead that their leader started. Making the intensity of the vibrations and sound get ten times stronger. 

It was scary to Branch from all the shaking of the ground and the inability to hear anything around him again. 

Then Branch’s vision got filled with a bunch of different colors of glowing hearts. Ranging with all colors of the rainbow. All colors red to purple. 

It hurt his eyes, with them used to the darkness and the greyscale world around him. Branch looks around the stage to see all the trolls have a colored heart. Everyone besides Queen Barb and… him. He looks down to see no colored heart like everyone there. 

His eyes feel like they're burning, his ears feel like they're bleeding, and he can’t feel his feet from the vibrations of the stage. 

The constant overstimulation once he feels better and the pain from his body  is making anger start to seep into Branch’s nerves.  

He starts slightly backing back up into the wall he was originally trying to get away from, staying close to it. Wanting to leave again. 

The music came to a halt, causing Branch to only hear his breaths. Until Queen Essence declared, 

“Queen Barb can’t take away something that is inside us, because that’s where music really comes from.” 

“It started with the strings, but now it comes from us.” Added King Quincy, causing some trolls to look at them in awe.

At the same time an overwhelming sound of techno voices started filling up the stadium. It’s not as annoying as the vibration from the stomps and claps, but the voices echoing through the stadium rang through his head. However good this all is, the loud noises are causing a migraine to form.

All of the leaders are now moving to the front of the stage from the back. Poppy started to wander to the front of the stage with the rest. Making all of the Snack pack that was on start moving to the middle of the stage. Just leaving the Reggaeton Trolls and K-pop Trolls in front of him still, staring at the sea of colors in front of them.  

All the sound starts to jumble into sounds of static. He sees the Techno Leader say something with the County and Funk Leader say something after, only slightly making up what they say. 

“… experiences!”

“… lives!”

“… culture.”

Branch took this as a good time to try and escape, looking around to see if anyone was going to follow him if he fled. 

Escaping could help get the sound out of his ears and the aching pain from the migraine away from his head. 

However close the 2 tribes from the trip with Sheila B were, he knows he could sneak away from them. Only if he stayed silent and careful, knowing that they are both bounty hunting groups. 

He starts stepping away, crouching low to the ground and wall to stay hidden within the shadows from the wall. He continues to sneak close to the ground, soon getting slightly hit by the mist from the stage and a shot of sun into his eyes. 

Causing Branch to recoil back into a dull hiss, the light shocking him as he retreats back into the shadows, the same area as before. Making his whole attempt useless, as he crouched further to the ground. 

Making Baby-bun glance back at him for a second, hearing something happening only to see him back in the same spot as before. 

Branch has to find another way to leave the stage without getting the troll's attention. He looks around and tries to find a way. 

Until his attention gets taken from him again as he hears Poppy at the front of the stage saying… something. The ringing and static mixing into his ears making him unable to hear what she is singing.  

All of the crowd is silent, or he would guess silent due to none of their mouths moving. The light now starting to shine onto the beck of them, slowly moving towards the front of the crowd. 

The silence now filling his ears helped calm them down, the static and ringing sound now coming to a low as he watched poppy now regain her color back, for the second time. 

Regaining her color even when there was no music in the first place. 

Even with the ringing and static a soft electronic piano sound fought for his attention, breaking his eyes of the now fully colored troll. Now onto an old, what he could guess, father of Queen Barb started talking as she called for him. He said something that made her look down in thought. 

“It’s alright Barbra, just let everyone be what they wanna be. Including you.”

Oh… oh. Those words hurt him more than what he thought they would. “Be what they wanna be” 

That was a slight foreign concept to him. It made him stand up a bit. 

He never got that in the band, it was always ‘fit the role’. That's all he ever saw then. All that was said to his brothers then. Be what they want you to be. 

Then in the bunker he had to do what he had to do to survive. He couldn’t be what he wanted to be there. If he did, he wouldn’t be here now. If he didn’t change who he was then, he would have never made it out of the forest alive after all those years. 

Finally, in the village. If you don't fit in with them, become one of them, you are considered… weird . If you didn’t like the parties or hugs or dancing you were an outcast to them. Someone who should be like them. A troll that has to be like every other troll there or else you were shunned. 

Like Cooper. Sure he got in now because he was with the Funk trolls, but before it was just him and Branch. “The village weirdos” the two outcasts. Cooper just chose a different route than branch, to fit in as best as he could. 

“Be what they wanna be”

A concept he understands, but something that he never felt. 

He just stood there staring at the older troll in a wheelchair, now in a deep purple hue instead of gray. 

Then the music changed, the music beat changed into a more funky beat. He looked up to see Queen Essence singing with the other Funk and other genre Trolls joining into the beat, all with colors. 

“We sing it all together!”

“If we sing it all as one!”

His tail started slightly swishing to the beat of the song as he watched the Reggaeton trolls and K-pop trolls start gathering their groups excited to regain their colors again. 

As much as he wants to listen to their conversation, he can’t understand them. Both groups are talking to each other in their respective languages, languages Branch doesn’t understand. 

Then all of the leaders besides Barb, counting the snack pack and some other trolls, all have color. With the beanie troll moving back onto the drums. They are all singing together, in a smooth harmony, making a wave of color coming from them. 

“Just sing, sing it together. Louder than ever, ever…”

Making all the trolls in the crowd jump in joy and sing together, no longer caring about the differences. All of the trolls are singing and having fun, but it’s leaving out two of the trolls in the dark, Branch and Barb. 

All the voices and noise is making the ringing and static return into his head. The feeling of the noise shaking through his brain is making his migraine return again. Not wanting to be here with the loud noise. 

Both watching all of the trolls ignoring each other's differences and singing together like the divide never happened in the first place. Harmonizing perfectly together. 

The Country Leader stepped in making the Banjo the focal point, causing it to have a country feel to the song. It was nice, but he didn’t bother paying attention to the lyrics. 

He can’t. He has to watch and analyze all the trolls. Do what he knows best to survive and what he’s always done. Watch. 

He watched the Reggaeton group and the K-pop Gang excitedly start moving around to go to the front, until Marimba came up to him. 

“You ready Pop troll?”  

As she moved a hand out to him. 

It broke him out of his internal analysis of what’s going on outside of him. Not expecting to get talked to. Branch moved away from the hand, moving more towards the back of the stage while staying close to the wall, not wanting to get too close to the drums. 

It caught the attention of the two groups. It made the two tribes feel scared for him. Why wasn’t he singing or having fun? Why was he still gray? Why was he still like that? Many questions ran through their heads. 

They wanted to help. They really truly did, but they don’t know what to do. They have worked with many different trolls with many different personalities, but they have never met someone like him. They don’t know how to help him, and it makes them a bit sad to not be able to. 

Branch saw how they were coming toward him, following him. He wants to join. But… It scares him too. He doesn’t want to be out like that. Exposed to everyone. Branch doesn’t even like stages. He can’t stand the stage after what happened. 

He just wants to be alone right now. Away from everything. So he does what he knows best to get people to go away, he hissed and puffed up his fur, making them move away from him. 

They look at eachother, speaking to each other through them. It’s something he never really got how they could do that, but he guesses not talking to trolls does that to you. 

Both groups of trolls move away from him, giving Branch the space he wants. He’s thankful no other trolls noticed him trying to move away from them. He needed the space. 

When they get far enough he starts to watch his surroundings again. 

The two groups get their time to shine in the spotlight of the big stage, both of them singing in the languages they were talking in earlier. 

It was kinda nice to watch them sing and have their own attention on their music and not for competition. Or maybe it’s just because he was getting captured by them during that time. 

Branch is just staying still. Watching everything happening. Watching the trolls, surroundings, watching for everything. 

He noticed that he and Brab were truly the only gray trolls still. The only two trolls without music yet. He knows that he shouldn’t hope for this, but a part of him doesn’t want her to. 

He doesn’t want to be the only one again. The one put out of everything just because of it. Looked at weird because he doesn’t sing or dance. Branch doesn’t want to be alone. 

Then he got a bit shocked to hear the Classical trolls move up and start playing really loudly for a bit. Making his ears start hurting a lot from the high pitch of some of the notes, but somehow calm him down. 

The sounds calmed him down a bit, but the high pitched noises of some of them made his migraine get worse. 

Making him move farther away from the stage to get away from the loud high pitched notes. He’s still on stage to the side in the shadows, not as visible as before, but he’s still able to see almost every th big. 

Then he watches the Royal Funk Family. He watches them have fun singing together and even with their different styles still having a good time together. It’s messy, but it feels nice. 

“Ohh~ let me hear you sing it”

“I want you to sing from your soul…”

He just watches them. Branch feels happy and envious? 

He feels happy for them. To have their family back together. To have Cooper back to complete the twin son they lost. He’s happy for them to all be happy and singing together. 

But again he feels envious of it. Envious that he can’t have what they have. 

That their family is together again, and even after all this time, they can still be together and have a family. Still hope and love their family. 

Will his brother react to him like that if they were alive and still here? Would they be together and in harmony even though they are different? Could his brother be happy together like that?

Probably not. He can’t hope for that. He knows how they are. 

But it’s not only that. 

Cooper and Branch were a weird duo but the same. They both didn’t “fully fit” into Pop Village. They were the ones different from them all. Both were not seen as the same, and no matter what, they were treated differently. Either by a small bit, Cooper, or a big difference, Branch. 

But now Branch is alone now. Being the full outcast from everyone, not just Pop Village. Cooper found his family, Trolls like him, while Branch is still on the outside. Alone, again.

He’s bleeding again, his hands are really working overtime today. 

Then he looks at the only other gray troll. He’s a bit happy he’s not the only one. Until he notices the red heart she has when Poppy passes her the guitar. 

Branch watches as the only other gray troll leaves once the guitar is put into her hands as she plays it. She regains her maroon tint in her skin with her mohawk shooting out with different colors than before. 

She looks happy, and even though her plan failed she was still happy. Because that was her plan all along right? To connect all of them. Her plan was completed, and she got her colors again. 

Leaving him once again alone to be the only gray one. The odd one out, like with everything. 

He’s happy for her, even though a part of him hurts. Branch is watching them do something that took him years and years to find after losing music, even though part of it was denial, and there they are. Making music not long after they lost it. 

But now she has color. She’s not gray anymore like him. And he’s the only one gray now, and he knows what it means. 

He’s alone. He can’t do it all alone again, Branch can’t do it alone again. Or maybe he can. He's done It before, there’s no doubt he can do it again. He can isolate himself and survive alone forever. But at what cost to be alone?

Then he sees Poppy, floating into the air and getting a rainbow to swirl around her. Making her outfit and hair change into a more rainbow and colorful palette. Adding a fluffy sleeveless Trench Coat onto it. 

He watches as everyone sings together and has a good time. They all sing together as the environment starts to change into a mix of all the genres colors, making the once lava a rainbow and the skull of the stage burst with a rainbow shine. 

Making Branch stick out like a sore thumb. 

Branch's tail whips behind him, telling him it’s time to leave. He needs to go before they see him. Before he gets those stares again. 

Everything is making his head hurt. His migraine, the pain from the transition, the pain from his hand, all the pain from this entire thing. 

He feels himself start slipping farther into a depersonalized state as the time continues. He feels himself start slightly slipping away from his consciousness. If he is going to slip from his mind anywhere, he would definitely choose not here. 

Not in front of all these trolls. He needs to be in the comfort of his bunker and the wide Pop Forest. He doesn’t want to be a pain to them. He needs to leave. 

He needs to leave before he does something he can’t control. 

——————————————————

The song was over and everyone had their color again. 

Poppy was talking to some trolls who had come to talk to her. She loved it! She made so many new friends too!

Poppy watched as everyone was having a good time. Talking, singing, dancing, and hugging! SHE WAS EVEN ASKED TO JOIN A GIRL GROUP!

She looked around at all the trolls then she couldn’t find Branch. Where is he? She tried looking around the stage from where she was standing but to no avail. Sugar. 

How could she lose him? She had him in her grasp and then he fell right out of it. Fleeing from it. She knows Branch left the stage and the stadium. If he wasn’t on the stage, he would have already left. 

She needs to leave quickly, making her have to postpone some of the trolls' conversations, which was really hard to do. 

‘Ok, think positive Poppy.’ She thought. 

‘Maybe his new friends know!’

Poppy walked over to the K-pop Gang and the Reggaeton Tribe, interrupting their conversations,

“HI, do you guys by chance know where Branch is?” Poppy asked, in hopes of them knowing. 

“Oh, no, we're trying to look for him now. We tried to stay with him earlier in the song but he kept pushing us away. We thought he wanted space so we gave him some. We thought he would be here after it.” Stated the green K-pop troll. 

Sugar. 

They were her last hope until she leaves on her own to look, but since they were also looking why not ask?

“Do you want to come out and help me search for him? I don’t know how far he is by now, and he travels fast. So we need to hurry.” 

Thankfully the two groups agreed, making Poppy so happy to not go alone. 

As Poppy was going to leave, Queen Essence called her. As much as she wanted to decline, she couldn't. 

Queen Essence was with all the other leaders, all of them talking to one another. Deciding what to do next, while Poppy kept trying to find a way to sneak away. 

“We need you to be here sweetheart” chipped in Delta Dawn, noticing her trying to constantly leave for the 30 minutes they were talking. 

“Oh I really can’t, I need to find my friend, it’s been great talking and meeting you though! I hope we can do this some other time though!” Poppy rambled trying to get all of the words out as quickly as possible. Causing the words to be slurred together and hardly understood but the others. 

Poppy started to walk away until King Trollex stated,

“Poppy you can’t just leave right now. Something historical just went down dude!” Making Poppy sigh. 

“Sorry! It’s just that I seriously can’t right now, I really have to go do something.” Poppy simplified, which wasn’t a good enough answer to leave them. 

“You can’t leave now, we-“

“My friend is lost here and I don’t know where he is.” Poppy cut into Conductor Trollzart. 

“Oh! I can help you then. Since I’m queen of this land it probably won’t be hard to find him.” Barb commented. 

“OMG THANK YOU! He left and I need to find him quickly. He was here but now I don’t know where he is, and knowing him, probably not anywhere near here.” Poppy told them. 

“Well then we could help you too, just who is this friend you’re looking for?” Queen Quincy asked in a soothing voice, calming Poppy’s nerves down only for a bit. 

“It’s Branch. He left during the show and now I don’t know where he is!” Poppy exclaimed, the calmingness leaving as quick as it came. That statement made them look shocked but nod. 

The leaders, Reggaeton Tribe, and The K-pop Gang all left to go try and find Branch. However, it was pretty hard to get away from the trolls wanting to talk to them, they were able to get away. 

The group started searching around the stadium first, taking a long bit due to the big stadium. They were trying to check if he was just hiding near the stadium or if he just recently left. But he wasn’t there. They checked every nook and cranny of the stage, but to no avail. 

Meaning there was only one other place he could be. The bunker. 

However, due to Queen Essence and King Quincy staying, so were Prince D and Cooper.

“He’s in his bunker.” Stated Poppy

“Bunker? Why does he have a bunker?” Asked the green Reggaeton Troll. 

“It’s a long story…”

“Well then why don’t we go to his Bunker then” Queen Essence cut in. 

“YEAH! We can use my Angler Busses! We can probably see him from up high running through the forest!” Pitched in Barb. 

“I think he’s already at his Bunker. Branch can travel really fast to places if he really wants to.” ‘Due to him living alone in the forest for years’ part went unsaid by Poppy. 

“How will he know his way though?” Asked King Quincy. 

“I gave him the map.” Poppy answers. 

“Ok, well maybe we can still catch him at his… bunker?” Stated Trollzart, sounding confused on what a bunker is due to him living in the sky. 

“Yeah, let’s do it. We can take your Angler Busses Barb, "said Poppy. 

“SWEET!” Exclaimed Barb, before she ran to go get them to fit all the trolls into. 

Poppy was panicking, and she looked like it. She was pacing back and forth and couldn’t stop moving around. She knew the leaders were looking at her weird, but what else can she do? Her best friend ran away to his bunker, and she couldn't see him. 

She knows he has a bad history with being gray, she knows that being gray brought back memories. She knows this. 

That’s why she wants to go to him. She has to find him, or else something will happen to him. She knows he will shut down and stay there for the next few days, or maybe weeks, or years . 

He looked like everything was too much, and he reacted like it. Running. Poppy is really angry with herself,

How could she forget about him when the song started? How could she be so negligent of how he was? How could she let him slip through her fingers like that?

But everything already happened. She needs to think about what’s going on now. 

Is he at the Bunker? Maybe? No, yes? She doesn’t know. Anything could happen on the way there, and there are no trolls stopping him. 

If she could guess, he would be ¾ on the way already. What if he got attacked? Or ran faster and is there already. What if he was hurt and we don’t know his path so we miss him. 

“What if”s were running around in her brain. Thinking about everything that could happen to him. This isn’t her strong suit, she doesn’t normally worry this much about anything. The only thing that really has stressed her this much is party planning, and she feels like she’s doing a different version of it. 

The leaders and the others just sat there and had to watch Poppy silently pacing around the stage while waiting for Barb and the Busses. While Cooper just watched in slight guilt, staying silent and still, not wanting to draw attention to him like before. 

Her hands are shaking, tail standing straight up, she’s staring into the ground zoned out while speed walking around. Muttering sometimes. 

The loud “HONK” of a horn of the Angler Busses broke her out of her mind. She ran towards it, jumping on and being the first one on, besides Barb. 

“Hey take it easy Pop-squeak. We’ll find him, we can always just wait at his Bunker till he gets there!” Barb tried encouraging her. 

“But what if he’s not! What if he’s hurt, or lost, OR DEAD! None of us even truly know where he’s going!! We are only going based off of a guess, THAT MIGHT NOT EVEN BE RIGHT!” Poppy ranted, letting her fear and some energy spill out. 

Everyone just stayed quiet, letting her truly collect her thoughts. 

“We need to go back to Pop Village. We can continue once we get there.” Poppy stated, everyone looking at her. 

Poppy needs to cool down. She needs to scrapbook. 

Poppy just silently walks over to an open floor area near a window then takes out her scrapbooking supplies. 

Scrapbooking helps her collect her thoughts and calm her down. It helps her keep an organized plan and/or jot down her thoughts. She does it for everything. It’s her way of planning. Just like how Branch’s is through graphs and clue boards, Poppy scrapbooks. 

Everyone around watches as she sets up and starts stress scrapbooking. They are all worried for her, none of them have seen her like that, or even met her before this in the first place. 

Some of the leaders wanted to step in and tell her to help them and to stop scrapbooking, but they couldn’t. She was still young and a kid in their eyes, besides Brab, even with her being in her 20s. 

They knew she was a sheltered kid. Kept away from knowing the truth about a lot of things and had it all pushed in her suddenly when she became Queen. She had no time to truly know and learn what actually happened. Having to learn it from other trolls. 

Everyone was worried, but went on with it in the Angler Bus. Besides Cooper. 

Cooper was just looking at her, scared. The only time he’s seen her act like this was in the Pot. The pot where they almost got eaten. The pot where everyone lost their colors then regained them again.